GOOD BUGS
Ladybirds, spiders, hover flies, lacewings and beetles are some of the 'good bugs' that prey on 'bad bug' insect pests in your crops. For example, 'good' ladybirds and hoverflies prey on 'bad' aphids and mites, while 'good' parasitic wasps prey on 'bad' cabbage white butterfly, aphids, and diamondback moths. As long as you don’t use chemical sprays, these predators will be there when you need them.
Increasing the numbers of 'good bugs' (biocontrol agents) can significantly reduce the insect pest population. However, these bugs are highly susceptible to pesticides, and when exposed to some chemicals the population of predators and parasitoids in the orchard will decline. That is why pest populations sometimes increase after you spray pesticides.
Building up the population of 'the good bugs' is important for your fruit trees. These are some methods of increasing the effectiveness and population of 'good bugs' in your orchard:
- Plant a mixture of herbs and flowers that attract good bugs between your trees or around the orchard's perimeter. Green Harvest sells such seeds already mixed, in packets called 'Good Bug Mix', or you can mix up your own. Here's more information on plants for good bugs.
- Use natural, selective pesticides such as 'Dipel' and fungicides such as 'Mancozeb' (you'll need less of these anyway, if you attract lots of good bugs.) Only spray with paraffin oil, white oil or neem soaps. Even using low toxicity, environmentally friendly insecticides such as pyrethrum or garlic spray to kill aphids will also kill natural predators like ladybirds. And if most of their food source is gone they won’t visit your garden, meaning you have to spray again year after year.
- Increase the biodiversity of your fruits and groundcovers.
- Ladybirds and lacewings prefer moist, warm conditions, so attract them with long frequent watering during dry periods. If this is a problem, then mulching will help retain any water that you are able to use.
- Build a ladybird house. This is not necessary, as ladybirds live on twigs and leaves - but it can be fun.
- Put extra food in your orchard for ladybirds, such as honey mixed with water and brewer's yeast or commercial Ladybird Food Attractant.
- Provide good bug habitats and insectary plants close to the fruit trees you are trying to protect.
- Protect the bugs' route to the orchard by providing cover.
- As numbers of good bugs increase, provide alternative food crops and habitats to maintain a healthy population.
- Attract other useful predators such as skinks and frogs, which eat snails, slugs, grasshoppers, flying insects and aphids.
- Some orchardists buy pheremones that attract good bugs, such as 'Lacewing Liquid Pheremone Attractant' (a compound called 'iridodial', extracted from catnip).
- You can even buy 'good bugs' from commercial sources to help the population become established. Release bought ladybirds after sundset or before dawn. They navigate by the sun, and in the evenings and early mornings they tend to stay put.
Visit the Good Bugs and the Backyard Buddies websites for more information
Flowers and Herbs that Attract Good Bugs
Does your garden provide a nectar source for beneficial, pest-controlling insects? Planting particular flowers and herbs known as insectary plants has been proven to improve the natural balance and reduce pest outbreaks. It is the insect equivalent of planting native flowering shrubs for birds or building ponds to create habitat for frogs.
Green Harvest's Good Bug Mix contains colourful re-seeding annual and perennial flowers including red clover, alyssum, cosmos, marigolds, Queen Anne's Lace, buckwheat, lucerne, dill, caraway, coriander, phacelia and gypsophila.
Good Bug Mix blooms much of the year, providing nectar, pollen and habitat for wild and introduced beneficial insects, such as predatory mites and tiny micro wasps, ladybirds, lacewings, hoverflies, tachnid flies and predatory beetles. These beneficial insects or 'good bugs' are generally small with correspondingly small mouthparts, so they are only able to feed on particular flowers with suitable attributes. By providing a plentiful food supply the 'good bugs' live longer and reproduce more.
You can also create your own mixture of insectary flowers and herbs using our guide.
| Annual Flowers and Herbs |
| Alyssum (Lobularia maritima) -- Attracts hoverflies and parasitic mini-wasps. |
| Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii) is a hoverfly favourite. |
| Basil (Ocimum basilicum) -- The flowers attract bees and other beneficial insects. The aromatic foliage supposedly repels aphids and tomato hornworms. |
| Calendula (Pot Marigold, Calendula officinalis) -- Edible, orange or yellow flower petals. Attracts bees, butterflies and hoverflies. |
| Candytuft (Iberis umbellata) is attractive to hoverflies. |
| Cornflower (Centaurea sp.) -- Attracts lacewings, ladybugs, hoverflies, parasitic mini-wasps, bees and butterflies. |
| Cosmos -- Attracts lacewings, hoverflies and parasitic mini-wasps. |
| Dill (Anethum graveolens) -- The leaves are used in recipes, and the umbel flowers attract lacewings, ladybugs, hoverflies and parasitic mini-wasps. A favorite food of the Eastern black swallowtail butterfly. Can be used as a trap crop for aphids. Self-sows. |
| Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascena) -- This self-sowing annual has beautiful, blue flowers in early summer, followed by ornamental seed pods. The seeds are edible and can be used in fruit salads and baked goods. Nigella sativa (Black Cumin) has spicy, pepper-flavored seeds. |
| Marigold (Tagetes sp.) -- The flowers attract butterflies and hoverflies, and the roots produce a secretion that kills root-eating nematodes in the soil. The flower petals are edible. Mexican marigold (Tagetes lemmonii) releases a pungent sweet menthol aroma when knocked. It also becomes covered in bright golden flowers that attract ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies. |
| Poached Egg Plant (Limnanthes douglasii) The yellow and white flowers of the poached egg plant buzz with insects all day long, so sow it under herbaceous plants, shrubs and soft fruit |
| Umbellifers These attract lacewings, so include fennel, dill or angelica in your borders, or plant sweet cicely and cow parsley in shadier areas.Parasitic wasps and hoverflies are also drawn to flowering heads of dill and fennel, and you could further encourage them by letting some parsley plants go to seed. |
| Zinnia (Zinnia elegans) -- A wonderful flower for attracting hummingbirds, hoverflies, parasitic wasps and butterflies. |
| Perennial Flowers and Herbs |
| Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) -- Edible, licorice-flavored leaves for tea. Spikes of blue flowers attract bees, butterflies and beneficial insects. Blooms the first year from seed. A hyssop hedge makes an attractive edging to orchards. |
Basket of Gold (Alyssum saxatile) -- The bright yellow flowers bloom in November, providing an early food source for ladybugs and hoverflies.
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| Borage (Borago officinalis) - all helpful insects like aromatic herbs, so plant borage. |
| Bronze Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum') -- Handsome bronze foliage. The flowers attract lacewings, ladybugs, hoverflies, parasitic mini-wasps and butterflies, and the foliage feeds swallowtail butterfly larvae. Freshly-ground fennel seeds are great for sausage and spagghetti sauce, and the leaves are used in fish dishes. |
| Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) -- Leaves and flower buds are used in recipes. Makes a nice edging. Deadhead to prevent excessive self-sowing. Attracts bees and butterflies like crazy. |
| Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum) -- The flowers attract bees and beneficial insects. The leaves have a nice, strong garlic flavor. Chives and garlic chives make good companion plants for roses because they repel aphids. |
| Hesperis (Dame's Rocket) -- Pretty purple or white flowers. The young leaves are edible. Attracts bees and butterflies. |
| Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) -- A nice compact lavender for the herb garden. The flowers attract hoverflies and bees. The fragrant foliage is used in potpourri. Blooms the first year from seed. |
| Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) -- The lemon-flavored leaves make a good tea. The tiny flowers attract hoverflies, tachinid flies and parasitic mini-wasps. |
| Mint (Mentha spp) - is said to attract good bugs with its scent. |
| Nettles: If you can bear to, leave a patch of stinging nettles somewhere in the garden. It will attract a species of greenfly that provides food for early ladybird and hoverfly larvae. These then move on to feast on other insect pests. Note: nettles are a weed, though a very useful one! |
| Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) -- The umbel flowers attract hoverflies, tachinid flies and parasitic wasps. Parsley is a favorite food of Eastern black swallowtail butterfly larvae. |
| Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) -- This perennial flower is sometimes listed as n herb because the roots are used in herbal medicine as an immune stimulant. The flowers attract bees and butterflies. |
| Rocky Mountain Penstemon (Penstemon strictus) -- Lovely spikes of blue flowers in December and January. Attracts ladybugs, hoverflies, hummingbirds and bees. |
| Sage (Salvia sp.) -- There are many forms of sage, including culinary sage. They all attract bees and butterflies, and some species attract hummingbirds. |
| Viola -- Let these self-sow wherever they like. They don't disturb the vegetables, and the edible flowers make nice cake decorations. |
| Wallflowers: aphids tend to stick to one type of plant, but their predators are not so fussy. To kickstart pest control, make sure you have some early flowering scented plants, such as wallflowers, to attract early pollinators. |
| Yarrow (Achillia sp.) -- Attracts ladybugs, hoverflies and parasitic mini-wasps. |
| Vegetables & Cereals |
Zucchini, melons and cucumbers.
One of the best ways to attract ladybirds is to grow vegetables of the cucurbit type.
Once the fruit has been harvested during the growing season many people pull the plants out because the leaves become mouldy and mildewy. But those mouldy, mildewy leaves are exactly what the immature ladybirds love to feed on during their development into mature adults.
If in doubt, have a look at the underside of a mouldy zucchini leaf, (that hasn't been sprayed with poison) - or, for that matter, any cucurbit vegetable that is starting to die off. You'll find many ugly little black critters with multiple legs, which are baby ladybirds. |
| Buckwheat (Fagopyron esculentum), an edible pseudo-cereal, is irresistible to hoverflies and sits well at the back of a border, perhaps with the equally effective blue-flowered Lacy Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetiifolia). |
Other Useful Predators
To bring other useful predators to your orchard you'll need to provide habitat for them.
Skinks
For example, common garden skinks eat aphids and other pests. They love to live and breed in old straw; in fact if you have bales of straw that have rotted, sometimes you will find the eggs of the skinks and of course the skinks themselves. An orchard border of straw provides a habitat for skinks. Skinks also love to hide between bricks or rocks that are piled in warm, dry places. Bricks and rocks absorb the sun's heat, which is sought-after by these cold-blooded reptiles, giving them warmth, insulation, shelter and protection. To make a skink house you can also pile up several hollow, dry stalks of bamboo of varying sizes and cover them with leaves and sticks so that skinks have a place to hibernate during winter.
Birds
Birds can be orchard pests, but if you net fruit and cover seedlings, they become welcome visitors. Australian Magpies, thornbills and robins help to control caterpillar, grub, cutworm and wireworm populations; flycatchers, fairy wrens and finches devour bud-frequenting insects; other species search out insect larvae and cockroaches; and pittas adore snails. A bird-friendly garden needs to provide shelter, water and food over a long season.
Pond life
Any garden can have a pond. Frogs and dragonflies are helpful predators and the way they appear as if from nowhere is amazing. Frogs are very good at hunting slugs.
Surround the pond with plants such as Lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis), Australian native Shield Pennywort (Hydrocotyle Verticillata) and Streaked Arrow Grass (Triglochin Striata) that give cool, moist shade for ground beetles, the other great slug predators.
Good Bugs For Deciduous Fruits, Grapes and Berries
| About Some of the Good Bugs |
Ladybirds:
They may be tiny but they are tough - a ladybird can consume about 5000 aphids during its adult lifetime. Ladybirds eat damaging pests such as aphids, scale, mealy bugs, whiteflies and spider mites. You can attract them to your garden by planting pollen and nectar plants such as roses, zinnias, hibiscus and gardenias, or herbs such as dill, yarrow or angelica. Native hibiscus and Lobelia alata are also good for attracting ladybirds.
Adult ladybeetles are lured by nectar and pollen-bearing plants or you can offer a tasty brew of honey mixed with water and brewers yeast. Watering your garden early in the morning offers ladybirds a welcome drink and helps their feet to stick to plants. |
Lacewings:
Recognisable due to their centimetre-long green or brown bodies and thin, transparent lace-like wings in adulthood, brown and green lacewings were great predatory insects. Their larvae will eat aphids, whitefly, moth eggs and scale insects so it pays to encourage them into your garden. They occur naturally and numbers increase during spring, however, they are very susceptible to the use of too much insecticide. To attract lacewings offer them shade. Lacewings lay their eggs in shady, protected areas so providing places like this near crop plants is a good idea.
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Ground beetles:
Caterpillars causing you grief? Ground beetles may be the answer, because they eat caterpillars and slugs.To attract them, use plants of different heights. Ground beetles require cover provided by low-growing plants such as thyme, rosemary or mint. |
Parasitic Nematodes:
Parasitic nematodes - microscopic worms that exist in the soil - help to get rid of nasty insects. "They kill many pests that live in the soil such as grubs, weevils and webworms. Because of the big number of different types it is important to know what the problem is before trying to introduce them. Speak to an expert to understand which type is necessary. |
Praying Mantis:
These strange-looking creatures can be a double-edged sword. "The praying mantis is highly effective as a non-chemical solution to ridding your garden of unwanted bugs but just be aware they will eat the good bugs, too, apart from the ladybird. To make your garden friendly to the praying mantis, do not use pesticides and have a mulched, damp soil area with foliage for cover. A shallow dish of water with a rock in it also doesn't go astray. |
Parasitic Wasps:
They may sound nasty but these wasps don't sting and they are a great way to control aphids and whiteflies.They lay their eggs near or sometimes inside pests such as aphids and caterpillars which then feed on the inside of the insects and chew their way out. Plant statice, lemon balm and parsley to attract them. |
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Heritage Fruits Society Inc.,
ABN: 39 201 357 743 P.O. Box 853 Glen Waverley,
VIC 3150 Australia
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