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Good bugs and bad bugs (Ladybug photo by Jane Gates)
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Oh there are so many bugs making their homes in our gardens. Some of them cause no end of trouble chomping and sucking on our favorite plants. Others pollinate flowers, enrich soil and even eat up the bad bugs. There are different friends and foes in different parts of the country depending on your climate. Here is a short list of some of the more common bugs you might want to watch out for in the garden.
Some bad bugs
Aphids
Earwigs (though they can eat aphids and other pests)
Grasshoppers
Japanese beetle
Mealybug
Scale
Stink bugs
Weevils
Whitefly
In addition to true insects, some other bad bugs are larval forms of flies, moths and butterflies, like the tomato worm, cabbage loper or many of the destructive borers. Some are not insects at all, like slugs and snails. And the destructive, sucking mites are actually spiders and not insects.
Some Good Bugs
Damsel Bugs
Green Lacewing
Ground beetles
Ladybug
Parasitic wasps
Praying Mantis
Pirate bugs
Soldier beetles
Syrphid and tachinid flies
Some good bugs that are worms are the parasitic nematodes. Earthworms are also beneficials that will improve the soil of your garden. And there are also good bugs in the butterfly and fly families.
There are many more bugs in the garden that are both friends and foes. And some go both good and bad like carpenter bees that are wonderful pollinators yet drill harmful holes in the wood of our houses. Ironically, even some of the worst bugs, like termites, have their place to play in nature. Termites help reduce dead wood to healthy soil. Unfortunately, they do the same with the wood in our houses.
So keep on the look out for those beneficial insects. If you plant flowers that will attract desireable insects then the good bugs will help keep down the bad bugs! And try to avoid harming good insects when treating the bad.
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