Good Bugs vs. Bad Bugs: 5 Beneficial Insects For The Garden

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Let’s face it, whether we are fond of creepy crawlers or not, some of them are extremely beneficial insects to have in our gardens. Of course, there are a ton of pesky bugs out there that will wreak havoc on your vegetable and flower gardens but I’m here to tell you to put down the chemical pesticides and instead buy or catch bugs. Chemical fertilizers and insecticides can have a negative impact on the environment, as well as, our bodies. The chemicals seep into the roots of fruits and vegetables whereas these insects will have nothing but a positive impact all the way around.

5 Beneficial Insects For The Garden

If you don’t have a huge garden you might only have to relocate the insects pestering your plants, killing them isn’t always necessary or beneficial. The insects that can cause harm to our crops can cause good in other aspects of the environment, Eco-system, and other plants. If you’re not fond of bugging out your garden, no worries there are other ways to handle the situation. One example is planting things that deter the insects such as chives, this deters flies, aphids, and other insects.

Before we move on to the good bugs let’s briefly discuss the bad bugs.

Bad Bugs

Aphids:

These tiny bugs can seem cute but they will heartily feed on your garden vegetables, fruit trees, and even ornamental plants. In small numbers, they are perfectly harmless but when there’s an abundance you can end up with stunted plants that may not produce and they can bring different diseases to the crops.

Cutworms:

This little bugs name says it all! They crawl out at night and destroy whole plants while you sleep. They work through the soil and chew through the stems of seedlings and small plants right below the soil. Your plants will look like they just laid down and gave up. Upon investigation, you will realize it’s no longer attached to the roots.

Potato Beetle:

Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants better watch out! The adult potato beetle and the larvae can defoliate a whole crop pretty quickly. This means your plant’s leaves will be gone and the plants can die.

Slugs:

These slick suckers slide through your garden and eat up the root vegetables and fruits but they will take what they can get. They eat so fast that if there’s a lot of slugs in the area you’ll be left with nothing.

Earwigs:

Beneficial with a drawback. Earwigs can be helpful by eating the dead leaves and debris from the compost piles helping to break it down BUT they can also put a hurtin’ on plants while feasting! They’re especially fond of carrot tops, fennel, and dill.

Good Bugs

Damsel Bugs:

This damsel is not in distress, as a matter of fact, this damsel plays a hero! They feed on the various invasive insects. They will eat aphids, small caterpillars, leafhoppers/Cicadas, and other creepy crawlers you don’t want around.

Lacewings:

The larvae and the adults feast on the unwanted bugs in the garden. Mealybugs, white flies, and caterpillars are among the lacewings favorite. You can attract them to your yard by planting cosmos, sweet alyssums, coreopsis, and Angelica.

Ground Beetles:

This nocturnal insect will take the night watch over the gardens. They eliminate cutworms, slugs, and cabbage maggots. They are attracted to perennials and white clover.

Lady Beetles aka Lady Bugs:

These cute tiny creatures will take care of any aphids and mites that invade the gardens. They’re attracted to dill, yarrow, Angelica, and fennel.

Praying Mantis:

This incredible insect is awesome! Since they’re bigger than the other insects on this list they can eat bigger bugs and more of them. They’re not only good for the garden they’re just GOOD! They will feed on aphids, grasshoppers, crickets, mosquitoes, flies, and roaches to name a few.

Now we all know spiders are not insects but because they’re incredible for the gardens and some of them will keep away the bad spiders. Wolf spiders, garden spiders, jumping spiders, and orb-weavers are all fantastic to have around the yard.

I hope this list helps you out in the garden this year. If you are choosing to grow organic and chemical-free I want to say thank you and for those of you working on making those changes, keep up the good work and thank you too!

Up Next: Beginner’s Guide To Having an Outdoor Herb Garden | Survival Gardening

What do you think of these beneficial insects to keep in your garden? Let us know in the comment section below!

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