Useful insectscontribute to the pollination of flowers and help fight pests of plants in the garden. However, in order to use their help, we need to provide beneficial insects with appropriate conditions in our garden, and above all, not to harm them unknowingly. Get to knowbeneficial insects favoring gardenersand invite them to your garden!
Insects useful in the garden. In the wake of the plant-feeding aphids, our allies appeared - the ladybugs feeding on the aphids and the golden-eyed. Photo Tadek, forum.poradnikogrodniczy.pl
What are useful insects?
We often do not realize that herbivorous pests of garden plants, like all other organisms on earth, have their natural enemies.Useful insects are numerous parasites and predators that treat pests of garden plants as a source of foodand significantly reduce their number. In this way, beneficial insects help keep garden plants he althy and protect them from pests.
"The second group of beneficial insects are pollinating insects , such as bees and bumblebees, thanks to which pollen is transferred from one flower to another and the plants are pollinated. Thus, we can count on better fruiting and abundant yields from the garden.
It is worth getting to know useful insects better, because often when fighting plant pests, we also unknowingly destroy our alliesReaching for insecticides , we must be aware that it is a double-edged weapon - apart from pests, it also destroys many beneficial insects.Once we use pesticides on a large scale, we will have to use them again in the future, because natural enemies destroyed in the process will not be able to reduce the number of pests. "
Bees are the most famous useful insects
Fig. pixabay.com
Therefore, it is worth reaching for selective insecticides, i.e. those that by destroying a specific pest do not kill other creatures, as well as ecological plant protection products prepared on their own - liquid manure, extracts, decoctions.
Useful insects - examples
Below we presentthe most common beneficial insects in gardensand suggest how to create favorable living conditions for them in our gardens, so that these creatures effectively support us in the fight against plant pests. I hope that theseexamples of useful insectswill show how nature works and that it is worth supporting these natural helpers.
Ladybug beetles (Coccinellidae)
"Ladybugs, commonly also known as God&39;s Fudge, are undoubtedly the most famousbeneficial insects , helpful in the fight against plant pests. They allow to significantly reduce the number of aphids. Aphids are eaten by both ladybug larvae and adults. In addition to aphids, ladybugs can also eat scale, honeysuckle, spider mites and young butterfly larvae. "
Ladybug larvae do not resemble adults at all - they are elongated with a clearly visible head and three pairs of legs, and as they develop, they change color from black to gray or gray-blue with reddish spots. The larvae are most numerous from June to August, and one larva can eat up to several hundred aphids.
Insects useful in the garden - ladybug larva
Adult ladybugs appear from early spring and eat a large number of eggs, larvae and adults of aphids.To provide the ladybugs with the right living conditions in our garden, do not cut the grass too low, and leave some leaves under the trees for the ladybugs to overwinter. We should also remember that early spring chemical sprays, e.g. against apple blossom, pose a great threat to the population of ladybirds. Therefore, in order not to destroy thesebeneficial insectson plots and in home gardens, let's limit ourselves to controlling the flower by shaking it on sheets under the trees and removing and destroying its infested buds. Chemical control of the flower is only necessary in the years of weak flowering.
Bzygowate (Syrphidae)
Bzygowate is a family of insects belonging to the suborder of short-sensitive flies. They are up to 25 mm long and have a characteristic color - they have black and yellow stripes on their bodies, which is why they are often mistaken for wasps. Hoverflies, however, are not dangerous to humans, and the appearance similar to stinging wasps protects them from predators.Adult hoverflies feed on the nectar of flowers. However, their larvae are no longer vegetarians - they wreak havoc on aphid colonies, so asbeneficial insects help us reduce the number of these common pestsHoverflies can be lured into the garden by planting flowers with a strong smell. These insects like to stay among marigolds or fennel.
Charities (Typhlodromus pyri)
Benefactors are small mites (up to 0.5mm long), which are virtually invisible to us. They appear in early spring, penetrating the surface of the bark and then also the leaves in search of such pests as spider mites or larvae, which can be eaten by one benefactor even several dozen a day (both eggs, larvae and adults). Hence the name of the benefactors who do good for the gardener.
Useful insects in the garden - gamekeeper's mouth
Woodpecker (Anthocoris nemorum)
We can meet it on fruit trees and shrubs from early spring to late autumn. These bed bugs feed on spider mites, fruit eggs, apple larvae and midge larvae, caterpillars caterpillars, apple tentacles and other small insects. If we want nubs to appear in our garden next year, remember that these insects winter among fallen leaves and under the bark of trees. Let us therefore leave hiding places in the garden for the winter, where theseuseful insects
Black hen (Aphelinus mali)
It is a species of hymen from the blubber family, reaching up to 1.5 mm in length. Black torso with a yellow stripe at the base of the abdomen. Females lay their eggs in the body of the cotton aphid aphid aphid. The larvae hibernate and pupate in the dead body of the host, and in the spring adult individuals emerge. Interestingly, the axes are so voracious that they can completely destroy the cottonberry and then die on their own due to lack of food.As you can easily guess - by conducting chemical spraying against aphids, we also kill the axes feeding on the aphids.
Useful insects in the garden - gold-eyed
Złotooki (Chrysoperla carnea)
"In summer, small (10 - 15 mm) light green insects with delicate wings often fall into the lit room in the evening. They are golden-eyed, which owe their name to their beautifully shimmering emerald eyes. Adults eat pollen and nectar. However, their larvae are very fierce eaters of aphids, thrips and mealybugs (both adults and eggs of these pests). The useful gold-eyed larvae look nothing like their parents - they are yellow-brown, flattened, and have rather large ticks that catch and suck out about 500 aphids during their lifetime. They do not have high requirements, although they thrive best at 20 - 26 ° C. They winter hidden under the bark of old trees, in attics and gazebos, they can also be found between apartment windows.In the garden, we can identify thesebeneficial insectsby the presence of long threads (usually located in the vicinity of aphid colonies) on which their eggs are hung (this method of laying eggs by the female is to protect the offspring from persecutors) . "
Useful wild bees near the insect house
Fig. pixabay.com
Red mason bee (Osmia stufa)
So far, mainlybeneficial insectshave been presented to help combat plant pests. However, it is also worth mentioning useful insects, which contribute to the pollination of flowers, and therefore more abundant flowering and yielding, e.g. in our orchards. In this group, the wild red mason bee deserves special attention. It is common in our country, and we can lure it into the garden by building houses made of reed pipes for it. It is also worth growing honey plants, thanks to which the garden will be visited by numerous bees and other pollinating insects.
How to lure insects useful to the garden?
If we have already decided to cultivate in a natural way and give up harmful pesticides, it is worth considering how to lure beneficial insects into the garden. It is about taking actions thanks to which valuable insects for the gardenerbeneficial insects in the garden gain an advantage over pests that are troublesome for us
Such activities include creating wild corners of the garden, full of flowering honey plants that attract beneficial insects.Honey plants are not only useful for bees but also attract many other insects favoring gardenersAn example of such a plant is lavender. It blooms all summer until fall, and its flowers are a wonderful garden decoration. The lavender scent is pleasant for us, it scares away troublesome mosquitoes, and at the same time attracts useful bumblebees that hang over lavender flowers all summer long.
The useful bumblebee pollinates lavender flowers
Fig. pixabay.com
A flower meadow is also a good idea as it can replace a traditional lawn. It requires less care, it is usually mowed only twice a year and is a great refuge not only for beneficial insects but also small amphibians, animals and birds. Even if we do not want to replace the entire lawn with a flower meadow, it is worth having at least a small corner of the garden for such a wild meadow.
In a secluded place of the garden, it is worth hanging a house for beneficial insects, in which wild bees can nest. Such houses can be bought ready-made, and some of them look really nice. When deciding topurchase a ready-made insect house , it is worth paying attention to its proper execution so that it is not only a decoration, but is actually conducive to the nesting of insects.Properly made houses for beneficial insects , coming from a proven manufacturer, are available in the shop of our guide.To see the offer, click on the image below.
