Home and Living

Eek! A bug! This scream, or one very similar to it, can be hear throughout homes and gardens in the spring and summer months. Seeing that the garden is the closest many hobby gardeners get to actually spending some time in the great outdoors, it is not surprising that some are revolted if not scared by the little strange looking creatures. Usually a hasty retreat to the poison cabinet follows that scream, and the bugs are then eradicated with the help of household chemicals and pesticides.

Yet, did you know that some bugs are actually good to have around? While it is hard to believe that there are actually bugs out there you would want to have crawling around on your rose bush, there are some species that keep destructive and perhaps even dangerous pests to a minimum - all without the use of harmful chemicals that can make you, your family, or your family pets sick.

You do not need to be an organic gardener to appreciate these beneficial bugs, and the following is but a small contingent of the bugs you want in your garden - your handbook to beneficial bugs, so to speak.

Starting off with the predators, these bugs will see the annoying pests in your yard as an open invitation buffet and eat heartily:

• Did you know that the daddy longlegs you might be scared to have in your house actually are great for the job of pest control in your garden? They love to live around strawberries apples, corn, and even potatoes, and will eat aphids, caterpillars, and even slugs.
• Green lacewings are a beautiful insect, but it is their larvae that are the actual killers. Living in the neighborhoods of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, strawberries, and whatever else in your hard may be host to an aphid infestation; these little insects devour aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, moths, and other harmful insects.
• Quite possibly everyone’s favorite is the lady bug. Whatever plant or tree in your yard may sport an active aphid population is also where ladybugs can be found. Once aphids are gobbled up, ladybugs will turn to moth eggs, mites, and other small pests.

Another kind of bug, by extension, is the simple roundworm called a nematode. While to humans roundworms have long since spelled trouble, gardeners have taken to separating those troublemakers from what is termed “beneficial nematodes” which actually help in controlling soil-living pests, such as slugs, root weevils, and cutworms.

The third kind of beneficial bug is the one tied to actually controlling weeds rather than other bugs. Many times a specific type of weed or undesirable plant is closely tied to a bug that will eat it or prevent its spread. For example, the melaleuca weevil is directly responsible for keeping melaleuca tree spread under control. While in 1906 it was thought that this type of tree was a wonderful addition to the North-American continent, merely 100 years later gardeners have begun to add this tree to the invasive weed kind, which chokes out other native plants. While the little weevils do not stop the trees from growing, their systematic destruction of the plants slows down the plants’ ability to grow and reproduce, as well as make the trees more susceptible to other diseases. Another example of a bug acting as a beneficial agent to control a weed that is deemed undesirable is the Alligatorweed Flea Beetle, which has actually been used by the agricultural department to successfully combat alligatorweed.

Last but not least are the parasites, which are actually useful in controlling unwanted insects. While wasps are pretty high on the list, not everyone is willing to have wasps in their backyard to deter other species of insects from taking up residence. Probably the biggest problem with parasitic insects is the fact that the process of killing the undesirable insect is rather long, leaving it to do a lot of damage before finally succumbing to the effects of the parasitic intrusion.

As you can see, there are many beneficial bugs out there that many a gardener should be happy to host in her or his garden. While at first it may feel a bit odd to overcome the impulse of heading for the pesticide spray bottle, it is in the long run a wise and healthy choice to let nature’s beneficial bugs take care of your nuisance pests.