Let’s say you are outside tending your beautiful garden one day. The sun is shining brightly, your plants are growing beautifully, and you see a bug light ever so gently on a stem.
What do you think?
a) How nice for that delightful insect to grace my garden with his presence. I’ll wait until he has completed his business.
b) Get out of here you intruder! You’re the reason my plants withered up and died last season! DEATH TO ALL BUGS!
c) Insect? What insect? Oh, that thing I just killed a minute ago?
What kind of gardener are you? Do you enjoy the presence of bugs in your garden? If so, then it would be helpful for you to plants that only attract pest-eating insects. That way you can enjoy the presence of bugs that are beneficial to your garden’s productivity.
Do you feel like the gardener in b)? If your mantra is DEATH TO ALL BUGS, then beware. All bugs are not out to make your garden wither up and die. Some insects are actually on the hunt for the insects that make your garden miserable. These bugs are good. If you want your garden to be nice and healthy, then it is important to know which bugs are your friends, and which bugs are your enemies.
Garden Enemies:
- Apids
- Cucumber Beetles
- Rootknot Nematodes
- Flea Beetles
- Symphylans. . . to name a few.
Bugs that are Beneficial:
- Lady Bugs
- Greenhouse Whiteflies
- Western Damsel Bug
- Green Lacewing
- Minute Pirate Bug. . . to name a few.
So what should you do to encourage the bugs that are beneficial?
Unlike the gardener in c), you should learn to identify and distinguish the good bugs from the bad bugs. Don’t swat and kill everything you see. Instead, include garden plants that the
beneficial bugs find tasty. When your garden is being infested by enemies, release your little friends right on to the section of your garden with the highest concentration of their favorite food. They’ll be appreciative for the buffet, and you’ll be glad you befriended beneficial garden bugs!
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