Gardening: Beneficial insects need help to fight bad bugs

The bug season may get really interesting this year. We’ve had a cold spring, and it is likely that we will get more weather hot flashes before it really warms up. When it does, the plant-chomping and sucking bugs are going to be out in full force.

There are allies, though, that are already in the garden that can help out, if you give some help now. Beneficial predator insects are already hunting through your plants for an easy meal or a host for their egg-laying. All you need to do is provide a little shelter, blooming flowers and shady corners for egg-laying.

1. Lady beetles or bugs and their larvae eat aphids, scale insects, spider mites and mealy bugs. Lacewings and their larvae, known as aphid lions, prey on scale insects, mealy bugs, whiteflies, caterpillars, leafhoppers and thrips. Beetles such as soldier, tiger, ground and rove inhabit plants or the ground hunting for slugs, snails, cutworms, root maggots and Colorado Potato beetles. True bugs such as assassin, ambush, big-eyed, minute pirate, damsel and predacious stink bug, go after thrips, mites, scale, aphids and whiteflies. Even wasps are an important group of predator insects that eat any insect they come across. Unfortunately, they don’t discriminate between the bugs and the burgers at a picnic. Parasitic wasps are much smaller and seek out other insects to plant their eggs in.

One of the first things people need to do to attract predator insects is accept the fact that to have beneficial insects you need some of the detrimental bugs around and live with their damage. Over time the populations of good and bad bug populations will ebb and flow with the good bugs coming out when there are enough detrimental ones around to eat.

Plants from the carrot, aster and mustard (think broccoli and alyssum) families are particularly valuable for attracting predator insects. They have large flat flower heads that are made up of lots of smaller florets. The predator insects use them to feed on pollen and nectar when they can’t find prey and as a landing spot. Many other blooming annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees also are useful to beneficial insects.

Plants should be grouped in blocks or planted as a hedgerow called an insectary along the edge of the garden and managed to protect the insects. The plants need to be of varying heights and densities as some bugs hunt at the top of the plant while others may hug the ground. There should be successions of blooms from early in the spring through the fall as the detrimental bugs are active late into the year.

Living with a few weeds may also help draw beneficial insects because some of them are a highly favored source of pollen and nectar. Dandelions are a good source of food for some beneficial insects early in the spring before some detrimental insects fully emerge.