Beneficial insects, also known as beneficial predators, can help to prevent or lower problems with insects and pest in your yard.
Most insects found in your yard do not harm plants, however others will feed on your plants and often destroy them. Beneficial insects can limit and in some cases completely prevent pest problems in your garden.
There are two main types of beneficial insect:
- Predators, such as ladybugs, lacewings and spiders, actively search out and eat other insect prey.
- Parasites develop in or on a single host from eggs or larvae deposited by the adult parasite. Common insect parasites are tachinid flies and certain types of wasp.
Using beneficial insects rather than chemical pesticides can be an effective way to keep your yard pest-free. Broad-spectrum chemical pesticides not only kill the bad bugs in your garden, they wipe out the good bugs as well. If you eradicate all the natural predators from your yard, there’s nothing left to defend it from returning pests.
You can buy and release beneficial insects for pest and insect control. They are available from sources such as gardening catalogs and magazines. Contact your local County Cooperative Extension Service, a nursery, or a garden association for information on how to attract and protect beneficial predators.
Source: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
