Attracting beneficial insects to the garden is a great alternative to using chemicals that not only pose a threat to health, but also require considerable costs. This is a soft and reliable way to deal with garden pests.
Each beneficial insect is a small gardener assistant. Even children know about many of them (for example, bees). And some useful insects are undeservedly offended, taking for pests. Let’s try to fill these gaps by examining in detail this inconspicuous but numerous people inhabiting gardens and gardens.
ladybug
The buzzy red bug with black dots on its back is familiar not only to those who work on the ground. Its charismatic appearance inspires even venerable designers. Cartoons and fairy tales are made about this insect. Often it becomes the hero of photo shoots and thematic programs.
And gardeners know for sure: a ladybug is an insect whose role in the garden can hardly be overestimated. Both larvae and adult bugs feed on aphids, destroying huge hordes of these pests during their short life.
In nature, there are about a hundred species of this insect, and they are all predators. In our area the most common is a large red ladybug. This insect can reach a length of 9 mm. It feeds on deciduous aphids.
Osmia
Fluffy insects, like bees, are completely harmless. They bring great benefits to the garden. Osmia go to collect nectar even in such weather, in which an ordinary domestic bee will not take up work. If you want these toilers to live in your garden, get some thatched-roofed buildings or just place some pieces of wood with drilled holes on the plot. They love osmium and elderberry branches without a core. This is just the perfect house for them.
This useful insect can settle in the most unexpected place: in the hole from an old nail or door slit.
Bumblebees
Many take them for loafers, but in fact, bumblebees are very useful insects in the garden. They are well adapted to the harsh northern living conditions, so they work even where other pollinators are not found.
With long proboscis they extract nectar even from plants with narrow corollas inaccessible to other insects.
Collecting nectar, bumblebees carry pollen, and do it very quickly. Entomologists have estimated that more than 2.5 thousand plants visit a field bumblebee in one flight.
Ground beetle
In many gardens, ground beetle is found from April to the end of October. These are predators that feed on eggs, caterpillars, pupae, and adults of many garden pests. In one day, one ground beetle can destroy three to five larvae of the gooseberry moth, up to a dozen false sawfly caterpillars, about a hundred larvae of gall midges.
The ground beetle hunts at night, and is rarely found during the day. In winter, these insects spend in the soil.
Even more voracious than adults, “babies” cause significant damage to populations of many harmful insects. They feed on eggs, flies, moths, slugs. Many other parasite larvae also come to them for a snack.
Ground beetles and their growing offspring will gladly settle in sawdust or shavings, a leaf foliage. Arrange a couple of shelters for them on the site, and soon in your face you will have faithful garden assistants.
Lacewing
Another insect that often falls from gardeners is the lace-eye. “A pest or protector in front of me?” - the person thinks and, just in case, drives away, or even destroys the poor thing.
But an experienced gardener knows that this light green insect, like a dragonfly, is one of the main aphid enemies. But this beauty does not harm the garden, doesn’t eat fruit, doesn’t grind wood, doesn’t eat “work colleagues”. Why do they offend her? Most likely, this comes from ordinary ignorance. Yes, and the appearance of the larva affects - those who are afraid of insects, they all seem the same. In fact, it is the larval form that eats most of the aphids. Adult insects are often fed not by the pests themselves, but by the sweetish substance secreted by them.
Who is such a lacewing? Pest? Or a defender after all? Do not hesitate, this insect will only benefit your garden by eliminating enemy aphid colonies.
Firefighters
These insects are so ubiquitous that, perhaps, each of us has a couple of childhood memories associated with them. Someone calls them firefighters or firefighters, some soldiers. Children invent many tales, the hero of which is often this useful insect. And love affairs with ladybugs are attributed to them, and participation in the protection of cities from fires, peacekeeping missions ... It is good when misconceptions spread in this direction. But often even adults say that this insect is a malicious pest.
But it’s worth knowing what the firefighters eat, how everything becomes clear. Their diet includes aphids, leaf beetles, fruit caterpillars. If you have these insects settled, know: the garden is under reliable protection. The garrison of soldiers will protect the trees. But if too many of them are divorced, they can periodically encroach on your cherry or leaves of berry bushes. Nevertheless, the benefits of the population are much greater than some damage in the form of bitten berries.
By the way, if cockroaches wound up in a house on a summer cottage, invite a few red-winged firefighters to visit. They will quickly solve the problem by cracking down on the intruders. Just do not try to pick them up - these insects can stand up for themselves and bite hard. If this happens, do not worry - their bites are painful, but not poisonous.
The bees
This insect simply bathes in the glory. Everyone knows that beneficial insect bees are human helpers. They not only actively participate in the pollination process, but also give many useful products: honey, wax, propolis, and much more.
Many combine gardening and beekeeping. Beehives can be installed directly in or near the garden. An apple tree, pear, plum, gooseberry and some other garden crops could not bear fruit without the help of bees.
It is difficult to overestimate the merits of this insect. They do most of the pollination of plants.
In addition to domestic, there are wild breeds of bees. They settle in shady forests and plantings, and also sometimes fly into gardens in search of nectar. It is difficult to domesticate them, and there is no sense in this - it is easier to breed domestic ones.
Close Relative Spider
In fact, this creature belongs to arachnids, but many gardeners still perceive it as a useful insect. Spiders catch in the web not only annoying flies, but also some garden pests.
Since we are talking about spiders, perhaps you can pay attention to earthworms, which are also not insects, but are steadily associated with them. They loosen and saturate the soil with organic matter.
Dead lion
Another indefatigable aphid fighter is a relative of the lacewing. The long lion and its larvae feed exclusively on aphids, so that its populations do not grow to gigantic proportions. These insects are used not only by summer residents, but also by professional farms. In specialized stores, you can even buy egg laying of this insect, which can later be placed in greenhouses and on the open ground.
Trichogram
This microscopic insect parasite is of great benefit precisely because of its lifestyle. Trichogram larvae can live only at the expense of other organisms - eggs and larvae of other insects.
It is noteworthy that for parasitization, the trichogram only selects the laying of pests. This beneficial insect is dangerous for more than 90 species of harmful butterflies that feed on leaves and fruits.
Knowledge of the laws of nature helps to greatly simplify life and significantly reduce the cost of farming. Try to make friends with little garden assistants, do not drive them away from the site and do not exterminate, and thanks to them you can get an excellent crop without using chemistry.