Beneficial Insects in Action - Ladybugs and Parasitic Wasps

One of a gardeners biggest headaches is dealing with aphids. They multiple rapidly, and are hard to get to by spraying since they are generally under the bottom of the leaves. Rather than spraying, sometimes it helps to use natural methods, beneficial insects. Ladybugs are well known for eating aphids and other soft-bodied pests. I released a few thousand into my greenhouses earlier this year. The ladybugs really enjoyed themselves, but they didn’t stay around very long.

During my studies of beneficial insects, I ran across a parasitic wasp called Aphidius. It hunts down aphids and injects an egg inside them which eventually feeds on the aphid and hatches out another wasp. I noticed some of these in my greenhouses and tried very hard to avoid any spraying. The wasp populations began to grow. And even though I still have a few aphids to deal with, I can see that I have plenty of help. The tiny wasps are not easy to see, but by looking for the cocoons, I can see that they are still hard at work.

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