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Biological pest control is a natural way to control pests in your garden/greenhouse without damaging the environment with harmful chemicals. Check out these options if you want to try biological pest control:
Natural predators are effective for biological pest control. Ladybugs are good predators for aphids (plant-eating flies), mites, scale insects, and caterpillars. Hoverflies (similar to wasps) are also good for getting rid of aphids, spider mites, and caterpillars. Hoverfly larvae principally feed on aphids and eat up to 50 a day. Dragonflies are great predators of mosquitoes and mosquito larvae. You can also obtain aphid midge. Their larvae feed on several aphids a day much like hoverfly larvae. Other insects to consider are the ground beetles, lacewings, and pirate bugs. Good non-insects to use for biological pest control are cats (for field mice), Rat Terriers (rodents), birds, frogs, toads, and lizards.
Parasitoid insects kill pests by using them as hosts and laying eggs inside. The larvae that develop inside consume the host. Parasitic wasps are mainly used for biological pest control. The following types are: Ichneumonid wasps (for butterflies and moth caterpillars), Braconid wasps (for greenflies), and Chalcid wasps (for whiteflies, cabbage caterpillars). Tachinid flies also combat caterpillars, beetles, and tree bugs.
Fungi and bacteria can also be used in biological pest control. Bacteria kills pest by attacking their digestive area. Aphids, beetles, moths, and butterflies can be fought with the use of bacteria. Entomopathogenic fungi can be used for aphids. Trichoderma fungi are effective to fight off soil-borne plant pathogens (fights plant diseases).
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