You've heard of fighting fire with fire, but what about fighting bugs with bugs? Among the most frustrating lawn care chores is controlling aphids and other pests such as thrips and spider mites. The larvae of the green lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea), can literally help you take a bite out of garden pests.
Green lacewing Larvae Eradicate Aphids
These insects are "human friendly," and don't bite or "bug" people or pets. Although adult green lacewings don't eat other insects, each of their larvae can eat up to 1000 aphids a day! The larvae are flightless brownish gray bugs that mature in four to six weeks. You should release green lacewing larvae into your gardens several times every two weeks or so as part of your lawn care schedule. By doing so can assure continued protection for your garden as the initial lacewing larvae mature and cease to eat aphids. Lacewings prefer humid, moist conditions, and they typically thrive in the Midwest and southeastern U.S. They can also be great for controlling aphids in greenhouse environments, or gardens near water features.
Safe Lawn Care with Lacewings
Green lacewing larvae can be used to eradicate aphids on food crops including apples, corn, eggplant, peppers, potatoes, and strawberries. They also can control aphids in your ornamental gardens. One of the major benefits of using green lacewing larvae is that they're flightless, and unlike ladybugs, they can't fly away when released.
You can order green lacewing larvae from suppliers who specialize in breeding them specifically for pest control purposes. An application of 1000 is usually sufficient for residential lawn care.
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Karen Lawson is a freelance writer with an avid interest in gardening and horticulture. She earned BA and MA degrees in English from the University of Nevada, Reno.
