With the multitude of bugs flying and crawling around your garden, it can be difficult to know which are best to have near or on your plants. Knowing which insects to keep can be very helpful. This is a guide about identifying beneficial garden insects.
My general rule of thumb: the ladybug, praying mantis, and spider can stay. Grasshoppers, ants, aphids, beetles, slugs, snails, and any other bug I find on or under the leaves must go. I've also had termites in mulch before, and read that they won't harm plants so I left them and they moved on. This is about bugs, but as a side note, lizards and toads should also be welcomed in the garden.
By Ash
I have a food garden and I see a lot of different bugs. There are wasps, ants, different flies, and so on, including some bees. Which bugs are good and which bugs are bad for your garden? Is there a natural insecticide for your garden? What can I do? I am hoping that there is either a home solution or some product I can buy that is very environmentally safe, but also effective. Thank you.
By Emmauel Y.
By Tapestry Lady
08/13/2011
Bees are always good! Unless you're having a problem with something damaging your crops I wouldn't do anything. Gardens are like miniature ecosystems and using pest control when you don't need it can upset the balance. Otherwise have a look into organic gardening techniques and biological pest control, like bringing in ladybugs if you have an aphid problem. :-)
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