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Beautiful garden helpers: ladybugs eat aphids. A single ladybug can eat between 50 and 150 aphids per day.
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There are not only pests in your garden that can pose a danger to your plants, but also beneficial insects that can be a lifesaver for your greenery.
There are many insects in the garden - and that is important.
But not all of them are harmless. Some cause major damage to plants. But for every pest there is a suitable beneficial insect that can contain the pest. But how can you tell which insect is your friend or foe? An overview.
The ladybug owes its name to the seven black dots on its red wings. In the Middle Ages, they symbolized the seven virtues or sorrows of Mary.
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Ladybugs are true heroes in the garden. The red beetles with black dots are easy to recognize. They are not only beautiful to look at, but also useful. They eat pests such as aphids, which often infest roses. The sixteen-spotted ladybug's diet even includes mildew - a real helper in the flower bed.
Aphids are around 1 millimeter in size and belong to the plant aphid family.
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Aphids are tiny, sometimes winged, and green, reddish-brown or black-brown, depending on the species. They hatch in spring and reproduce quickly. After only a short time, they cause severe damage to useful and ornamental plants.
To get rid of them, however, you don't have to use chemicals straight away. Ladybugs are all you need. A seven-spot ladybug eats up to 150 aphids a day.
Most adult lacewing species feed on pollen, nectar and honeydew.
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Lacewings are also useful helpers in the garden. They not only eat aphids, but also spider mites, thrips and caterpillars - all pests. You can easily recognize the insects by their shimmering green wings.
From September onwards, they set off in search of winter quarters. Support the lacewings by setting up a hibernation box in the garden.
The naked eye is not enough to recognize spider mites. The yellowish to reddish pests are often only between 0.2 and 0.5 mm in size and usually hide on the undersides of the leaves of the plants. An infestation can therefore often only be recognized when the plant appears slightly sickly and its leaves have whitish-yellow speckles.
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Spider mites are not insects, but arachnids. They get their name because they cover leaves and shoots with fine webs. In doing so, they severely damage the plants. Lacewings can help to control them. High humidity is also effective: spray the affected plants with water more frequently.
Thrips are particularly prevalent on various houseplants.
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Thrips, also known as fringed winged insects or blister feet, are tiny pests that can often be found on houseplants or in greenhouses.
They eat leaves and are often so small that they are barely visible. Regular spraying with a mild soapy solution helps to get rid of the pests.
If the plants are only slightly infested, it is sufficient to collect the caterpillars by hand and dispose of them.
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If you notice worms on plants, fruit or berries, they are usually butterfly caterpillars such as the codling moth or plum moth. These pests can cause major damage. Beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps, ground beetles or flower bugs help to put the butterfly caterpillars to flight again.
Small green caterpillars should be removed by hand. A mixture of vinegar, oil, washing-up liquid or soapy water also acts as a deterrent.
A balanced food supply of nectar, honeydew and pollen is sufficient to attract parasitic wasps to the garden.
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Ichneumon wasps are among the most versatile beneficial insects in the garden. Depending on the species, they specifically control pests such as aphids, leaf miners and codling moths. They can be used as biological pest controllers in the garden, greenhouse or conservatory.
Specialist retailers sell bred parasitic wasp species that are precisely adapted to the respective pest infestation.
It is best to lay the eggs of the ichneumon wasps on infested plants at an early stage - or as a preventative measure in the garden. Up to 50 eggs per square meter is ideal.
A tip for more beneficial insects in the garden: build an insect hotel. It serves as a shelter for overwintering, nesting and survival - also for parasitic wasps.
The larvae of leaf miners eat spiral tunnels in the leaves of useful and ornamental plants.
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Leaf miners are tiny pests that are particularly active at high temperatures in midsummer. They eat their way through leaves, causing them to wilt and fall off early. Ichneumon wasps help to control them. Nettle slurry also has a deterrent effect. As a preventative measure, vegetable protection nets provide reliable protection against infestation.
What looks like a worm in an apple is the larva of the codling moth, a moth.
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The codling moth is a typical pest in apple cultivation. An infestation is indicated by the so-called "worm bites" - small feeding holes in the fruit caused by the larvae.
Affected apples often fall unripe from the tree and begin to rot on the ground. The larvae are white-yellowish with a dark head. Adult moths can be identified by their patterned wings.
The adult codling moths have gray-brown wings with light stripes and copper-colored spots on the tips. They are mainly on the move at dusk. Nematodes of the species Steinernema feltiae can help with infestations. These tiny nematodes are supplied in clay powder, dissolved in water and applied. One packet containing around six million nematodes is enough for three large apple trees.
Nematodes can also be effective against the weevil and its larvae. You can recognize typical feeding marks on the leaves of hydrangeas, rhododendrons or roses - the edges look as if they have been cut out with a hole punch. These holes are caused by the European weevil. The larvae also feed on the roots, which severely weakens the plants or even causes them to die.
The ground beetle is a night watchman that cleans your garden.
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Ground beetles are also useful garden helpers. The small, mostly dark beetles move quickly and emit a foul-smelling secretion when in danger. They are mainly active at night and eat slug eggs, Colorado potato beetle larvae, wireworms, aphids and mites - all pests that they reliably keep at bay.
However, wireworms are difficult to control due to their subterranean lifestyle and long lifespan
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Wireworms are the larvae of click beetles and can grow up to three centimetres long. They can be particularly common on freshly planted vegetable beds. They prefer to feed on the roots, bulbs and tubers of flowers and vegetables. You should react quickly in the event of an infestation. Lay out bucket traps with fresh potato slices to attract the pests.
There are around 6000 species of flower bugs worldwide, of which 93 species occur in Europe and 50 species in Central Europe.
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As the name suggests, flower bugs like to live on the flowers and leaves of trees and shrubs. They prefer to eat insects such as aphids, whiteflies, thrips and spider mites. Winegrowers are aware of their effectiveness and use them specifically for pest control. These useful bugs can also be used in your own garden to control pests.
Originally from North America, the Colorado potato beetle is a feared pest. It overwinters as a larva in the soil and develops into a beetle in spring.
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The Colorado potato beetle is a garden pest. It mainly attacks nightshade plants such as potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, where it can cause damage.
The beetles can be recognized by their striped wings, the larvae are yellowish. Natural enemies such as toads and ground beetles help to control them. A few sprays of nettle manure can also help to curb the pest.
Regular soil cultivation helps to limit the slug plague. If the soil is looser, there are no cavities or coarse clods in which slugs can hide.
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Slugs and snails are one of the biggest pests in the garden. These voracious pests eat almost everything and can destroy entire beds overnight. Young shoots of vegetables, perennials, lettuce and flowers are particularly affected.
Beer traps or barriers made of sand, ash or coffee grounds around the plants help to keep the slugs away.
Around 250 species of bumblebee are known worldwide - they are mainly found in the cooler and temperate zones of the northern hemisphere.
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Bumblebees perform important pollination work in the garden. Alongside bees, they also pollinate flowers, for example on fruit trees. Thanks to their long proboscis, bumblebees can even reach deep-seated flowers. They are also active early in the year - unlike honeybees, bumblebees also fly in cooler weather conditions.
They usually occur in large numbers and literally scrape off the leaf. However, the underside of the leaf remains intact, only the leaf tissue above is eaten away.
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The larvae of the leaf wasps usually attack the upper leaf surfaces of plants in spring. This can be recognized by the so-called window feeding on the leaves. It is best to cut off the infested parts of the plant. Put up nesting boxes or birdhouses to attract birds to your garden. The feathered beneficial insects love to eat leaf wasps.
Chalcid wasps specialize in detecting species that develop hidden in the grain or cocoons.
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The chalcid wasp is an extremely tiny insect, measuring only around 0.6 millimetres. The head and thorax are black, the abdomen is yellow. The females feed on the larvae of storage pests such as beetles and grain moths, which develop in cereal grains or cocoons. You can also use the chalcid wasp successfully against the whitefly, which attacks cucumbers or kale, for example.
