There are many insects such as lady beetles, ground beetles and tiger beetles that can keep insect pests under control. Living on the surface of the soil and having voracious appetites, they catch and consume a wide range of insects such as caterpillars, wireworms and aphids. Some also help pollinate flowers and eat up weeds and dead plants.
A praying mantis will make short work of any grasshoppers that are troubling you; these fierce predators will also hunt many other insect pests that terrorize gardens, including moths, beetles, and flies. Note, however, that praying mantises are ruthless and will turn to eating other beneficials, such as butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds—and even each other!
Spiders—though technically arachnids rather than insects—are often overlooked as beneficial, but they are very effective pest controllers. Since they are attracted to their prey by movement, they eat many live insects. Jumping spiders and wolf spiders are especially good at keeping pests under control.
Assassin bugs look like a strange mix between a praying mantis and a squash bug. They use their sharp mouthparts to prey upon many different types of insect pests in the garden. In their adult form, they can be mistaken for squash bugs, so look carefully!
Remember that if you resort to using chemical pesticides to control insects, you will often kill good and bad bugs alike. Even the so-called “natural” pesticides like pyrethrum and rotenone will kill many beneficial insects.
Picture Credit : Google
