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Plants That Attract Beneficial Insects

Nature is filled with "good bugs", crawling and flying creatures whose diet consists mainly of the pests that ravage garden plants. Here is a list of those good bugs and the plants that they like to visit for food and shelter. Intersperse these plants among the "problem pest areas" in your yard. Remember, though: Many chemical sprays work on both bad and good bugs. To keep the good bugs in your yard, eliminate insecticide use in the areas where they live and work. Our thanks to Steve Zien of Living Resources Company for helping to match up the good bugs with good homes. For more information about beneficial insects, there are two wonderful books (which include the pictures below) from the University of California Press, both written by UC Davis Entomologist Mary Louise Flint: "Pests of the Garden and Small Farm" and "The Natural Enemies Handbook".

 

 

LACEWINGS (Chrysopa spp.)

Beautiful little green or brown insects with large lacy wings. Individual white eggs are found laid on the ends of inch-long stiff threads. It is the larvae (which look like little alligators) that destroy most of the pests. They are sometimes called aphid lions for their habit of dining on aphids. They also feed on mites, other small insects and insect eggs.

The lacewing, which is also attracted to well-lit windows and screens on spring and summer evenings. 

Plants that attract lacewings:

 

Achillea filipendulina Fern-leaf yarrow

Anethum graveolens Dill

Angelica gigas Angelica

Anthemis tinctoria Golden marguerite

Atriplex canescens Four-wing saltbush

Callirhoe involucrata Purple poppy mallow

Carum Carvi Caraway

Coriandrum sativum Coriander

Cosmos bipinnatus Cosmos white sensation

Daucus Carota Queen Anne's lace

Foeniculum vulgare Fennel

Helianthus maximilianii Prairie sunflower

Tanacetum vulgare Tansy

Taraxacum officinale Dandelion

 

 

LADYBUGS

Recognized when they are adults by most gardeners. However, the young larvae, black with orange markings, eat more pests than the adults, and they can't fly. Yellowish eggs are laid in clusters usually on the undersides of leaves.

 

Plants that attract ladybugs:

 

Achillea filipendulina Fern-leaf yarrow

Achillea millefolium Common yarrow

Ajuga reptans Carpet bugleweed

Alyssum saxatilis Basket of Gold

Anethum graveolens Dill

Anthemis tinctoria Golden marguerite

Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly weed

Atriplex canescens Four-wing saltbush

Coriandrum sativum Coriander

Daucus Carota Queen Anne's lace

Fagopyrum esculentum Buckwheat

Foeniculum vulgare Fennel

Helianthus maximilianii Prairie sunflower

Penstemon strictus Rocky Mt. penstemon

Potentilla recta 'warrenii' Sulfur cinquefoil

Potentilla villosa Alpine cinquefoil

Tagetes tenuifolia Marigold - lemon gem

Tanacetum vulgare Tansy

Taraxacum officinale Dandelion

Veronica spicata Spike speedwell

Vicia villosa Hairy vetch

 

 

HOVERFLIES

Also known as syrphid fly, hover fly or flower fly. Adults look like little bees that hover over and dart quickly away. They don't sting! They lay eggs (white, oval, laid singly or in groups on leaves) which hatch into green, yellow, brown, orange, or white half-inch maggots that look like caterpillars. They raise up on their hind legs to catch and feed on aphids, mealybugs and others.

 

Plants that attract hoverflies:

 

Achillea filipendulina Fern-leaf yarrow

Achillea millefolium Common yarrow

Ajuga reptans Carpet bugleweed

Allium tanguticum Lavender globe lily

Alyssum saxatilis Basket of Gold

Anethum graveolens Dill

Anthemis tinctoria Golden marguerite

Aster alpinus Dwarf alpine aster

Astrantia major Masterwort

Atriplex canescens Four-wing saltbush

Callirhoe involucrata Purple poppy mallow

Carum Carvi Caraway

Chrysanthemum parthenium Feverfew

Coriandrum sativum Coriander

Cosmos bipinnatus Cosmos white sensation

Daucus Carota Queen Anne's lace

Fagopyrum esculentum Buckwheat

Foeniculum vulgare Fennel

Lavandula angustifolia English lavender

Limnanthes douglasii Poached egg plant

Limonium latifolium Statice

Linaria vulgaris Butter and eggs

Lobelia erinus Edging lobelia

Lobularia maritima Sweet alyssum - white

Melissa officinalis Lemon balm

Mentha pulegium Pennyroyal

Mentha spicata Spearmint

Monarda fistulosa Wild bergamot

Penstemon strictus Rocky Mt. penstemon

Petroselinum crispum Parsley

Potentilla recta 'warrenii' Sulfur cinquefoil

Potentilla villosa Alpine cinquefoil

Rudbeckia fulgida Gloriosa daisy

Sedum kamtschaticum Orange stonecrop

Sedum spurium & album Stonecrops

Solidago virgaurea Peter Pan goldenrod

Stachys officinalis Wood betony

Tagetes tenuifolia Marigold - lemon gem

Thymus serpylum coccineus Crimson thyme

Veronica spicata Spike speedwell

Zinnia elegans Zinnia - liliput

 

 

PARASITIC MINI-WASPS

Parasites of a variety of insects. They do not sting! The stingers have been adapted to allow the females to lay their eggs in the bodies of insect pests. The eggs then hatch, and the young feed on the pests from the inside, killing them. After they have killed the pests, they leave hollow "mummies."

Braconid wasps feed on moth, beetle and fly larvae, moth eggs, various insect pupae and adults. If you see lots of white capsules on the backs of a caterpillar, these are the braconid cocoons--leave the dying caterpillar alone!

Ichneumonid wasps control moth, butterfly, beetle and fly larvae and pupae. Trichogramma wasps lay their eggs in the eggs of moths (hungry caterpillars-to-be), killing them and turning them black.

 

The black dot in the middle of the picture is an emerging encarsia wasp, which is hatching out of an immature stage of a (now dead) whitefly. The wasp lays its eggs onto young whiteflies.

Plants that attract parasitic mini-wasps:

 

Achillea filipendulina Fern-leaf yarrow

Achillea millefolium Common yarrow

Allium tanguticum Lavender globe lily

Anethum graveolens Dill

Anthemis tinctoria Golden marguerite

Astrantia major Masterwort

Callirhoe involucrata Purple poppy mallow

Carum Carvi Caraway

Coriandrum sativum Coriander

Cosmos bipinnatus Cosmos white sensation

Daucus Carota Queen Anne's lace

Foeniculum vulgare Fennel

Limonium latifolium Statice

Linaria vulgaris Butter and eggs

Lobelia erinus Edging lobelia

Lobularia maritima Sweet alyssum - white

Melissa officinalis Lemon balm

Mentha pulegium Pennyroyal

Petroselinum crispum Parsley

Potentilla recta 'warrenii' Sulfur cinquefoil

Potentilla villosa Alpine cinquefoil

Sedum kamtschaticum Orange stonecrop

Tagetes tenuifolia Marigold - lemon gem

Tanacetum vulgare Tansy

Thymus serpylum coccineus Crimson thyme

Zinnia elegans Zinnia - liliput

 

 

TACHINID FLIES

Parasites of caterpillars (corn earworm, imported cabbage worm, cabbage looper, cutworms, armyworms), stink bug, squash bug nymphs, beetle and fly larvae, some true bugs, and beetles. Adults are 1/3 to 1/2 inch long. White eggs are deposited on foliage or on the body of the host (in the picture below, the tachinid fly is approaching the larvae of an elm leaf beetle). Larvae are internal parasites, feeding within the body of the host, sucking its body fluids to the point the pest dies.

 

Plants that attract tachinid flies:

 

Anthemis tinctoria Golden marguerite

Fagopyrum esculentum Buckwheat

Melissa officinalis Lemon balm

Mentha pulegium Pennyroyal

Petroselinum crispum Parsley

Phacelia tanacetifolia Phacelia

Tanacetum vulgare Tansy

Thymus serpyllum coccineus Crimson thyme

 

 

 

MINUTE PIRATE BUGS (Orius spp.)

Tiny (1/20 inch long) bugs that feed on almost any small insect or mite, including thrips, aphids, mites, scales, whiteflies and soft-bodied arthropods, but are particularly attracted to thrips in spring.

 

DAMSEL BUGS (Nabis spp.)

Feed on aphids, leafhoppers, plant bugs, and even small caterpillars as adults and nymphs (teenagers). They are usually dull brown and resemble other plant bugs that are pests. Their heads are usually longer and narrower then most plant feeding species (the better to eat with).

 

 

BIG EYED BUGS (Geocoris spp.)

Small (1/4 inch long), grayish-beige, oval shaped) bugs with large eyes that feed on many small insects (e.g., leaf hoppers, spider mites), insect eggs, and mites, as both nymphs and adults. Eggs are football shaped, whitish-gray with red spots.

 

Plants that attract minute pirate bugs, damsel bugs and big eyed bugs:

 

Carum Carvi Caraway

Cosmos bipinnatus Cosmos - white sensation

Foeniculum vulgare Fennel

Medicago sativa Alfalfa

Mentha spicata Spearmint

Solidago virgaurea Peter Pan goldenrod

Tagetes tenuifolia Marigold - lemon gem

 

 

 

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