Beneficial Garden Insects

Sustainable Landscaping – Organic Gardening Pest Control

With June just around the corner, many a garden is flourishing and growth is rampant. Eagerly we tend to our vegetable plants and suddenly we behold large holes in the leaves of cabbage and related plants like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and turnips. So now what? Well first off, don’t just head to the local “box” store and grab some pesticides and start spraying….

Yes danger does lurk in the backyard gardens, but Mother Nature provides us with organic means to deal with the threat. Aphids, cutworms, mealybugs and other pests are preying on your vegetables and flowers. Forget nasty, expensive chemicals, enlist the aid of “good bugs” that will battle and help control pest outbreaks and won’t even ask for a thank you, let alone a pay check.

The problem with broad spectrum conventional pesticides is that they not only kill the “bad bugs,” they rub out the “good bugs,” too. A garden without natural predators means a world of insects gone wild. There’s nothing left to keep pest levels in check. In fact, chemicals can mean double trouble because although you wipe out the first wave of pests, the second wave (not the usual pest, but another insect moving into the area) can cause even greater losses than the insects you were trying to get rid of in the first place.

Employ some beneficial insects for the garden and you won’t have this problem. They provide long-term control and will help tip the scales in your favor when insect pests arrive. In most cases, they’ll leave the good guys alone and will only go after the bad bugs.

If effectiveness isn’t a good enough reason, maybe safe food will cause you to try insect predators and parasites. Interest in organic gardening and a growing demand for pesticide-free foods has exploded in recent years. Even carefully washed vegetables can still contain the chemicals that were sprayed on them at the farm. Families want to know that the food they eat is safe.

Six Beneficial Garden Insects

Praying Mantid Release in Organic Garden

Yua Tah Hey (A Navaho Greeting) my organic friends.

My name Is Mike Kolenut. My company Lincoln Landscaping is providing leadership in organic sports turf management, throughout New Jersey and New York. My hobby is growing vegetables and herbs organically, utilizing square foot gardening. Eliminating pesticides from my diet has morphed from hobby to passion to obsession at this point.

In this video you will see lady bugs and praying mantis released into my garden. The adventure turned into a family celebration, as we watched them climb up each plant, looking for aphids, mites, caterpillars and such. These bugs of prey are referred to as Beneficial’s, and have names like assassin bugs.

I am willing to try anything within reason to reduce my exposure to pesticides.