Attract These 5 Beneficial Insects to Your Backyard
Some bugs and spiders are working hard for you!
Those who have entomophobia, or a fear of insects, are going to want to look away now. In this article, we discuss many of the beneficial insects you should be welcoming into your garden, not shooing away.
While they may be creepy, crawly, scaly, jumpy, or even a bit flighty, they are all deserving of a home in your yard. Read on to learn what’s doing all the hard work in your prized gardens.
Harvestmen
Harvestmen? What are they? They surely can’t be a New Zealand insect, can they? Most people know harvestmen by their other name, which is ‘daddy long legs’. These long-legged creatures may make many recoil in horror, but they are a valuable asset to your garden.
They have eight long legs, a small body and a reasonably quick step on them. They also hang around the lower parts of your plants and on the ground to find suitable-sized prey to eat. These critters are responsible for eating small slugs and any other small pest insect they can get their legs on. They aren’t even averse to eating their own family.
Harvestmen are valuable, too, because they hang around once all the pests have died or gone. Once they return in spring, they are your first port of call for getting on top of your pest insect problem before it begins in earnest. Thanks, Harvestmen, you’re not so scary after all.
Spiders
Between 3.5 and 6.1 per cent of the world’s population has arachnophobia, a fear of spiders. While you may run screaming from the sight of a spider, don’t be in too much of a hurry to spray them with fly spray or squash them flat. You need them more than they need you.
Harvestment - Call the pest busters!
The beauty of the spider population is that they are versatile in how they capture their prey. Some build elaborate webs and lie in wait. Others, while they wait, will go out and chase down delicious insects for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Some will even jump on them and devour them as quickly as possible. One thing’s for sure: they clean up those pesky insects you don’t want better than you could yourself.
Believe it or not, the entire spider population eats up to 800 million tonnes of insects every year. To put that into perspective, the human population will eat half that amount of meat and fish. You may look terrifying spiders, but we thank you for your service.
Ground Beetles
Ground beetles, or black beetles, not only keep balance in your soil but play guardsmen to your gardens against the ever-growing slug population that seems to expand when you least expect it. They love to hang out in your mulch, pick up other insects in their tiny (but sharp) mandibles, and seek out slugs that you’d otherwise have to get rid of yourself. Keep fighting the good fight, ground beetles.
Hoverflies
At first glance, a hoverfly (or flower fly) can look like a wasp. It has a band of black and yellow on its back and little wings that are reminiscent of those of a wasp. However, this dynamic little insect is one you won’t be shooing away in a hurry.
If you have prized roses that you’re trying to trim or maintain, then it’s an insect you’ll want to have around. Hoverflies can control up to 80 per cent of an aphid infestation, which is good news for those who are tired of these little green suckers taking up residence on their property.
As their name suggests, they hover around flowers and feed on nectar and pollen. Their larvae, however, eat many other things such as aphids and insects with soft bodies they can devour with ease.
Aphids beware! (Aphidius Colemani)
Parasitic Wasps
If you say the word ‘WASP!’ at a crowded picnic, everyone runs for cover. In the case of parasitic wasps, however, these little critters are in hot demand by commercial growers. More specifically, two species, Aphidius Colemani, and Encarsia Formosa are valuable assets to any garden.
The Encasia Formosa wasp has a favourite insect, the whitefly, which is known to wreak havoc on greenhouse tomatoes. This parasitic wasp will come along if it smells wildflowers and will happily clean up your whitefly population.
Friends, Not Foes
Avid gardeners are going to see the value in insects and creepy crawlies more than most, but it’s essential to know how valuable they can be. The next time you go to stomp on a spider or swat away a hoverfly, think again. You never know how many of your precious plants they have saved from pest insect destruction.
Get a professional lawn or garden service arranged for your backyard by contacting Crewcut today.