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Beneficial Insects

© Murdo Morrison

The use of the terms 'weed' and 'pest' really depends on the perspective of the person using them. For example, dandelion and burdock, two plants that have given their name to a British soft drink, are widely considered to be noxious intruders into gardens. However, both are also prized by many as nutritional foods. One person's weed is another's health food.

With insects too it pays to know who your friends are. Before you reach for that spray can, think twice. The chemicals you spray will also inevitably kill many insects that are helping to keep the pests under control. Many beneficial insects will be killed off with the 'pests' but it is very likely that some of the pests will remain due to resistance to the pesticide you are using. You will unintentionally have helped select a new generation of pests that will be unaffected by the spray.

Spraying, even of so-called 'environmentally safe' solutions should be the choice of last resort. It is much better to have a garden where natural controls operate. A garden where birds and beneficial insects are found is much more likely to be in balance. In this scenario there will always be some pests around but their numbers will be held in check by their natural predators.

What are beneficial insects? It helps to think about the big picture. Pests, although sometimes troublesome to gardeners, play an important role in the environment. Without prey there can be no beneficials. Therefore, your goal should not be to totally eliminate all pests. In some sense they are also beneficial as part of a balanced ecosystem.

Perhaps the most obvious beneficial insects in any garden are the bees. Everyone thinks of honeybees but there are many wild bees and wasps that are important for pollination and natural pest control. Some species of wasps are parasitic to a number of pests. These wasps lay their eggs in their target prey and the developing larvae feed off the host. Even yellowjackets can play an important role in control of pests by using them as food for their developing young.

Another group of beneficial insects that are often thought of as nuisances are various species of flies. Like parasitic wasps, tachinid flies lay their eggs or larvae on a variety of pests including corn borers and cutworms. Syrphid flies which are often mistaken for bees or wasps are parasitic to aphids.

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