Clifton Park, Saratoga and surrounding area homeowners spend a lot of time trying to keep the pests out of their homes and this time of year, their gardens. However, many are unaware of the pests that are beneficial for your garden. Our friends at Orkin and MSN offer bugs gardeners should love. Learn about some of them and learn more here.

Ladybugs

Ladybugs are probably the most common garden savior homeowners are familiar with. Bright red and polka-dotted, they can tear through a colony of aphids in no time. And it’s not just the elder bugs that eat pests; the ladybug’s larvae can devour 100 aphids an hour, and will also help control a host of other problem bugs, like spider mites and scale insects.

While you can plant a number of things to help attract ladybugs, including dill, angelica and cilantro, the best way to get a colony of them in your garden, is to buy some.

Dragonflies

All have big, compound eyes and four transparent wings on a long, narrow body. These stunning creatures are bright and sometimes iridescent blue, green, yellow, violet or red. They lay eggs in or near water, where the young (“nymphs”) live for a time. Dragonflies feast on mosquitoes, aphids and other garden pests. They’re drawn to bodies of water, so a garden pond or a plastic wading pool will attract them.

Green Lacewings

While the adult lacewings often prefer nectar and pollen, lacewing larva love aphids and are a great way to control problem pests. Because they don’t tend to get along with one another in their adult stage, lacewings are sold as eggs, which you can add to your garden to keep bad bugs in check.

Nematodes

Almost impossible to see, these colorless roundworms are extremely effective at knocking out pests below the soil. These tiny worms work their way into grubs, beetles and weevils, killing them with a parasitic bacteria in a matter of days. Not all nematodes are created equal, of course. Some species will actually attack plant roots and others can cause disease in humans.

Honeybees

Bees can play a central roll in growing a healthy garden as they will ensure that your garden is properly pollinated. If you’d like to help the process along, you can purchase or rent a honeybee hive for your property, which will both improve plant growth and give you a steady supply of honey.

Praying Mantis

A beautiful and graceful bug, the praying mantis is also deadly to most insects, many of which do damage to your garden. These predators take out more than just aphids and mites, though. Because they eat just about any insect they can get their arched arms on, they can also help you tackle infestations of mosquitoes, houseflies and moths.

Centipedes/Millipedes

These invertebrates lay eggs in the ground each autumn and spring. They molt repeatedly, adding body sections, each with its own set of legs. Centipedes have one set of legs per segment, millipedes have two.

Centipedes and millipedes are both a help and a hindrance for homeowners. They’re great for the garden, if only they’ll stay there. Millipedes chew up organic material into fluffy, rich compost. Centipedes patrol the garden for slugs, fly pupae, cockroaches, crickets and worms.

As a Capital Region homeowner, you take pride in your property from the design, landscape and maintenance of your yard or garden. If you find any of these insects in your garden, do not initially panic until identified because in all reality they good be good for your garden. If any of these pests enter your home they you should contact Thomas Pest Service, your Albany pest control provider. As a QualityPro company, Thomas Pest Service has taken extraordinary steps to ensure that consumers can rely on us. Thomas Pest Services is proud to the local pest management professional serving the local communities of Albany, Clifton Park, Saratoga and beyond as a QualityPro company. For more information about how we can serve you better, contact us today!