Beneficial Insects (5802)

Are you interested in enlisting natural enemies against insect pests? Except for extreme outbreaks, natural predators can effectively control many pests. If you maintain conditions that are favorable to insects that prey on others, you can significantly decrease the pests in your garden.

The insects you will want to encourage include some fascinating and favorite ones. The adults and larvae of lady beetles and lacewings eat aphids, scale, mealybugs, mites, and the egg masses of other insects. Praying mantids are most helpful in meadows and pastures. Dragonflies prey on mosquitoes and other flies around ponds and streams. Braconids and other parasitic wasps lay eggs in their hosts, thus attacking tomato hornworms, caterpillars, aphids, thrips and borers. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the body fluids of the host pests. The larvae of syrphid or flower flies feed on aphids, termites, and ants. Let’s not forget the all-time favorite insect of children, the lightning bug. Its larvae live in the soil and feed on small insects and snails.

If using beneficial insects to fight pests sounds intriguing to you, bear in mind that it is not always necessary or very economical to purchase them. A better approach is first to learn to recognize the egg, immature stages, and adults of these insects so that you do not mistakenly destroy them. Next, use insecticides carefully so as to not kill your allies.

For more information: The "Good Bugs" and how to use them

Penn State Entomology Dept.

Natural Enemies: Nature's Pest Controls from Cornell Universtiy

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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