The use of beneficial insects is increasing, people are becoming more
aware and concerned about the chemicals they are applying to their
gardens, here are two popular remedies for common problems in your yard.
Tis the season for aphids. If you are noticing small soft bodied green
insects on your plants the chances are good that you have aphids. It is
important to nip aphid colonies in the but before they get out of
control, an interesting fact, aphids give birth to pregnant young,
meaning they can reproduce in no time flat. Aphids will suck the life
out of your plants, they cause distorted buds, fruits, leaves and will
affect the growth of vegetables.
You may notice that aphids repeatedly
affect the same plants in your gardens, this is because they have
favourites, including roses, nasturtiums, and Viburnum plicatum or the
snowball tree. There are many ways to treat aphids, perhaps the most fun
and safest, and easy way is the release of ladybugs.
The use of
insects in our gardens is increasing and becoming very
popular, and the lady bug is enjoying being the new popular guy on the
garden centre shelf. Not only are they fun and safe they are also
extremely affective, one ladybug will eat as many as 100 aphids per
day. A general application is a bag of 500, released either in early
morning or late evening. Using water simply mist the affected area and
release the ladies. They will zone in on the aphids and start eating,
they will also start their life cycle.
The ladybugs will lay eggs
around the garden, that will hatch just in time for the next aphid
attack, after feeding the ladybugs will fly away, hopefully to clean up
your neighbourhood. But not to worry they won't leave before the work
is done. There are also a few tricks to keeping them and attracting
them to your gardens. They prefer to lay their eggs on parsley, dill,
and fennel. They are very attracted by manure and compost piles, and
remember once you have introduced them to your yard, do not use any
chemical pesticides. And if you have a large aphid population in a
certain area apply a sheet over the lady bugs when you release them,
this will keep them in this particular area. Another great benefit of
releasing ladybugs is they help control thrips, scale, and will even
attack the black aphid. So next time you reach for the chemical, dust
mask and gloves, think natural, and grab a bag of ladybugs, your garden
will love it.
Another great natural way to take care of garden pests in the
application of beneficial nematodes. They will target the larvae of
root weevil, leather jackets, maggots, borers and cut worm, in no time
they will have ended the life cycle of these pests. The root weevil is
a common pest of rhododendrons, primroses, heathers, and Pieris
japonica. If you have noticed small chew marks around the outer side of
your rhodo leaves then you have root weevils. They are a nocturnal pest
that attacks the leaves and roots of plants. There are not allot of ways
to get rid of the root weevil, perhaps the easiest is the application of
beneficial nematodes.
Nematodes are beneficial microscopic wireworms. They will source the pest larvae using heat and co2 censors, and then enter
the larvae and destroy it from the inside out. They are easy to apply,
they are shipped on a sponge, 1 million at a time! To apply you simply
soak the sponge in a bucket of cool water and water your affected
areas. It is important to apply the solution to the soil and then water
it in well, and later in the evening is best. If you can keep the area
from drying out for at least a week this would definitely help. A
package of 1 million will do 3000 square feet, and should be applied
once a year. Use on your rhodo gardens, compost piles, and apply
directly to your lawn.
And on a hopeful note, the word is they will be introducing a beneficial
nematode that will attack slug eggs, about time!
Top Five Beneficial insects
1. Lady bugs
2. Nematodes
3. Dragon Fly
4. Encarsia formosa
5. Parasitic wasp
$14.95