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Beneficial Insects, Spiders, & other Critters
Your yard has it's own little eco-system and you can either help it remain healthy and in balance or, with the use of herbicides and pesticides, the balance can be thrown off kilter. You need beneficials to keep pest populations under control. When the beneficials are doing their job in your eco-system you won't have many pest problems. In fact, if you have healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy insects, healthy birds, etc, your pest problems will greatly diminish.
Think twice before you spray a pesticide on those pests. Imagine what will happen to the beautiful songbird that eats the bug that was just sprayed with a pesticide. Many of the following beneficials not only eat insect pests but also feed on pollen and nectar. So even if you didn't actually spray them, you could be spraying some of their food with an herbicide. Everything is inter-connected and dependent on the next.
|
Beneficial |
Prey |
Comments |
|
Aphid Midges |
Many different aphids |
Feed on pollen and nectar |
|
Bats |
Nocturnal flying insects |
Provide shelter such as a bat house, barn, etc. and water |
|
Birds |
Many kinds of insects and worms |
Plant fruit bearing trees and shrubs, provide food and water, install birdhouses |
|
Braconid Wasps & Parasitic Wasps |
Aphids, beetle larvae, moth larvae |
Adults feed on pollen and nectar |
|
Ground Beetle |
Slugs, snails, cutworms, root maggots, and Colorado Potato beetle |
Live under rocks, logs, etc, and in perennial ground covers |
|
Green & Brown Lacewings |
Aphids, mealybugs, scale, moth eggs, mites, thrips, small caterpillars, soft-bodied insects |
Eggs over-winter on plants. Adults feed on pollen and nectar. Spread purchased larvae in a large area to promote survival. |
|
Hover flies, Flower Flies, Syrphid Flies |
Aphids, mealybugs, mites, thrips |
Adults feed on pollen and nectar. Bodies have black and yellow bands. |
|
Ladybeetles, Ladybugs |
Aphids, mealybugs, scale, whiteflies, spider mites |
Some ladybeetles migrate, other types over-winter in leaf litter. |
|
Praying Mantis |
Aphids, beetles, bugs, caterpillars, flies, wasps, leafhoppers. Unfortunately they also will eat bees, butterflies and other desirables. |
Egg cases are attached to stems and twigs for over-wintering. Praying Mantis is very territorial. |
|
Predatory Bugs: assassin bug, solider bug, big-eyed bug, minute pirate bug, ambush bug, damsel bug |
Aphids, beetle larvae, leafhopper, nymphs, spider mites, thrips, corn earworms, insect eggs |
Seek garden litter for shelter and bunch type grasses |
|
Predatory Mites |
Citrus red mites, cyclamen mites, European red mites, rust mites, two-spotted spider mites, thrips |
Thrive in high humidity. Mites can't survive in low humidity and low temps slow reproduction rate. |
|
Milky Spore Disease |
Japanese Beetle Grubs |
Apply to soil, remains effective for 10 - 15 years. |
|
Nematodes, Beneficial |
Beetle grubs, borers, cutworms, weevils, fleas, armyworms, cucumber & Colorado potato beetle larvae, fungus gnats, Japanese and June beetle grubs, termites, sod webworms, onion maggot, walnut husk fly, raspberry cane borer |
Effective insect controller only in juvenile stage. Apply to soil above 50 degrees. |
|
Rove Beetles |
Aphids, fly eggs, maggots, mites, nematodes, slugs, springtails |
Very versatile in habitat |
|
Snakes |
Small rodents and insects |
Provide shelter for them such as rocks, brush, etc. |
|
Solider Beetles |
Aphids, beetle larvae, grasshopper's eggs, moth larvae. Will also eat caterpillars including butterfly caterpillars |
Adults feed on pollen and nectar preferring goldenrod. Eggs laid in soil or mulch with both adult and larvae as predators. |
|
Spiders |
Feed on insects of all sorts |
Perennial plants provide shelter for spiders, encourage by leaving webs intact |
|
Tacinid Flies |
Cutworms, army worms, tent caterpillars, cabbage loopers, gypsy moths, sawflies, Japanese beetles, squash bugs, and sow bugs |
Feed on pollen and nectar |
|
Toads and Frogs |
Slugs and many insects |
Provide water and shelter |
|
Trichogramma Wasps |
Cabbage Worms, cutworms, moth eggs, leaf-roller caterpillars, corn earworm |
Pest eggs are parasitize. Adults feed on nectar preferring Queen Anne's Lace, daisies, and carrot family plants. |
|
Turtles |
Slugs and many insects |
Provide water and shelter |
|
Lizards |
Slugs and many insects |
Provide water and shelter |
Some of these items are available through Gardens Alive! and Peaceful Valley Farm Supply - groworganic.com.