If you’re an avid gardener in Denver, you’ve likely come across a variety of insects. While the thought of creepy crawlers exploring your garden may make you feel a bit uneasy, many insects are helpful and keep your garden free of unwanted pests. From pollinating our plants to clearing our homes of harmful insects, the following bugs found in Denver are beneficial to humans and the environment.
Garden-Friendly Insects in Denver
Ladybugs
Ladybugs are probably known to be the cutest of bugs. Plus, some believe that if a ladybug lands on you, the number of spots on their bodies predicts how many years of good luck you’ll have. In addition to being a good luck charm and having a friendly appearance, ladybugs also keep your garden free of plant-eating pests. In fact, they’re known for being ferocious hunters, consuming aphids, mites, whiteflies, and other soft-scale insects. Throughout their lifetime, ladybugs consume over 5,000 aphids, which significantly benefits your roses.
Although one ladybug is considered a workhorse for the garden, imagine having hundreds of these insects in your garden. To attract ladybugs, consider planting carrots, parsley, dill, fennel, and yarrow. Overall, these spotted bugs should be treasured and welcomed in your Denver garden.
Honey Bees
The honey bee is one of the most crucial insect on the planet, helping plant pollination to produce more seeds. As bees cross-pollinate, more flowers and plants will grow. But they play a bigger role in the ecosystem than just pollinating flowers. They’re also responsible for about one-third of our daily diet. From legumes to melons to apples, a significant percentage of our food supply requires pollination from bees.
Unfortunately, their worldwide population has steadily declined over the years. A world without honey gees would impact our entire ecosystem and global food production. Not only are they beneficial for our gardens, but they’re vital to our planet. If you want to attract more honey bees to your garden, plant a variety of flowering plants throughout the entire season.
Green Lacewings
Another garden workhorse is the green lacewing. They work tirelessly to rid your garden of harmful pests. These green, fragile bugs are roughly three-fourths of an inch long with distinctive gossamer wings and big gold-colored eyes. The larvae of these green lacewings devour pests many times their size. They’re considered aggressive, eating anything in their path. They will hunt a wide variety of pests, including mealybugs, psyllids, thrips mites, whiteflies, aphids, caterpillars, and leafhoppers. Believe it or not, the larvae eat over 200 insects each week. Larvae will only feed for one to three weeks before they become adults.
Full-grown green lacewings enjoy feasting on pollen and nectar. Using lacewings for Denver pest control is a common practice in home gardens. Many gardeners will buy lacewings and set them free to prey on other pests. Are you sold on having more green lacewings in your yard? Gardeners can purchase them online and have them shipped directly to their home. We recommend releasing lacewings at dusk or dawn. If you’d rather not purchase the lacewings, plant sweet alyssum, coreopsis, and cosmos throughout your garden.
Flower Flies
Flower flies, also known as hoverflies, are known as valuable pollinators, carrying out one-third of agricultural pollination. Not to be confused with bees or wasps, flower flies have black-and-yellow coloring and mimic insects that make birds and other predators avoid them. In addition to playing an important role in pollinating our gardens, flower flies also help control pests. As you look around your garden, you may notice these strange insects hovering above your rose bush to feast on pollen and nectar. You may also see flower fly larvae consuming aphids, mites, mealybugs, thrips, and caterpillars for their meal. Bottom line, you’ll want plenty of these insects in your garden.
Ground Beetles
Ground beetles act as vacuum cleaners for your garden, eating slugs, cutworms, caterpillars, and more. While the larvae stay below the soil feeding on pests underground, the adults hide under rocks, beneath mulches, around compost piles, or in the sheltered areas around perennials plants. Ground beetles are nocturnal insects, so they scour for food at night, consuming mites, snails, slugs, caterpillars, earwigs, cutworms, vine borers, aphids, and a ton of other harmful insects.
To attract ground beetles, you’ll need to mulch your garden throughout the entire year and plant perennials to provide a good shelter for them to overwinter.
Eliminate Harmful Pests in Your Garden
In addition to supplying your garden with beneficial insects, there are several other safe and effective ways to eliminate pesky bugs so your garden flourishes. Here are effective ways to eliminate harmful pests in your garden:
1. Incorporate Healthy Soil
Healthy soil supplies the nutrients, water, oxygen, and root support that plants need to thrive. The healthier the soil, the better plants can withstand pest attacks and prevent pest problems. To improve your soil, add organic matter, such as compost. This will introduce microorganisms that will increase your soil’s fertility and water retention while improving its texture.
2. Plant Herbs and Flowers
Insects find their foods using their scent, so mixing in plants to confuse them can make it harder for them to locate their preferred food source. There are a variety of plants known to naturally repel insects, including marigolds, petunias, basil, lavender, thyme, lemongrass, and dill.
3. Make Homemade Remedies
Did you know there are safe and effective pest remedies found right in your kitchen? These remedies include garlic, orange, banana peels, milk, baking soda, apple cider vinegar, eggshells, and castile soap. You can also sprinkle diatomaceous earth, which is a naturally occurring substance made from sedimentary rocks.
Hire a Pest Exterminator in Denver, Colorado
Are you tired of trying to eliminate the harmful garden pests by yourself? Why not hire a Denver pest exterminator for your home and garden? These pest control specialists will start with a thorough inspection of your yard to create a unique plan that will keep the pests to a minimum. Your garden will thank you for calling in the pest professionals.