Beneficial insects
Get the right ones on your side
Beneficial insects are always at home in an organically managed garden. Beneficial insects are the natural enemies of pests. In a healthy garden, both are in a sensible balance. This allows beneficial insects to regulate pest infestation and keep damage to plants within tolerable limits.
Recognise, observe, protect
Maintaining the natural cycle: This can only be achieved through truly consistent organic gardening and the promotion of beneficial organisms. To do this, it is important to recognise, observe and protect beneficial garden inhabitants. An essential prerequisite for this is avoiding the use of chemicals!
In addition to certain bird species, amphibians, toads and lizards are also very welcome in the garden. Among small mammals, hedgehogs, shrews, bats, martens and (mouse) weasels are particularly beneficial to plant life. The largest group of beneficial organisms are insects and larvae.
Profiles of some beneficial organisms
hedgehog
Benefits: They eat snails, grubs, worms, caterpillars and mice.
Protection: An undisturbed corner under bushes where branches and leaves are left lying. Do not use slug pellets!
moles
Benefits: They eat worms, unfortunately including earthworms, mole crickets, insects, larvae, pupae, grubs, slugs and clear out vole nests.
Protection: They are a protected species, so please be considerate of them.
birds
Benefits: They catch large quantities of insects, caterpillars, maggots, larvae and lice to feed their young.
Protection: Provide nesting sites in the garden, such as hedges or shrubs. Offer nesting boxes with the entrance facing south-east and bird baths.
green lacewings
Benefits: A single larva eats 200–500 aphids and other pests.
Protection: Do not use insecticides, fungicides or oil-based sprays! In winter, lacewings seek shelter in cool attics, sheds and garden sheds.
Ladybirds and their larvae
Benefits: Adult beetles eat an average of 60 aphids per day, while larvae eat as many as 400 aphids during their 20-day development period. Beetles are particularly hungry after hibernation and clean up the garden in spring.
Protection: Be patient, ladybirds will find their way to you.
Predatory beetles, soft beetles and ground beetles
Benefits: They feed on caterpillars, spider mites, aphids, wasp larvae and bark beetles, pupae, caterpillars, wireworms, Colorado beetles and their larvae.
Protection: Recognise them as beneficial insects and do not destroy them. Damp places under leaves, wood or stones serve as shelters for these useful beetles.
predatory mites
Benefit: Kill the red spider.
Protection: Do not spray poison!
predatory bugs
Benefits: They mainly eat spider mites, aphids and small caterpillars.
Protection: Do not spray with poison!
earworms
Benefits: Nocturnal predator that eats aphids, mealybugs and small caterpillars.
Protection: Hang flower pots filled with wood wool or straw upside down in trees and shrubs. Earwigs like to hide in these hollows during the day and then go hunting at night.
Parasitic wasps and caterpillar flies
Benefit: Lay their eggs on or in host animals or their larvae. The hatching larvae then parasitise the pests. A female parasitic wasp can lay eggs on 200 to 1,000 aphids.
Protection: Look out for aphid mummies, in which the larvae overwinter. Do not destroy tree cuttings immediately.
Hoverflies and their larvae
Benefits: Adult hoverflies feed on pollen and honey. The larvae, on the other hand, feed on aphids. During their short lifespan of 8 to 15 days, a larva consumes around 400 aphids.
Protection: They are often mistaken for wasps due to their colour. Do not weaken them by spraying. Hang up insect nesting aids. Umbellifers such as dill, chervil, etc. attract hoverflies to the garden.
How to encourage beneficial insects in your garden
Protecting beneficial insects is good, but “inviting” them into your garden is even better. You can do this by creating good living conditions for a wide variety of welcome species. It’s a win-win situation for everyone!
hedges
A wide variety of beneficial insects like hedges, preferably made from native trees and shrubs. They provide hiding places and breeding grounds for a multitude of species. This habitat also protects them from external influences such as extreme sunlight, hail and similar conditions.
insect shelters
Suitable shelters for hoverflies, parasitic wasps and carpenter bees can be easily made or purchased in shops.
Many bees are solitary and build their brood tunnels in rotten wood, old fence posts, wooden plant stems, stone crevices, etc.
earworms
During the day, earwigs hide in dark, warm, damp places, becoming active at night. They like to take refuge in flower pots filled with wood wool, which can be hung near branches or trunks where there are lots of aphids.
deadwood piles
Shrews, hedgehogs, house weasels, toads and lizards use hedges as shelter and hibernation sites, but they are just as happy to settle in piles of dead wood, which can be created in any corner of the garden using brushwood, leaves, roots, tree trunks and branches. Many different insects, as well as small mammals, settle in the rotting wood piles.
Such corners are very important for hedgehogs, who like to build their nests here for hibernation.
cairn
Loosely stacked stones form cavities. They serve as shelter and habitat for toads, newts, lizards and insects.
nesting aids
Many birds gratefully accept nesting aids such as nesting boxes. Don’t forget to provide appropriate protection from cats!