Attracting beneficial insects
Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2021 3:58 pm
The best way to protect the garden is to enlist an army of beneficial insects and other animals to come live in your garden.
We often only concentrate only on the plants of interest to us whether they be plants in the vegetable garden or ornamental plants and trees. We should treat our whole garden space and its surroundings as a micro ecosystem. Plants will thrive if the right plant is in the right place and there is a balance between predator and prey.
Attracting beneficial insects and other animals depends on just doing some planning to include shrubs, trees, some bare ground, piles of rocks or hollow tubes (logs or pvc pipe), and a source of clean water especially during the dry months to provide habitat. Some birds are welcome because they do eat insects, and other things like reptiles and mice, others not so welcome because they feed mostly on seed and fruit. A chicken does eat insects and slugs, but they will also eat your lettuce and seedlings so you do need to strike a balance somehow. Frogs and toads do eat ants, and small flying insects like mosquitoes and flies. Toads will also eat slugs and snails.
Beneficial insects need to have a reliable food source. The larvae do more than the adults in controlling pests like aphids, caterpillars, whitefly, and other pests. However, the adults usually feed on nectar and pollen as well. Certain plant families will help keep them around longer.
Carrot family (apiaceae)
Members of this family attract parasitic wasps and flies and provide nectar and pollen to other beneficial insects like lady bugs and bees. Fennel, dill, carrots, Queen Anne's lace, parsley, coriander, caraway, and cumin. Most of these plants have culinary uses but if they are allowed to bloom, they will also provide pollen and nectar for beneficial insects.
Aster family (asteraceae)
The development of genome mapping has changed the names of many plant families and shifted plants from one family to another. The asteraceae now contain many common flowering plants in the garden. Asters, daisies, blanket flower, sunflower, cosmos, marigolds, coreopsis, echinacea, golden marguerite, and yarrow. These flowers attract bees, butterflies, soldier beetles and ladybugs. You will need to deadhead many of these plants unless you have a meadow and don't mind them reseeding.
Legumes like peas, hairy vetch, cowpea, sun hemp, alfalfa, fava bean, clover are grown as cover crops but also attract many beneficial insects when they are in bloom. Cowpeas can be a trap crop for black aphids as well.
Mustard family (brassicaceae)
Ever wonder why your cabbage crops are such magnets for pests. Well, it is because they are! They also attract many different predator species as well. However it is best to keep the cabbage family separated from other plants that the pests also like. Pests attracted will be the cabbage worm, cabbage looper, aphids, white flies, cut worms, and diamond back moth. These crops may need some extra attention and protection (like growing in hoop houses or under row covers or insect netting.) Sweet alyssum, rocket, and wild mustard can be grown as trap crops far from the garden to lure pests away and attract predators. Alyssum will be visited by bees that will collect pollen, but honey bees' tongues are too short to reach the nectar. Longer tongued bees and butterflies will benefit.
Verbena family
Verbena, vervain, and lantana are attractive to a number of beneficial insects. However, this family can be invasive unless they flowers are cut off before they can produce seeds. There are some newer lantana that are seedless, so they don't provide pollen for beneficial insects.
Some plants like nasturtiums and marigolds will serve as trap crops to lure pests away from other crops. While attracting beneficial predators that will feed on the pests. Specific trap crops can be planted around fields so they can attract pests and be selectively treated. Sun Hemp and some varieties of marigolds can help reduce nematode populations if planted as a cover crop. Fennel attracts aphids as well as provides food for ladybug larvae and flowers produce nectar and pollen for many beneficial insects. Trap crops should be planted away from the plants you want to protect.
Timing is everything. There should be a variety of flowering plants throughout the growing season to provide food for beneficial insects and predators. Early, middle and late bloomers wanted.
Attracting beneficial insects will improve crop pollination (yields) and lesson the need and impact of dependence on chemicals to control pests. This helps everyone in the environment, including us. Biological controls will never get 100% of all the pests or stop all the damage. If all the pests disappeared so would the predators. You need to strike a balance and decide the threshold level for damage that can be tolerated. You can use other methods like physical barriers, hand picking, trap cropping, and choosing what and where to plant to minimize damage.
https://www.farmerfred.com/plants_that_attract_benefi.html
https://www.pollinator.org/7things
https://ipm.missouri.edu/MEG/2017/3/Trap_cropping/
We often only concentrate only on the plants of interest to us whether they be plants in the vegetable garden or ornamental plants and trees. We should treat our whole garden space and its surroundings as a micro ecosystem. Plants will thrive if the right plant is in the right place and there is a balance between predator and prey.
Attracting beneficial insects and other animals depends on just doing some planning to include shrubs, trees, some bare ground, piles of rocks or hollow tubes (logs or pvc pipe), and a source of clean water especially during the dry months to provide habitat. Some birds are welcome because they do eat insects, and other things like reptiles and mice, others not so welcome because they feed mostly on seed and fruit. A chicken does eat insects and slugs, but they will also eat your lettuce and seedlings so you do need to strike a balance somehow. Frogs and toads do eat ants, and small flying insects like mosquitoes and flies. Toads will also eat slugs and snails.
Beneficial insects need to have a reliable food source. The larvae do more than the adults in controlling pests like aphids, caterpillars, whitefly, and other pests. However, the adults usually feed on nectar and pollen as well. Certain plant families will help keep them around longer.
Carrot family (apiaceae)
Members of this family attract parasitic wasps and flies and provide nectar and pollen to other beneficial insects like lady bugs and bees. Fennel, dill, carrots, Queen Anne's lace, parsley, coriander, caraway, and cumin. Most of these plants have culinary uses but if they are allowed to bloom, they will also provide pollen and nectar for beneficial insects.
Aster family (asteraceae)
The development of genome mapping has changed the names of many plant families and shifted plants from one family to another. The asteraceae now contain many common flowering plants in the garden. Asters, daisies, blanket flower, sunflower, cosmos, marigolds, coreopsis, echinacea, golden marguerite, and yarrow. These flowers attract bees, butterflies, soldier beetles and ladybugs. You will need to deadhead many of these plants unless you have a meadow and don't mind them reseeding.
Legumes like peas, hairy vetch, cowpea, sun hemp, alfalfa, fava bean, clover are grown as cover crops but also attract many beneficial insects when they are in bloom. Cowpeas can be a trap crop for black aphids as well.
Mustard family (brassicaceae)
Ever wonder why your cabbage crops are such magnets for pests. Well, it is because they are! They also attract many different predator species as well. However it is best to keep the cabbage family separated from other plants that the pests also like. Pests attracted will be the cabbage worm, cabbage looper, aphids, white flies, cut worms, and diamond back moth. These crops may need some extra attention and protection (like growing in hoop houses or under row covers or insect netting.) Sweet alyssum, rocket, and wild mustard can be grown as trap crops far from the garden to lure pests away and attract predators. Alyssum will be visited by bees that will collect pollen, but honey bees' tongues are too short to reach the nectar. Longer tongued bees and butterflies will benefit.
Verbena family
Verbena, vervain, and lantana are attractive to a number of beneficial insects. However, this family can be invasive unless they flowers are cut off before they can produce seeds. There are some newer lantana that are seedless, so they don't provide pollen for beneficial insects.
Some plants like nasturtiums and marigolds will serve as trap crops to lure pests away from other crops. While attracting beneficial predators that will feed on the pests. Specific trap crops can be planted around fields so they can attract pests and be selectively treated. Sun Hemp and some varieties of marigolds can help reduce nematode populations if planted as a cover crop. Fennel attracts aphids as well as provides food for ladybug larvae and flowers produce nectar and pollen for many beneficial insects. Trap crops should be planted away from the plants you want to protect.
Timing is everything. There should be a variety of flowering plants throughout the growing season to provide food for beneficial insects and predators. Early, middle and late bloomers wanted.
Attracting beneficial insects will improve crop pollination (yields) and lesson the need and impact of dependence on chemicals to control pests. This helps everyone in the environment, including us. Biological controls will never get 100% of all the pests or stop all the damage. If all the pests disappeared so would the predators. You need to strike a balance and decide the threshold level for damage that can be tolerated. You can use other methods like physical barriers, hand picking, trap cropping, and choosing what and where to plant to minimize damage.
https://www.farmerfred.com/plants_that_attract_benefi.html
https://www.pollinator.org/7things
https://ipm.missouri.edu/MEG/2017/3/Trap_cropping/