A useful insect for the field and garden. Useful inhabitants of the garden

Not only birds play a huge role in summer cottages. Other useful animals also provide benefits. They can live alone or in entire colonies. Some of them need to be invited to the site, and some are simply impossible to withdraw. Useful animals for the garden eat insects, repel rats and mice. In the article we will consider the best defenders of the garden.

1. Frogs and toads. They eat only harmful insects, hunt at night. Frogs in one night can destroy up to 2 grams of pests, and a toad up to four. They do not disdain to eat mosquitoes, ants, slugs, butterflies and even wireworms. There were cases when toads destroyed weevils, caterpillars, larvae. The animals themselves are prey for hedgehogs, mice, birds, snakes. They do not harm your crop. The best way to attract toads and frogs to your garden is to dig a small pond that will constantly fill with water. It can be beautifully decorated and even made the highlight of your garden.

2. Hedgehogs. They also eat insects. Do not try to bring a hedgehog into the house, let the animal live where it is convenient for him, otherwise the hedgehog will leave your summer cottage altogether. These useful animals enjoy eating larvae, slugs, caterpillars, worms, and leaf beetles. Hedgehogs also prey on rodents, they can destroy a snake and small birds. They have an excellent appetite, so they can eat all night long. This behavior can be easily explained - the animal accumulates fat in order to survive the winter. Often lives under shrubs, where there is a lot of foliage. To attract this animal to the dacha, you need to make a dwelling from a hedge with branches and uncultivated land. You need to place it where there are no people and animals, then the hedgehogs will feel good, and will not leave your site for a long time. You can feed this useful animal with dry food for dogs or cats, oatmeal, nuts and fruits. Intensive top dressing should be carried out before frost.

3. Shrews. The most common species is the shrew shrew. By color, it can easily be confused with a mouse. But the shrew has fur on its belly and its muzzle is much longer. It is a very small animal that loves to eat insects. Out of 24 hours a day, about 15 hours, the animal tries to get food for itself. Helps to remove worms, larvae, slugs, spiders, caterpillars from the garden. In winter, the animal does not leave the garden and does not fall asleep. It digs snow in search of food, even eats old seeds. If you suddenly meet her, do not expel the animal, but rather feed it.

4. Lizards. These garden protectors are completely harmless. They feed on insects such as moths, butterflies, larvae, spiders and grasshoppers. To attract them to your garden, install small sandboxes in which these useful animals will lay their eggs.

Useful animals found in almost everyone. Don't kick them out! Provide garden protectors with decent living conditions and enjoy a garden without harmful insects.

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Insect pests of plants are a real scourge of the garden. What measures are not taken by experienced growers to protect their plantings! Unfortunately, most methods of struggle turn out to be useless, and all because each pest needs its own “approach” - it’s enough to collect some with your hands, and you can’t do without pesticides to destroy others.

Just like people, plants can get sick. In addition, there are also numerous insect pests of plants - lovers of feasting on leaves, roots, buds and flowers. And the gardener becomes very hurt and hurt when his pets suffer from diseases and pests. How to protect the garden? The main thing is proper care, and a healthy plant can already stand up for itself. It is not difficult to deal with many pests of cultivated plants if measures are taken in time, but if this is not done through ignorance or negligence, then it will be much more difficult to defeat this scourge.

For successful control of plant pests, "enemies" need to be known in person. It is equally important to have an idea of ​​the nature of the damage caused by a particular pest, since thrips cannot be seen without a magnifying glass, the slug hides for a day in secluded places, and many, having eaten to satiety, fly away.

You can find photos and names of plant pests, as well as their description and the most effective methods of control on this page.

The click beetle damages many flower plants, including tulips, poppies, gladioli. This is a small pest 1.5-2.5 cm long, black in color, there are striped individuals. Distributed everywhere, but most numerous and harmful on wet soils.

As you can see in the photo, the larvae of plant pests, known as the "wireworm", are narrow, long, consisting of segments, with a very dense yellow or brown shell:

They live in the ground and damage the bulbs or roots of plants, eating holes and passages in them. Fungi, bacteria settle in the damage, and the plant dies over time. For the winter, insects and larvae hide deep in the soil; in spring, when the soil warms up, they rise up.

hoverfly, or a large daffodil fly. Its larvae cause great harm to bulbs, hyacinths, and can also damage gladiolus corms, rhizomes. Larvae about 1 cm long overwinter in bulbs. These pests of plant roots eat away the bottom, and the bulb becomes soft. In the spring, weak plants with ugly, quickly yellowing leaves are formed from the affected bulbs, flowering usually does not occur. With a strong defeat, the entire inside of the bulb turns into a black rotting mass.

Root onion mite harms bulbous plants - daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, lilies, and also damages gladiolus corms and dahlia tubers. The tick is dangerous, both during the growing season and during the storage of planting material. These insect pests of cultivated plants remain in the soil on plant residues and quickly penetrate into the bulbs planted in the ground through the bottom or mechanical damage, but healthy planting material can also be affected. Pests settle between the scales and feed on juice, wear out the bottom, which becomes loose and easily peels off. At the same time, the plants develop poorly, turn yellow, wither, and with a strong colonization of the bulbs by mites, they do not germinate at all. The adult has a convex oval body up to 1 mm in size, light yellow in color, with four pairs of legs. The larvae are smaller. Females lay up to 800 eggs in bulbs. A week later, larvae appear, which develop and feed inside the bulbs within a month. Adult mites and their larvae make numerous moves, as a result of which the spent bulb can turn into dust. The pest loves heat and moisture. At humidity below 60%, the development of mites stops, they lose their mobility and go into a dormant stage. In this state, they can remain for a long time. It is very difficult to destroy the pest.

Iridescent and winter scoops- dangerous pests of bearded and, especially, Siberian irises. At the beginning of the growing season, the scoop caterpillars eat out the bases of the peduncles, and they turn yellow and dry out. These pests of garden plants cannot “cut off” the powerful flower stalks of tall bearded irises, but the damage they cause is sufficient for the flower stalks to be knocked down by the wind. In addition, caterpillars can also damage rhizomes, which are then easily affected by bacterial rot. In dry summers, planting irises are affected by scoops to a greater extent. Scoop caterpillars also harm bulbous plants, gnawing holes in the bulbs and eating the roots. Plants often die.

May beetle, or May beetle. This large red-brown beetle eats irregularly shaped holes on the leaves in May-June. This plant pest got its name because the years of beetles begin in May. It is dangerous for plants not so much by itself as by its thick curved larvae, more than 2.5 cm long. For several years, the larvae develop in the soil, gnawing and damaging roots or bulbs. As a result, the plant weakens and may die. In large numbers, larvae are found in organic residues, manure.

What are the main pests of cultivated bulbous plants

What other insect pests of cultivated plants cause great damage to garden plantings?

gall nematode- one of the main pests of plants, including viola, daffodils. It is a microscopic worm, invisible to the naked eye. Adult males are up to 1.5 mm long, their body shape is filiform. The females of these pests of garden plants have a pear-shaped body up to 1.3 mm long. The female lays up to 400 eggs. The larvae develop in galls - swellings on the roots of plants. Roots damaged by the gall nematode are not able to provide the plant with sufficient nutrition and water. Plants are stunted and do not bloom. Often the roots rot due to the entry of pathogens into the galls. From the galls, the pests pass into the soil and penetrate into the small roots of other plants, which also stop growing, turn yellow and often die. The gall nematode spreads better on light soils. Pests bring great losses to bulbous plants. The larvae feed on the juice of leaves and stems, and then pass into the bulb. It softens, brown rings are visible on the transverse section, the so-called "ring rot". Affected plants become smaller, the leaves turn yellow and swellings are visible on them. The development of plants is delayed, they bloom poorly, and die if severely damaged. These pests of bulbous plants penetrate healthy planting material when planted in contaminated soil, as well as during storage. If the damage reaches the bottom and extends to the rest of the scales, the bulb dies.

thrips clouds hover over their favorite "food" - gladioli and irises, leaving silver spots on flowers and leaves. The buds do not bloom well, and with severe damage, the inflorescence does not form at all. Hot and dry summers are favorable for pest reproduction. Up to 9 generations of thrips develop during the season in the southern regions. The pest can also damage planting material in storage. Thrips are especially active at temperatures above 10 °C. A sign of thrips damage is shiny crusts on corms, bulbs, or tubers. Thrips, when there are many of them, can cause great harm and even destroy planting material during storage. Thrips damages irises, gladioli, clematis, roses, less often dahlias and other crops. Small, about 1.5 mm long, barely visible to the naked eye, insects cause significant damage to garden plants. Thrips settles in the axils of the leaves. The upper surface of the leaves, damaged by many injections, acquires a silver sheen. With a large accumulation of pests, the leaves are covered with small black spots of insect excrement. As a result of severe damage, the leaves turn yellow, dry out and fall off, which adversely affects the development of the whole plant, the laying of peduncles and flowers.

Medvedka(top, cabbage, earth cancer). The pest poses a serious threat to tulips and gladioli, not averse to nibbling bulbs and other flowers. Dangerous for irises, especially in the southern regions. It can completely destroy newly planted seedlings of flyers.

Pay attention to the photo - this insect pest of plants in length reaches from 3.5 to 5 cm:

It has wings, strong movable horny jaws, strong front claws, equipped with a nail file, to make it easier to dig passages in the ground. When moving in one direction, the nail file folds and forms the sharpest spear, and in the other direction it opens at a certain angle like a saw blade and cuts the soil, and with it the roots, tubers, and bulbs. The pest easily travels underground, swims quickly in water and flies through the air. Crawling to the surface of the ground, it moves quite quickly. The "uniform" of the insect is durable, waterproof. The pest is endowed with a very subtle sense of smell. It causes the greatest harm on loose fertilized soils and in warm areas, where it can multiply in large quantities.

What do mass pests of garden plants look like?

The cabbage scoop is polyphagous. Caterpillars damage various crops. Of the flowers, daffodils, tulips, gladiolus, and dahlias are most often damaged. This is a dark brown butterfly with a wingspan of up to 5 cm. The pupae hibernate in the soil. According to the description, this insect pest looks like a moth. Butterfly flight begins in May-June and lasts for a long time. During the season, one female lays up to 1500 eggs on the lower surface of the leaves. After 2-3 weeks, caterpillars come out of them. During their development, they cause significant damage to flowering plants, gnawing holes in leaves and buds.

Khrushchi. Golden bronze and garden beetle - small beetles that eat stamens, pistils and flower petals, penetrate into buds. Because of this, the flowers become ugly, often in the form of one half.

Scoop leaf-eating- a butterfly with a wingspan of up to 3.5-4.5 cm. The front wings are yellow-brown with kidney-shaped, wedge-shaped and round spots, the hind wings are white. The caterpillars of this mass plant pest are up to 5 cm long, light green or brown-brown, with even rows of white spots with a black rim all over the body, with a bright yellow side stripe and three pale narrow ones along the back. Caterpillars feed at night, eating the petals, and during the day they hide in the depths of the flower, so they are difficult to notice.

cabbage moth- small butterfly Its years begin in the second half of May. Butterflies lay 2-4 eggs on the underside of leaves. One female can lay up to 150 eggs or more. Cabbage moth gives up to 4 generations. Very mobile, light green caterpillars with sparse hairs hatch from eggs. They eat the upper epidermis and the pulp of the leaves, leaving the lower epidermis intact, which dries up and breaks. They also eat buds and flowers.

Aphid- the most common pests of cultivated plants in the garden. Great damage is done to ornamental shrubs (viburnum, mock orange, euonymus). Small insects ranging in size from 1 to 2.5 mm have different colors: light and dark green, black, orange, reddish. Insects and their larvae settle on various parts of plants: young shoots, leaves, buds and flowers. By sucking out cell sap, they retard the growth of plants, cause deformation of leaves, peduncles, buds do not open. The leaves are covered with sticky honeydew. Sooty mushrooms can settle on the sweet secretions of aphids. Plants lose their decorative effect. During the season, aphids can give up to 17 generations; the pest breeds especially well in warm weather. When storing bulbs of tulips and gladioli, colonies of green aphids may appear under the outer scales. Damaged bulbs subsequently give weakened shoots.

Insect pests of cultivated plants and disease vectors

Meadow bug. A rather large sucking insect with a length of b mm causes damage mainly to young shoots, leaves and buds. The body of the bug is light or dark green, covered with black dots, the stripes on the sides and the tip of the abdomen are also black. Adult insects are winged, larvae are wingless, very similar to aphids. The larvae can make jumps and easily avoid danger when spraying buds. The female lays her eggs in the apical buds of plants. The hatched larvae pierce the tender skin of young leaves and buds and suck the juice from them. Damaged cultures grow ugly, with deformed inflorescences. This insect pest of plants is a carrier of diseases, including viral ones.

Naked slugs. The pest is polyphagous, damages a wide variety of flower plants, attacks vegetable crops. Naked slugs are gastropods, have a gray, brown or light yellow elongated, fusiform, mucus-covered body. In wet years, slugs multiply strongly and cause significant damage to plants. They eat oblong holes on the leaves, can eat flowers and young shoots, damage the bulbs. Slugs are nocturnal, during the day they hide under lumps of earth, large leaves, and in other secluded places. The presence of a pest is indicated by the appearance of silvery mucus on the leaves. Leaf-eating caterpillars do not leave such traces. In thickened plantings, favorable conditions are created for the reproduction of the pest. Like the onion bug, these insect pests of cultivated plants are carriers of diseases, in particular, bacteriosis.

Mammals can also pose a danger to the ornamental garden: moles, mice, rats, hares.

Look at the photo what plant pests look like - now you can recognize the “enemies in the face”:

How to protect plants from pests: ways to fight

Sometimes plants suffer less from pests and diseases than from ignorance and laziness of flower growers themselves. A careless gardener can destroy his plantings at a speed that even locusts would envy.

How to protect plants from pests and prevent hordes of insects from spreading around the site? In order for crops to develop and bloom well, it is necessary to choose the right place for planting, prepare the soil well, acquire healthy planting material and, finally, strictly follow the rules of care.

But insect pests also want to live and eat deliciously, so they rush into the gardens in slender and not very slender rows. Each region has its own specifics depending on climatic and weather conditions. In some areas there is no life from a pirating bear, someone has “devoured” everything tripe, somewhere enemy number one is bacteriosis.

An experienced florist, taking measures to combat plant pests, begins his day in the garden with an inspection of the crops. If during the next “contemplation” he notices twisted and perforated leaves, twisted shoots, mutilated buds and flowers, he will immediately understand that pests have attacked the garden. If there are few of them, you can simply pick them off with your hands or rinse with a stream of water. But if you miss this moment, a few pests will turn into hundreds and thousands, and nothing will remain of your flowers.

Remember the following rules on how to deal with pests on the site:

1. The problem is easier to prevent than to eliminate.

2. If the "invasion" has begun, do not put off the fight for an hour.

3. The devil is not so terrible as he is painted. In a single garden, it is unlikely that you will encounter more than three to five varieties of uninvited "guests".

To calm down this gang of "robbers", do not immediately grab the pesticides. There is no need to panic if you find harmful insects on plants in a small amount - slugs can be picked off with your hands, aphids can be washed off with a stream of water. Whether pests turn into a natural disaster that can only be dealt with with the help of “chemistry” largely depends on the condition of the plants and weather conditions. For example, plants weakened by lack of light become easy prey for sucking insects. Thrips multiply excessively in dry and hot weather. The task of the gardener is to do everything so that the plants are strong and healthy, because such plants are too tough for pests.

In addition, uninvited garden guests have natural enemies. There is a balance in nature: every pest has at least one opponent. Ladybugs, lacewings, predatory hover flies and silver flies are enemies of aphids. They do not refuse from leaf-eating caterpillars. Ladybugs and their larvae can destroy up to 150 aphids per day. Other beneficial insects - ichneumons - lay their eggs in living caterpillars, and their larvae eat the caterpillars alive from the inside. And, of course, birds relentlessly devour harmful bugs and caterpillars. Hedgehogs perfectly destroy the larvae of the beetle.

How to deal with insect pests: plant protection methods

In order not to disturb the natural balance, try to give preference to such means of controlling plant pests that would not harm beneficial insects and birds. The main thing in protecting plants from pests is a system of preventive measures: it is easier to prevent a disease than to treat it. The main role is given to plant care activities, from the purchase of planting material to wintering or laying in storage.

Cultural rotations prevent the accumulation of pathogens and pests in the soil and create conditions for the normal growth and development of plants. It is known that nasturtium, mustard, calendula, which release volatile substances, help cleanse the soil from infection. Therefore, planting bulbs is recommended to alternate with these summers. Plants are returned to their original site after 5-6 years.

How else to deal with plant pests in the garden? An important point is the preparation of the soil. On poorly drained, humus-poor soil, plants are more likely to get sick, grow weak and be attacked by pests. Before laying the flower garden, the site must be cleared of debris: branches, stones, chips, etc. Deep digging of the soil in the flower garden in the fall will help get rid of the larvae and eggs of harmful insects wintering in it (scoops, wireworms, earwigs). When using manure or manure, you need to be careful not to bring May beetle into the flower garden, which often settles in compost heaps. The larvae must be carefully selected and destroyed; you can feed them to chickens. Seedling boxes must be disinfected annually (with a solution of potassium permanganate or boiling water), and the ground in them must be changed (it is better to use ready-made mixtures for seedlings).

For most ornamental plants, areas with light loose soils are more suitable. Heavy acidic soils that promote the spread of fungal infections are limed. To do this, fluff lime is applied in the fall at the rate of 100-200 g per 1 m2.

If you have purchased healthy planting material, then there will be much less problems. Therefore, it is better to make purchases in specialized stores. Try to avoid dense plantings, in such conditions the plants lack nutrition and excessive moisture appears, which also leads to the reproduction of pests and pathogens. It is necessary to systematically remove weeds, as they are a reservoir for many diseases and pests. In addition, they thicken plantings and compete with cultivated plants for nutrients.

Plant residues (leaves, stems, fallen flowers) often become a haven for pests. You can not leave garbage near the plants. Carefully rake it with a rake and destroy it.

What to do if pests appear in the garden

But what if the pests still settled in your garden? Many insects can be destroyed mechanically. Beetles (bronzovka, May beetle) are collected and destroyed, and the affected buds are cut off. Aphids are washed off with a stream of water. Scoop caterpillars, click beetles and their larvae are selected when digging the soil. An excellent way to control plant pests such as click beetles and their larvae (wireworms) is to lay out baits (potato tubers). Pests drill passages in the tubers and linger in them for a while. The bait is collected and destroyed.

Baits are also used to protect plants from insect pests such as slugs. Near the plants in the aisles, bunches of dill, burdock leaves, boards, pieces of slate, wet rags are laid out, under which pests accumulate during the day. Then the pests are collected and destroyed.

From slugs, dusting the soil around the plants with superphosphate, a mixture of ash and quicklime, and shag dust helps. This should be done in the evening or early morning when the slugs are on the surface of the soil. But still the most effective means of combating - metaldehyde. Granules are scattered in places where slugs accumulate under plants (4 g per 1 m2).

There are many methods for protecting plants from bear pests:

1. Collect more eggshells during the winter, grind into powder. In the spring, during planting, moisten the powder with vegetable oil for smell and put 1 tsp in the wells. Medvedka, having tasted the bait, dies.

2. Pour the earthen passages of the pest with soapy water (4 tablespoons of washing powder in a bucket of water). Medvedka either dies underground, or crawls out to the surface, where it is easy to collect and destroy.

3. Another effective method on how to deal with bear pests is to plant marigolds along the boundaries of the site. This will prevent the insect from entering your garden from the neighboring area.

4. You can get rid of the bear with the help of infusion of chicken manure, watering the ground with it in dry weather.

5. In autumn, in the places where the bear lived, they dig trapping holes 0.5 m deep and fill them with fresh manure. The pits are located at a distance of 5 m from each other. A hill of earth is poured over the hunting pits and marked with a peg. When the cold comes and snow falls, they find the places of trapping holes by pegs and throw manure out of them to the surface. Medvedki, hiding in manure for the winter, die in the cold.

A selection of photos "Pest Control" will help you choose the most affordable way to protect plants on your site:

Plants that protect against pests in the garden

If you want to enjoy the scent of flowers rather than pesticides in your garden, it's best to use insecticidal plants to control pests. Infusions and decoctions from these plants, which protect against pests, practically do not pose a danger to humans, as well as to birds, hedgehogs, etc. They relatively quickly lose their toxic properties and do not accumulate in the soil and plants.

Wild and cultivated insecticidal plants are collected in dry, clear weather, dried in the shade. Later stored in a dark, well-ventilated area. You can prepare decoctions and infusions and immediately after collecting the plants.

After infusion or boiling, the liquid is filtered through a double layer of gauze or burlap. If the concentrated broth is drained hot and tightly corked, it can be stored in a cool room for up to 2 months. Before use, the broth is diluted to the required concentration.

When treated with infusions and decoctions of plants from pests in the garden, insects die within 3 days. After 4-6 days, the treatment must be repeated to consolidate the result.

Many flower growers plant insecticidal plants (calendula, garlic, onions) in separate groups for preventive purposes.

The inhabitants of the garden - wild bees and bumblebees - will never fly past your flowers, which have arranged a flowering relay race. It is difficult to imagine a garden at the time of flowering without this familiar and caressing musical accompaniment - the incessant buzz of bees and bumblebees. Let's talk not only about the well-known honey bees and portly bumblebeesflying from flower to flower in search of nectar and pollen, but also about the wide variety of their wild relatives, which we also often meet in our garden.

Unfortunately, the last refuge for wild bees is increasingly becoming only gardens, the abundance and variety of flowering plants in which attracts their most diverse species. By providing additional options for building nests, you will turn your garden into a real paradise for wild bees.

Watching wild bees is an exciting experience. It will be interesting not only for a child to follow the troublesome life of bees during the period of building a nest. What material do they just not use! This is clay and resin, pieces and fibers of leaves, grains of sand and much more of what is "at hand" - all this is pulled into one place and used to build, mask and seal the holes of nest tubes. You can observe without fear: bees and bumblebees are quite friendly and sting only in the most extreme cases, if, for example, they are taken in hand.

Not as scary as it seems, antidia, or woolly bee, very similar to a wasp. Like all bees, it stings only in case of immediate danger.

Bumblebee stone feasts on sunflower nectar. Collecting pollen on his furry body, he cares not only about his own well-being. At the same time, he pollinates the flower of his host plant, and thus contributes to the formation of ovaries on it.

If you're lucky in the countryside, you can see carpenter bees. These very large blue-black bees can often be found sitting on flowers where they collect nectar for their offspring, or flying around wooden buildings and looking for a suitable place to prepare their nest. The carpenter bee is on the verge of extinction and is listed in the Red Book of Russia.

For many species of wild bees, it is important that the supply of nectar from early spring to autumn remains uninterrupted. Therefore, in your garden there should be not only primroses, such as crocuses, snowdrops or corydalis, but also stonecrops, asters and chrysanthemums blooming in autumn.

In the garden, you can plant such plants that will not only please the eye, but be useful for bees and bumblebees. In spring, blooming hawthorn and ornamental apple trees attract bees with their pollen and nectar, in summer - buddleia, spray rose and multi-flowered dog rose. Monarda, gaillardia, rudbeckia, kosmeya and mordovnik are also beautiful and “tasty”, as well as annual aster, alyssum, sage, chicory, catnip, lemon balm, basil. Plants not only provide food, but also supply building material for nests: some species of bees use leaves for this, others use the core of the stems. Spiny Compositae of all kinds, popularly called "thistles", are popular not only with bees and bumblebees.

bumblebee bait - dahlia annual. Its non-double bright inflorescences, which are clearly visible from afar, signal: there is plenty of pollen and nectar. Oregano is a profusely flowering herbaceous perennial that is also used as a delicious spicy seasoning. In summer, it is an expanse for insects. The purple flowers of the common mordovnik attract an abundance of nectar and many other insects. Umbrella inflorescences of stonecrop-skripun, or rabbit cabbage, lure not only domestic honey bees, but also birds. Blooming in September-October, this ornamental perennial is an important source of nectar for bees and butterflies in the fall.

Comfortable hotel for wild bees

Anyone who wants the wild bees that flock to his garden rich in flowering plants for nectar to become regular guests must provide them with suitable housing. You can equip it with the help of simple means: fix a bunch of hollow twigs on the wall of a house or a tree, for example, elderberry or reed, a few hollow bricks, and they will become a cozy apartment for the offspring of bees.

A log with holes of various diameters from 2 to 6 mm and a depth of 6 cm drilled in it can also serve as a convenient nesting place. An entire multi-storey structure can be built from such a building material.

The inhabitants of the garden will respond with gratitude to your care: they will pollinate fruit and vegetable crops and bring their own unique touch to the music of your garden.

Inviting beneficial insects to your garden is a great alternative to using chemicals, which are not only a health hazard but also costly. This is a gentle and reliable way to control garden pests.

Each useful insect is a gardener's little helper. Even children know about many of them (for example, bees). And some useful insects are undeservedly offended, mistaking them for pests. Let's try to fill these gaps by examining in detail this inconspicuous, but numerous people inhabiting vegetable gardens and orchards.

Ladybug

Pot-bellied on the back is familiar not only to those who work on the ground. His charismatic appearance inspires even venerable designers. Cartoons are made about this insect and fairy tales are composed. Often it becomes the hero of photo shoots and thematic programs.

And gardeners know for sure: a ladybug is an insect whose role in the garden can hardly be overestimated. Both larvae and adult beetles feed on aphids, destroying huge hordes of these pests in their short life.

In nature, there are about a hundred species of this insect, and they are all predators. In our area, the most common large red ladybug. This insect can reach a length of 9 mm. It feeds on leaf aphids.

Osmia

Fluffy insects that look like bees are completely harmless. They bring great benefits to the garden. Osmia go to collect nectar even in such weather in which an ordinary domestic bee will not take up work. If you want these workers to live in your garden, get buildings with or simply place a few pieces of wood with drilled holes on the site. They love osmia and elderberry branches without a core. It's just the perfect home for them.

This useful insect can settle in the most unexpected place: in a hole from an old nail or a door gap.

bumblebees

Many mistake them for bums, but bumblebees are actually very useful insects in the garden. They are well adapted to the harsh northern conditions of life, so they work even where other pollinators are not found.

With long proboscises, they extract nectar even from plants with narrow corollas, inaccessible to other insects.

Collecting nectar, bumblebees carry pollen, and they do it very quickly. Entomologists have calculated that the field bumblebee visits more than 2.5 thousand plants in one flight.

Ground beetle

In many gardens, the ground beetle is found from April to the end of October. These are predators that feed on eggs, caterpillars, pupae and adults of many garden pests. In a day, one ground beetle can destroy three to five gooseberry moth larvae, up to a dozen sawfly caterpillars, about a hundred gall midge larvae.

The ground beetle hunts at night, and is rarely seen during the day. These insects spend the winter in the soil.

Ground beetles and their growing offspring will gladly settle in sawdust or shavings, fallen leaves. Arrange them a couple of shelters on the site, and soon you will have faithful helpers in the garden in their face.

lacewing

Another insect that often falls from gardeners is the lacewing. "Wrecker or protector in front of me?" - the man thinks and, just in case, drives away, or even destroys the poor thing.

But an experienced gardener knows that this dragonfly-like lung is one of the biggest enemies of aphids. But this handsome man does not harm the garden, does not eat fruits, does not sharpen wood, does not feed on “colleagues at work”. Why is she offended? Most likely, this comes from simple ignorance. And the appearance of the larva affects - for those who are afraid of insects, they all seem the same. In fact, it is the larval form that eats most of the aphids. Adult insects often feed not on the pests themselves, but on the sweetish substance they secrete.

Who is this golden eye? Pest? Or is it a defender? Rest assured, this insect will only benefit your garden by eliminating enemy aphid colonies.

firefighters

These insects are so ubiquitous that, perhaps, each of us has a couple of childhood memories associated with them. Some call them soldiers. The kids invent a lot of fables, the hero of which is often this useful insect. And love affairs with ladybugs are attributed to them, and participation in the protection of cities from fires, peacekeeping missions ... It's good when misconceptions spread in this direction. But often even adults say that this insect is a malicious pest.

But it is worth knowing how everything becomes clear. Their diet includes aphids, leaf beetles, fruit caterpillars. If these insects have settled in you, know that the garden is under reliable protection. The garrison of soldiers will reliably protect the trees. But if there are too many of them, they can periodically encroach on your cherries or leaves of berry bushes. And yet, the benefit of the population is much greater than some damage in the form of bitten berries.

By the way, if cockroaches started up in the house at their summer cottage, invite a few red-winged firefighters to visit. They will quickly solve the problem by cracking down on the intruders. Just do not try to pick them up - these insects can stand up for themselves and bite hard. If this happens, do not worry - their bites are painful, but not poisonous.

bees

This insect is simply basking in the glory. Everyone knows that beneficial insects bees are human helpers. They not only actively participate in the pollination process, but also give many useful products: honey, wax, propolis and much more.

Many combine gardening and beekeeping. Hives can be installed directly in the garden or not far from it. Apple, pear, plum, gooseberry and some other horticultural crops would not be able to bear fruit without the help of bees.

It is difficult to overestimate the merits of this insect. They do most of the work of pollinating plants.

In addition to domestic bees, there are also wild breeds of bees. They settle in shady forests and plantings and also sometimes fly into gardens in search of nectar. It is difficult to domesticate them, and there is no point in this - it is easier to breed domestic ones.

Close relative - spider

In fact, this creature belongs to arachnids, but many gardeners still perceive it as a beneficial insect. Spiders catch in the web not only annoying flies, but also some garden pests.

Since we are talking about spiders, perhaps we can pay attention to earthworms, which are also not insects, but are firmly associated with them. They loosen and saturate the soil with organic matter.

aphids lion

Another tireless aphid fighter is a relative of the lacewing. The aphid lion and its larvae feed exclusively on aphids, so that its populations do not grow to gigantic sizes. These insects are used not only by summer residents, but also by professional farms. In specialized stores, you can even buy clutches of eggs of this insect, which can later be placed in greenhouses and on open ground.

Trichogramma

Knowledge of the laws of nature helps to make life much easier and significantly reduce the cost of housekeeping. Try to make friends with little garden helpers, do not drive them off the plot and do not exterminate them, and thanks to them you will be able to get a great harvest without using chemicals.

Even the most exemplary and well-manicured gardens are full of insect pests. But, fortunately, there are many useful inhabitants who are ready to help us if we learn to recognize them and create ideal conditions for them. By entrusting pest control to their natural enemies, we will save ourselves from many problems. In order not to accidentally destroy our tiny allies, let's get to know them better. What are the harmful and beneficial insects that live in the dachas next to us?

In our gardens there are a lot of harmful and beneficial insects that feed on plant pests. Let's list the useful ones:

ladybugs

It turns out that these are very useful insects for gardens and orchards. There are many species of ladybugs in Russia, and all of them are useful for plants. Adults and their larvae feed mainly on aphids (they eat several dozen a day), but do not disdain other insect pests: worms, mites, beetles, dipters, and even young caterpillars. Ladybugs can be attracted to the garden by spraying the plants once a week with slightly sweetened water (1/2 teaspoon per liter of water).

ground beetles

Both adult ground beetles and their larvae are predators by nature, feeding on various insects, earthworms, snails and carrion. When there is a lot of prey, ground beetles enter into hunting excitement, as a result of which they kill more victims than they can eat.

garden bugs

Gardens are home to many different types of garden bugs. It turns out they are also useful insects in the garden and for the garden. Adult bugs and larvae, which are similar to their parents but smaller in size, prey on various harmful insects that have a soft, easily bitten cover. Bed bugs destroy beetles, caterpillars, aphids, spider mites.

Hoverflies

Hoverflies belong to the category of Diptera. Adult insects feed on pollen and nectar of flowers, and their larvae prefer aphids, beetles, suckers, eggs of Colorado beetles. You can increase the number of hoverflies in the garden by sowing honey plants (phacelia, buckwheat, clover, marigold, sunflower).

lacewings

Among the beneficial insects, the lacewing should also be mentioned. They usually feed on nectar and pollen, but they do not refuse insect pests, especially aphids. Lacewings can be helped to overwinter, as they are very sensitive to cold. To do this, in the autumn in the garden it is necessary to place a wooden box of red or brown color, filled with dry foliage. Small gaps should be left between the boards of the box, where lacewings could penetrate. After some time, the box must be transferred to a warm, dry room, and in the spring put back in the garden. More predatory are the larvae of lacewings. One larva can eat up to 450 aphids within two weeks. In addition to aphids, they also destroy beetles, suckers and leafworms.

Among the harmful insects for our gardens and orchards, black garden ants should be indicated. These are very persistent pests. Moreover, they take care of aphids, drive away enemies such as ladybugs from them, and even transfer colonies of aphids to other trees and bushes that are not infected by it. The fact is that the garden ant in the summer feeds mainly on carbohydrate food, which is secreted by aphids. Black garden ants live in the ground, and it is very difficult to force them out of the beds or greenhouses. Fill ant holes with boiling water, sprinkle with quicklime, use poisoned baits. Defeat the ants, then there will be less voracious aphids.