Protect Your Garden with Beneficial Bugs
(Page 3 of 6)
August/September 2004
By Barbara Pleasant
Other research has shown that well-fed beneficial insects often lay twice as many eggs as those that must get by on a meager supply of nectar and pollen. Obviously, the relationships between plants, pests and beneficial insects are intricate, characterized by a level of intelligence that is beyond our present understanding. Yet one thing is clear, researcher Felton says: “Conserving natural enemies is a valuable tool for pest control.”
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Farmscaping Basics
Dr. Robert Bugg of the University of California at Davis coined the word “farmscaping” to describe the deliberate use of plants and landscaping techniques to attract and conserve beneficials, which include insects and birds. “It’s what the Europeans call ‘zones of ecological compensation,’” Bugg says.
The idea is to devote 5 percent to 10 percent of your garden or farm space to plants that attract beneficials. Plants that fit the profile include such cultivated species as fennel, coriander and mints, or native plants, which consistently are abuzz with little wasps and flies.
Most beneficial insects can move about when they perceive a plant’s signal that a pest has begun feeding, but they won’t wait around forever if they have nothing to eat. So, it’s important to have host plants that will support the beneficials throughout the season, which means having different plants coming in and out of bloom all summer (see “Flowers to Attract the Good Bugs,” below).
Plants that host beneficial insects in one region may be of little interest to insects in another region, unfortunately. On the West Coast, for example, a native Ceanothus (snowbrush) attracts loads of beneficials in some areas, but not in others. California researcher Bugg says the natives have an edge wherever they may be, and he offered his own back yard as an example. “I have 120 species of California native plants in my back yard, which host an amazing number of insects. It makes all the difference in the world.” Not surprisingly, he adds, most (but not all) of the insects are native species themselves.
Native plants to which insects are partial tend to be big perennials (wild parsnip, elderberry), shrubs (coyote brush in the West, viburnums in the East) or vines such as silverlace or wild clematis. These plants are easy to use in hedgerows or along woodland edges. In addition to outfitting your farm or garden with permanent beneficial borders or hedges that include these long-lived plants, you may want to incorporate strips of flowers that attract beneficials into large swaths of cultivated space, or even planted containers.
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