Anybody buy good guy bugs?

defineaproblem · March 1, 2013

You have just given me a new project for summer.
I really cannot answer you, here is why. Most people just go to the list of plants for beneficial insect you can find on the Internet. These are generally nectar and pollen plants. They tend to be small flowered like fennel and dill so that the small insect can feed on them.
For example lacewing are attracted mainly by Asteraceae – e.g. calliopsis (Coreopsis), cosmos (Cosmos), sunflowers (Helianthus) and dandelion (Taraxacum) – and Apiaceae such as dill
(Anethum) or angelica (Angelica). I do plant a certain percent in these types of plant. Each insect has a habitat and food it needs to live.

For example Ambush Bugs - family, Phymatidae are associated with goldenrod in late summer and early fall. I know of few people who plant goldenrod but it is common in my area so I leave a few growing on the edges of the garden area.

Now this is the part that makes it hard. I have a number of other “weeds” I leave in my garden area. I do this because they harbor aphids, and other pests. I have found that insects are plant specific. They populate like mad on a certain weed but do not move to my vegetables. So I work on the buggiest plants full of red aphids, black aphids, etc. Unfortunately, I never gave much thought to identifying my weeds or the exact insect I am farming.

I will have to work on this over the summer. But I can tell you that if I have enough bad insects the good insects will come. Many will breed and the overall population of good insects will increase in this limited area because I have greatly increased the available food. So I cannot really give you anything except the common plants to attract beneficial insect until later this summer.

I can say that some insects like Assassin bugs, Predatory mites, and Snakeflies are more woody plant insects. I have these because I have fruit trees on one side of my garden area, woody area on another, and misc. berries and small fruits in pots in the garden area.

I will work on this over the summer and post. I am not sure if anyone besides myself is interested in raising aphids J

March 1, 2013	#31
defineaproblem Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: cincinnati Posts: 13	You have just given me a new project for summer. I really cannot answer you, here is why. Most people just go to the list of plants for beneficial insect you can find on the Internet. These are generally nectar and pollen plants. They tend to be small flowered like fennel and dill so that the small insect can feed on them. For example lacewing are attracted mainly by Asteraceae – e.g. calliopsis (Coreopsis), cosmos (Cosmos), sunflowers (Helianthus) and dandelion (Taraxacum) – and Apiaceae such as dill (Anethum) or angelica (Angelica). I do plant a certain percent in these types of plant. Each insect has a habitat and food it needs to live. For example Ambush Bugs - family, Phymatidae are associated with goldenrod in late summer and early fall. I know of few people who plant goldenrod but it is common in my area so I leave a few growing on the edges of the garden area. Now this is the part that makes it hard. I have a number of other “weeds” I leave in my garden area. I do this because they harbor aphids, and other pests. I have found that insects are plant specific. They populate like mad on a certain weed but do not move to my vegetables. So I work on the buggiest plants full of red aphids, black aphids, etc. Unfortunately, I never gave much thought to identifying my weeds or the exact insect I am farming. I will have to work on this over the summer. But I can tell you that if I have enough bad insects the good insects will come. Many will breed and the overall population of good insects will increase in this limited area because I have greatly increased the available food. So I cannot really give you anything except the common plants to attract beneficial insect until later this summer. I can say that some insects like Assassin bugs, Predatory mites, and Snakeflies are more woody plant insects. I have these because I have fruit trees on one side of my garden area, woody area on another, and misc. berries and small fruits in pots in the garden area. I will work on this over the summer and post. I am not sure if anyone besides myself is interested in raising aphids J