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| Crimson Clover arrived today - 5,000 seeds. |
Beneficial Garden Bugs – Attracting Pirate Bugs To The Garden:
"Minute pirate bugs are tiny insects that are usually less than one-fifth inch long. They are black or dark purple with white markings at the tips of their wings so that they appear to have white bands when the wings are closed. Nymphs are generally between a yellow-orange color and brown and are shaped like a teardrop.
Although incredibly small, pirate bugs move fast and are very predatory. Pirate bugs in the garden feed on a number of small insects, including aphids, spider mites, and thrips. They are also used to kill thrips in greenhouses. Each adult pirate bug can consume as many as 20 thrips larvae each day."
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| Over and over. |
'via Blog this'
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GJ - A few days ago I found John Paul II was blooming. That was good. Then I got closer and saw black specks on it. Now that I am enlightened, I thought, "Good. Either these are pest-eaters or pests for for pest-eaters to eat."
I had been reading about pirate bugs but did not realize how small they were. Normally the aphids I see are light green. These were black. I am sure now they were pirate bugs, the ferocious and voracious enemies of aphids. The JP II rose looks good, not aphid-destroyed.
Pirate bugs over-winter in piles of leaves, and my entire backyard is blanketed with leaves from my trees, plus 60 bags I hauled in from other properties. The leaves are sometimes knee-deep along the Gardener's fence because the wind drives them against the fence and over the roses. That is also good winter protection for the roses - and food for the soil creatures.
As readers can see from the article above, Crimson Clover is a good plant to grow for beneficial insects, especially pirate bugs. They hate aphids with a perfect hate - or perhaps love them with a perfect love. The results are excellent.
We can see how God has...
- created these plants and animals to live together,
- engineered each participant (with overlapping dependencies), and
- managed them to perfection.
If people neglect the beneficial insect plants, those insects pack up and leave. The increase in pests will draw beneficial insects back, especially when conditions are good. When gardeners maximize the perks for beneficial creatures, the good ones flourish and do their jobs.
I continue to marvel at gardeners removing the fallen leaves, the ground cover needed most for bugs and beetles that will serve them all summer. They do not have to be as bountiful with leaves as I am - they can leave the back of the yard in leaves or surround trees with giant piles of leaves. Brett Meyers reported that mulching with leaves doubled the production of their fruit tree. That seems to be a great yield for piling up leaves.
As Paul Gerhardt might say today, if God could plan so elaborately well for His Creation, how could He neglect our needs?
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| Norma Boecker's Autumn Leaves |
