Insectary Gardening

From Earth Easy

https://learn.eartheasy.com/guides/garden-mini-insectary/Gardening for Beneficial Insects

Tips and Suggestions for Your Insectary Gardening

  1. Intersperse vegetable beds with rows or islands of insectary annuals. This will add decorative elements to your vegetable beds while luring beneficials toward prey.
  2. Allow some of your salad and cabbage crops to bloom. Brassica flowers (cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, bok choy) are also attractive to beneficial insects.
  3. Include plants of different heights in your insectary. Ground beetles require the cover provided by low-growing plants such as thyme, rosemary, or mint. Lacewings lay their eggs in shady, protected areas, so providing such places near crop plants is a good idea.
  4. Tiny flowers produced in large quantity are much more valuable than a single, large bloom. Large, nectar-filled blooms actually can drown tiny parasitoid wasps.
  5. Members of the Umbelliferae family are excellent insectary plants. Fennel, angelica, coriander, dill, and wild carrot all produce the tiny flowers required by parasitoid wasps.
  6. Composite flowers (daisy and chamomile) and mints (spearmint, peppermint, or catnip) will attract predatory wasps, hoverflies, and robber flies.
  7. Grow green manure. Clover and vetch, commonly used as cover crops for soil enhancement, are also effective insectary plants.
  8. Herbs (coriander, dill and fennel) will attract hoverflies, lacewings, ladybugs, and tachinid flies to your garden. Coriander (cilantro) is one of the top insectary plants. Caraway, chervil, dill, fennel, and parsley flowers are also valued insectary plants.

“Mini Insectary” Plants

Beneficial Predators Attracted

Achillea filipendulina (Yarrow)Achillea filipendulina (Fernleaf Yarrow, Soldiers Woundwort ...

Lacewings, Aphidius, Ladybugs

Alyssum

Sweet Alyssum Seeds | Alyssum Carpet of Snow | Everwilde Farms

Hoverflies, Lacewings,        Tachnid flies

Amaranthus (Amaranth)

Amaranth - Wikipedia

Ground beetles

Anethum graveolens (Dill)

Amazon.com: Dill Seed-a-Plenty Anethum graveolens 10,000 seeds ...

Ichneumon wasp, Ladybugs, Lacewings

Angelica gigas (Korean angelica, giant angelica, purple parsnip)

File:Angelica gigas (2816107120).jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Lacewings

Convolvulus minor (Dwarf Monring Glory)

Convolvulus tricolor - BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Ladybugs, Hoverflies

Coreopsis (Tickseed)

Tickseed/Lance-leaved Coreopsis

Hoverflies, Lacewings, Parasitic wasps

Cosmos bipinnatus (Garden Cosmos)

Cosmos bipinnatus, Cosmos - Gloria | Heirloom & Perennial Ltd

Hoverflies, Parasitic wasps, Lacewings

Digitalis (Foxglove)

Amazon.com : Big Pack - (200, 000+) Foxy Excelsior Mix Flower ...

Dicyphus

Daucus Carota (Queen Anne’s lace)

Amazon.com : Queen Anne's Lace Seeds (Daucus carota) 30+ ...

Lacewings, Ladybugs, Hoverflies

Foeniculum vulgare (Fennel)

Foeniculum vulgare - Wikispecies

Foeniculum vulgare (Fennel)

Helianthus annulus (common Sunflower)

File:Helianthus annuus inflorescence.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Pirate bugs, Beneficial mites,, Aphidius, Parasitic wasps

Iberis umbellata (Candytuft)

Amazon.com : 50+ Candytuft Candy Cane Mix Flower Seeds / Iberis ...

Hoverflies

Limonium latifolium (Statice)

Sea Lavender Statice (Limonium Latifolium) has tough leathery ...

Hoverflies, Parasitic wasps

Lupine

Amazon.com: Outsidepride Russell Lupine Plant Flower Seed - 1 LB ...

Aphidius, Aphidoletes, Hoverflies

Melissa officinalis (Lemon balm)

Melissa Officinalis, Lemon Balm | Heirloom & Perennial Ltd

Parasitic wasps, tachinid flies

Petroselinum crispum (Parsley)

File:Petroselinum crispum.JPG - Wikimedia Commons

Parasitic wasps, hoverflies, tachinid flies

Scabiosa (Pincushion flower)

Isaac House Pincushion Flower Blend

Hoverflies, Parasitic wasps

Shasta Daisy

Pirate bugs, Beneficial mites

   

Tanacetum vulgare (Tansy)

Tanacetum vulgare, Tansy flower seeds | eBay

Ladybugs, Lacewings

Verbascum thaspus (Mullin)

Verbascum thapsus - Wikipedia

Dicyphus

   

Beneficial Predators

Prey

Aphidius (Parasitic wasps)

Aphidius colemani - Entomology Today

Aphids

Aphidoletes  (Small midge)

Aphidoletes aphidimyza - Wikipedia

Aphids

Beneficial mites (many species)

Thrips, spidermite, fungus gnats

Damsel Bugs (Nabidae)Damsel Bugs (Family Nabidae) | Field Station

Eggs of many pest insects

Dicyphus

CalPhotos: Dicyphus hesperus

Whiteflies, aphids, thrips, spider mites

Ground Beetles

Ground beetles | UMN Extension

Slugs, small caterpillars and grubs

Hoverflies

Nature notes: hoverflies | The Times

Aphids, mealybugs and others

Lacewings

Neuroptera - Wikipedia

Scale, aphids, mites, softbodied insects

Ladybugs

Coccinellidae - Wikipedia

Aphids, mites

Pirate Bugs

PIRATE BUGS

Thrips, aphids, mites, scales, whiteflies

Tachinid flies

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/...

Caterpillars, beetle and fly larvae

Parasitic Wasps (many species) 

Whiteflies, moth, beetle and fly larvae