Attracting beneficial insects with aphids

Thought I'd shared a couple of videos I found on the topic:

• Attracting Beneficial Insects With Pests
• Aphids on Fava Beans Attract Beneficial Insects

 

Thanks. That made me think. I must admit that the blackfly that infest my broad (fava) beans early in the season do not seem to transfer to many other plants in the garden. I usually just pinch-out the tops when there are a good number of flowers formed & not worry too much about the remaining pests.

This is less work, I think I'll try it nest year.

 

That was interesting and they have some good reasonings for leaving some of the infested plants. Often you will see common weeds or ruderals loaded with aphids. It should be noted that these plants don't really have many defensive mechanisms. They put all of their energy into offensive seed production to make hundreds of replicas of themselves. Their sole purpose is to cover the land as quickly as possible and it is with these types of plants you find not only the most pest infestations, but also beneficials which actually do move around unlike the pests. The hope is they move to your desirable plants as well.

Leaving some weeds for attacting beneficial insect preditors is an excellent idea if you can tollerate the look of it in the wrong location. Otherwise leave a sort of wild area on the fringes somewhere on your property, preferably towards the back of the yard.

 

A long time ago when I grew broad beans, plants around one stake would be infested with aphids along with the ants which farmed them. The rest of the planting remained relatively pest free such that nothing had to be done. The setup may have attracted beneficial insects without me knowing about it back then.