We think of insects as being a nuisance, but they do provide several benefits to plant life and without them food would be scare.
Insects not only pollinate plants so they can produce food, certain insects devour the ‘bad’ insects that destroy garden produce. All gardeners know the damage an aphid infestation can cause to plants, a few Lady Bugs and/or soldier beetles will rid the garden of aphids in just a few days without causing any plant damage.
Attract beneficial insects to your garden with the right plants so you will have free organic pest control for all your flower and food producing plants.
Lady Bugs
Lady Bugs are the best source of organic pest control for a garden. These cute and safe-for-humans insects have a voracious appetite and will feed on a wide variety of destructive garden insects.
Attract them by planting Basket of Gold (Alyssum saxatilis), Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Carpet Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans), Dill (Anethum graveolens) or Coriander Coriandrum sativum)
Lacewings
Lacewing larva looks like alligators and are often called aphid lions because of their hunger for aphids. Lacewing adults and larva also feast on mites, and a variety of other garden pests and their eggs.
You can check out my other post “How to get rid of aphids?” You might also be interested in “How to get rid of Brown Marmorated stink bugs?“
To attract Lacewings to your garden, grow some of the lady bug attracting plants plus: Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Angelica (Angelica gigas), Purple Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe involucrata) and allow wild dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) to grow in your landscape.
Hoverflies
Also known as Flower flies and Syrphid flies, these beneficial insects look like small bees that hover over plants. When they spot a destructive insect, they will dart in and grab it. Hoverflies feed on mealy bug, aphids and several other garden pests.
Attract Hoverflies by planting Lady bugs attracting plants, plus Feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium), Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) and Zinnias (Zinnia elegans).
Parasitic Mini Wasps
Though these insects are wasps they do not sting. The stinger shaft is used to deposit eggs into harmful insects. When the eggs hatch, the young Parasitic Mini Wasps feed on the insides of their host until the host insect dies.
It’s recommended to plant any of the previously mentioned plants to attract these beneficial insects. Common Yarrow is the one common plants that most all beneficial insects are attracted too.
For extra attraction, you can also plant Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota), Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus), Lavender Globe Lily (Allium tanguticum) or Butter and Eggs (Linaria vulgaris).
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