GreenYour.com

Introduce beneficial predators to keep insects away from your home, garden, yard, or farm. Introducing beneficial predators reduces or eliminates the need for toxic pesticides that can harm people, pets, and the environment.

How to introduce beneficial predators

Beneficial predators can often easily be attracted naturally, but in the case of benefical insect predators, many can also simply be purchased through garden supply retailers and introduced as necessary.

The type of pest that is present will determine what kind of predator or predators you will want to attract or introduce. See the links below for identification tools to determine what pests you need to control.

Here is a list of some common pests and the predators you can introduce or attract to control them:[1][2]

• aphids - controlled by aphidius, hoverflies, lacewings, ladybugs, pirate bugs
• caterpillars - controlled by ground beetles, tachinid flies, brachonids, chalcids, ichneumon wasps
• fungus gnats - controlled by beneficial mites
• grubs - controlled by ground beetles, spring tiphia wasps
• mites - controlled by lacewings, ladybugs, pirate bugs
• scales - contolled by lacewings, ladybugs, pirate bugs
• slugs - controlled by ground beetles
• spidermites - controlled by beneficial mites
• thrips - controlled by beneficial mites, dicyphus, pirate bugs
• whiteflies - controlled by dicyphus, ladybugs, parasitic wasps, pirate bugs

Many beneficial predators can be attracted simply by growing the plants that they prefer. Here is a list of beneficial predators and the plants that attract them:[1][2]

• aphidius - lupin, sunflowers
• beneficial mites - Helianthus annulus, shasta daisy
• dicyphus - digitalis, Verbascum thaspus
• ground beetles - amaranthus
• hoverflies - alyssum, Convulvulus minor, coreopsis, Cosmos bipinnatus, Iberis umbellata, lupin, parsley, pincushion flower, Queen Anne's lace, statice, yarrow
• lacewings - Angelica gigas, dill, Cosmos bipannatus, fennel, Queen Anne's lace, tansy
• ladybugs - Angelica gigas, dill, Convulvulus minor, fennel, Queen Anne's lace, tansy, yarrow
• parasitic wasps - statice, lemon balm, parsley, yarrow
• pirate bugs - Helianthus annulus, shasta daisy, sunflowers

Another good all-purpose insect predator is the praying mantis, which eats a wide variety of insects. However, they will also eat other beneficial predators, so they should not be used in conjunction with other species.

Insect predators are merely one type of predator that you may wish to attract. There are many birds, reptiles, and mammals that are also beneficial predators and can help control pest populations. Providing a bird or bat house can help attract these helpful predators.

Find it! Beneficial predators

Introducing beneficial predators helps you go green because…

• It helps you to control pests like insects without the use of commercial chemical pesticides that can harm you, your family, pets, and wildlife.
• It avoids using chemical pesticides except as a last resort, which can prevent other pest problems. For example, using chemical insecticides can lead to resistant populations, and by killing beneficial predators can even lead to rebound population explosions in the future.

In 2001, over 3 billion dollars worth of insecticides were purchased in the US, representing over one-third of the total world market.[3] Nearly $1.3 billion was spent on insecticides for home and garden use, nearly as much as that used for commercial agriculture.

Exposure to small amounts of chemical pesticides can cause serious health problems in humans (especially children) and pets, and even those who do not use pesticides can suffer from their pervasive use. Pesticides may also harm the habitat of endangered species because of drift, runoff, or leachates that may contaminate the water, soil, or vegetation used by the species. Both the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon became endangered because of the use of the insecticide DDT, but populations rebounded after use of the insecticide was banned.[4]

Related health issues

The health effects of exposure to bug sprays depends on the type of bug spray used and the level of exposure, but they are all toxic to some degree. Chemical bug sprays and fumigants can irritate the skin or eyes, affect the central nervous system (carbamates and organophosphates), disrupt the endocrine system, and some may be potent carcinogens. Extreme caution should be exercised when using these products and exposure to humans and animals should be minimized as much as possible.

External links

• PestWorld for Kids Pest identification and information guide for kids; good basic information source for adults as well.
• Texas A&M Plant Pest Identification Aid Pest identification guide for common outdoor pests.
• Department of Entomology, University of Nebraska Image and information guide to insects.
• Gordon's Key to Insect Orders Comprehensive key to identifying insects.
• University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program Useful resource for identifying pests with suggestions for managing them.
• National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service