GARDEN TALK
Benefiting from
Beneficial Bugs
Now that spring planting is
over and you’re enjoying the
benefi ts of all of your effort,
this is a great time to let others
help you maintain your garden.
One of the most overlooked and
undervalued allies in maintaining
and promoting a healthy garden
are insects. Insects perform
important “ecosystem services”
that are benefi cial to all of our
gardens and the environment. They
are vital as pollinators, meaning
they are essential for most food
crops and fl owering plants, and
many are important predators
of “pests” in backyard gardens.
Did you know the reason some
insects don’t become pests is due
to other predatory insects in the
environment? These insects are
known as “benefi cial” insects.
What does it mean to be
“benefi cial”? The concept of
benefi cial is actually a term that is
only really appropriate when applied
to desired goals from a human
perspective. In farming/agriculture,
where the goal is to produce
selected crops. Insects that
hinder the production
process are classifi ed
as pests, while
insects that assist
production
are
Lacewing: a predator insect who eats backyard pests.
considered benefi cial. Out of about
a million species of insects, humans
consider less than three percent as
pests. Learning to identify and value
the benefi cial garden insects for the
necessary roles they play is benefi cial
to you and the environment.
What are some of the more
common benefi cial insect species
you might fi nd in your garden?
Praying mantids, green lacewings,
assassin bugs, lady beetles and stag
beetles.
So, what can you do to promote
and attract these benefi cial insects
to your garden?
• Minimize or don’t use pesticides.
The most important thing you
can do to protect and encourage
benefi cial insects in your garden
and land-
18 • Louisville Zoo Trunkline • Summer 2017
scape is to choose insecticides
with care. Many "benefi cials"
are more sensitive to the insec-
ticides than the pests you are
trying to control.
• Choose native plant species
for your garden. Pollinators are
attracted to a wide variety of
native species and many adult
predator insects also feed on
nectar and pollen. Provide a
small source of water for benefi -
cial insects by putting out a shal-
low dish of water with stones to
allow them dry places to land.
Be sure to clean it often so you
don’t attract mosquitos!
• Consider creating a ‘No Mow
Zone’ in your yard if possible.
This is a designated area that
is only mowed only one or two
times a year and allows native
plants to regenerate through
succession.
Treat these benefi cial
insects like your gardening
allies, and they are sure
to become one of your
favorite garden addi-
tions.
Happy gardening!