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By wildflowers | Nature is filled with a wide variety of beneficial insects whose diet consists mainly of the little pests that invade your gardens. Yes, there really are "good bugs" and they are a great way to combat the pests that are ready and waiting to devour and destroy your plants. Some of these good guys may have been hanging around and you didn't realize they were actually keeping pests off of your favorite flowers or vegetables. Let's take a look at some of these beneficial predatory insects so you can learn who your allies are.
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Name: Carole Clarksville, TN (Zone 6b)              SongofJoy Sep 2, 2011 3:49 AM CST |
Good article with great pictures for identification. Very helpful. Nice job!  The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched -- they must be felt with the heart. ~ Helen Keller |
Name: josephine Arlington, Texas (Zone 8a) Hi Everybody!! Let us talk native.       frostweed Sep 2, 2011 8:35 AM CST |
| Great article Christine, and nice pictures of the bugs, Thank you very much Wildflowers are the Smiles of Nature. Gardening with Texas Native Plants and Wildflowers. |
Name: Carole Clarksville, TN (Zone 6b) SongofJoy Sep 2, 2011 9:37 AM CST |
After reading your article, I kept thinking that I hadn't seen any tomato hornworms this year (not a bad thing). Went out and found this ... some of my beneficials hard at work!    Then coming back in I spotted this guy watching me.  The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched -- they must be felt with the heart. ~ Helen Keller |
Name: Christine North East Texas (Zone 7b)        wildflowers Sep 2, 2011 10:04 AM CST |
| Thank you Tee & Josephine. Next, I'd like to talk about some good choices for plants to attract the beneficial bugs to your gardens. Tee, wow, what a nice find! - it looks like some kind of parasitic wasp (probably Braconid wasp) laid eggs on the hornworms which hatched and the larvae are feeding. Once they pupate, they will seek out other hornworms to parasitize! How interesting - that preying mantis is blending in to his surroundings LOL! Thank you for sharing what you found, as you took a closer look in your garden. Awesome! May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day --Native American Proverb |
Ontario, Canada (Zone 6a)           Steven Sep 2, 2011 11:30 AM CST |
| Thank you for a great article Christine! Another on plants that attract beneficials would be fantastic, I definitely need more "good bugs" around |
Name: Janet Super Sleuth Near Lincoln UK     JRsbugs Sep 2, 2011 12:55 PM CST |
| Well done Christine! I was just searching for a shieldbug for Sandy, it's one which feeds on harmful pests. My garden was full of aphids when I first moved here over 13 years ago, once I got to work making beds with a variety of plants the natural balance soon sorted itself. I know now if I see aphids I don't have to do a thing, the predators make quick work of them. I feed birds too, Sparrows are increasing and they are one of the best aphid eaters. It looks like your garden has it's predators too Tee! |
Name: Christine North East Texas (Zone 7b) wildflowers Sep 2, 2011 1:53 PM CST |
| Thank you, Steven - I will definitely do a follow-up about plants to attract these beneficials. Janet, thank you for reading my article. I owe much to you, and learn so much from viewing your daily bug pictures. Thank you! Aphids can be a problem for many of us, it's nice to hear of your success letting nature take care of them. The birds are also a great benefit to the health of the garden - I didn't realize the sparrows were fond of aphids! May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day --Native American Proverb |
Name: Janet Super Sleuth Near Lincoln UK JRsbugs Sep 2, 2011 5:52 PM CST |
| Christine, did you see the photos I have of tiny wasps carrying young aphids to their nests in logs? There's several of them, and they were coming and going bringing aphids at quite a pace. The wasps are only about 6mm or 1/4" long! http://cubits.org/buglife/thre... I have a photo somewhere of a House Sparrow picking aphids off Lupins, but I have seen them on roses too. They have a very varied diet, I got a photo once of one going to the nest under the roof tiles with a variety of bugs, larvae and insects, they land on the guttering. |
Name: Linda Medina Co., TX (Zone 8a)      LindaTX8 Sep 2, 2011 9:44 PM CST |
| Nice article! Not many insects around here this summer, good or bad. I do have a bit of difficulty accepting the bugs that prey on butterfly caterpillars. And since the preying mantis killed one of our hummingbirds...well, that was pretty hard to take! But most of the beneficials are welcome here! I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. E. B.White Integrity can never be taken. It can only be given, and I wasn't going to give it up to these people. Gary Mowad |
Name: Christine North East Texas (Zone 7b) wildflowers Sep 3, 2011 7:59 AM CST |
| Janet, how amazing to capture those little wasps carrying off the aphids - very interesting! I love watching the birds in the garden also! Recently I was having bad thoughts about a robberfly that was hanging around the sunflowers, possibly looking for unsuspecting bees - about the time it landed on the walkway, a bird swooped down and snatched it up! LOL! It was a reminder that nature will take care of things!! Linda, I remember that little hummingbird, it was so sad! As a matter of fact, I thought about it the other day ~ when I went to fill the hummingbird feeders, there was a praying mantis hanging upside down right next to one of the feeders! He was relocated!!  May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day --Native American Proverb |
Name: Myriam Ghent, Belgium (Zone 8a)    bonitin Sep 3, 2011 9:42 AM CST |
Great article Christine!  It sure will add to more conscientiousness for others to think twice before using any pesticides! Nature does take care of itself given natural conditions! Thank you! |
Name: Brenda Dolores, Colorado      bsavage Sep 3, 2011 9:44 AM CST |
| What a great article! Very informative, and the pictures really help in identifying the beneficials. Now, how do I get rid of earwigs and about a billion ants? (I know ants can be good, but our gardens are a bit overrun with them!). |
Name: Christine North East Texas (Zone 7b) wildflowers Sep 4, 2011 7:18 AM CST |
| Hi Myriam, thank you!! It's so true, I love seeing the bugs in the garden, it lets me know everything is going well with nature. As Linda said, there really are less bugs of any kind in the garden this year, with this Texas heat-drought we're having. Brenda, I remember calling the earwigs "Pincher bugs" LOL. Here is an interesting link about them: http://www.buzzle.com/articles... May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day --Native American Proverb |
Name: Carole Clarksville, TN (Zone 6b) SongofJoy Sep 4, 2011 8:26 AM CST |
An update today ... I suppose this is what's known as hanging on by a thread.   The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched -- they must be felt with the heart. ~ Helen Keller |
Name: Christine North East Texas (Zone 7b) wildflowers Sep 4, 2011 9:19 AM CST |
| Eeek! I think so! HA! Thank you for the update - very interesting! I must admit that those tomato hornworms cause me to shudder! LOL I would be so lucky to see one in that condition this year! I've found more tomato horn worms than tomatoes!! Had to use the needle nose plyers to pry their little legs from the plant  it works well! and then the chickens are standing by for a little treat! Looking to attract more beneficials next year myself! May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day --Native American Proverb |
Name: Brenda Dolores, Colorado bsavage Sep 4, 2011 10:30 AM CST |
| Thanks for the link on earwigs, Christine. Thank goodness we don't have any in the house! That would freak me out. |
Name: Linda Medina Co., TX (Zone 8a) LindaTX8 Sep 4, 2011 11:29 AM CST |
| Poor caterpillar! Well, we don't usually see tomato hornworms here...very rare to see one. The other hornworms are here sometimes, but mostly just to eat tree leaves and not in great numbers of caterpillars, so not a big deal. I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. E. B.White Integrity can never be taken. It can only be given, and I wasn't going to give it up to these people. Gary Mowad |
Name: Margaret Near Kamloops, BC, Canada (Zone 3a)      mcash70 Sep 4, 2011 2:47 PM CST |
| Great article Christine, I really enjoyed reading it. I do not use bug sprays, I love to see all of the different bugs and spiders in my garden. |
Name: Sheila F Fort Worth TX (Zone 8a)    Sheila_FW Sep 4, 2011 6:07 PM CST |
Informative article.....but I am with LindaTX. I would kill the caterpillar and all of the wasp eggs it is harboring. Farmers purchase and release them in mass on their crops, and they multiply. Some of those wasp will more than likely be killing our Monarchs and Swallowtails that we care about in the next few weeks by planting their eggs in those caterpillars. Because of the short life of the Monarch the parasite eats their insides. So when it makes it's chrysalis (if it lives that long), there is nothing there to become the beautiful butterfly.   Edited to add a link on the subject. http://www.butterflyfunfacts.c...  |
Name: josephine Arlington, Texas (Zone 8a) Hi Everybody!! Let us talk native. frostweed Sep 4, 2011 6:31 PM CST |
| I kill those too, no need to harbor too many butterfly predators. Wildflowers are the Smiles of Nature. Gardening with Texas Native Plants and Wildflowers. |
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