10 Most Beneficial Garden Insects You Should Avoid Killing | Useful Insects

Find out 10 most useful and beneficial garden insects you should avoid killing. Some of them pollinate flowers for you and some like to kill insects and harmful garden and yard pests.

1. Praying Mantis

You are lucky to have a praying mantis in your garden. Do not be fooled by its unusual and refined appearance; praying mantis is a predator. A speedy killer who can not be compared with any other insect. It is capable of removing your pesky garden pests instantly. Praying mantis likes to eat grubs, bugs, aphids, grasshoppers, crickets, flies and other insects.

2. Bees

In addition to that, they provide us; rich honey, bees are an essential part of the lifecycle of plant’s growth. They are considered as one of the most important pollinators. While they feed on the nectar of flowers, they pollinate them too.

3. Ladybugs (Ladybird)

Ladybug, lady beetle or ladybird whatever you call this colorful tiny insect, it has a voracious appetite. Ladybugs feed on the pests, devouring thousands of harmful insects such as aphids, whiteflies, scale insects, lice and other common pests that are detrimental to the health of your plants.

4. Butterflies

Butterflies are one of the most beneficial insects. It’s a pleasure to watch them fluttering across the garden. Their color and beauty are amazing. They perch on flowers, feed on nectar and carry pollen to fertilize other, generating new seeds, fruits and encouraging the growth of the plants.

Also Read: How to Attract Butterflies in the Garden

5. Lacewings

Lacewings can keep your garden free from pests; they are a helpful insect. The number one destroyer of the aphids and whiteflies, both in their larval and adult stage. Female lacewings lay their eggs in the larvae of whiteflies and aphid colonies, and from birth, the larvae begin to eat them. They are very aggressive and voracious predators. To help lacewings, you must control ants as they try to protect aphids and eat eggs of lacewings.

6. Dragon-fly

These beneficial insects prey on other flying insects and pests such as mosquitoes, flies, moths, whiteflies and fruit flies and their larvae. They are curious but harmless and inviting them in your garden is an excellent way to reduce pests naturally.

7. Earthworms

No need to inform that they are one of the most beneficial insects. The castings of these worms provide nutrients to the plants, they aerate the soil too and control the soil pH.

8. Bumble Bees

Bumble bees are large, lovely bee-like hairy pollinators. They are innocuous and rarely bites. Bumble bees pollinate the plants and feed on nectar. Like bees, they too live in colonies but in soil, leaf litter or hollow logs. Growing fruit trees encourage the bumble bees in the garden.

9. Spider

Spiders are creepy for most of us, but they are one of the most beneficial insects in the garden. There might be a few species that can be harmful but commonly spiders are harmless, and they prey on mosquitoes, flies, hoppers, ants, aphids and many other pests and insects that you want to deter away.

10. Ground Beetles

Ground beetles seldom fly and shift swiftly in the field, they are nocturnal hunters and eat bad bugs, caterpillars and other insects and their eggs that attack your plants. You can find them under the debris and leaf litter in dark covered spots, in manure or the compost pile. If you find, one don’t kill it.

Now that you know, never try to get rid of these beneficial garden insects when you see them near your plants.

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