baymule
Garden Master
I have assassin bugs!! 
I had orange and black assassin bugs in Livingston and managed to capture a few in late fall to release here. I found some last year and was very happy to find them. In my row of yellow squash that is producing like mad, I found tiny assassin bugs and kept watching them. They are bigger now and I got a picture. They love to eat aphids and other insect's eggs. See the stink bug? They eat stinkbug eggs!
I also have Ladybugs that tried to get in the house while I was painting and doing the floors in 2014, before we moved in ( we moved in Feb 2015) and they were back last fall, 2015, trying to find a place to hibernate. I let the failed garden plants stay in the garden until they were dead from frost and freezing. Sure enough, the sickly plants were covered in aphids and the Ladybugs showed up in droves to eat them, lay eggs and their larva hatched out to eat more aphids.
Another beneficial bug I have is Dung Beetles. They can make a pile of poop dissipate almost overnight. They dig tunnels to bury poop in and lay their egg. The tunnels aerate the soil and let water infiltrate the soil. Dung Beetles are a win-win!
This is a pile of horse poop that the dung beetles have broken down. Instead of hard, round, dry, road apples that pile up on top of the soil, the dung beetles have broken them up so the poop will assimilate into the soil. The dung beetles break down the sheep poop and dog poop too!
Red wasps routinely patrol the garden plants, searching for caterpillars. We once observed a red wasp eating a tomato horn worm! I only knock down wasp nests that are on the house or in a place we use a lot where one of the grand kids might get stung.
What beneficial insects are in your garden?
I had orange and black assassin bugs in Livingston and managed to capture a few in late fall to release here. I found some last year and was very happy to find them. In my row of yellow squash that is producing like mad, I found tiny assassin bugs and kept watching them. They are bigger now and I got a picture. They love to eat aphids and other insect's eggs. See the stink bug? They eat stinkbug eggs!
I also have Ladybugs that tried to get in the house while I was painting and doing the floors in 2014, before we moved in ( we moved in Feb 2015) and they were back last fall, 2015, trying to find a place to hibernate. I let the failed garden plants stay in the garden until they were dead from frost and freezing. Sure enough, the sickly plants were covered in aphids and the Ladybugs showed up in droves to eat them, lay eggs and their larva hatched out to eat more aphids.
Another beneficial bug I have is Dung Beetles. They can make a pile of poop dissipate almost overnight. They dig tunnels to bury poop in and lay their egg. The tunnels aerate the soil and let water infiltrate the soil. Dung Beetles are a win-win!
This is a pile of horse poop that the dung beetles have broken down. Instead of hard, round, dry, road apples that pile up on top of the soil, the dung beetles have broken them up so the poop will assimilate into the soil. The dung beetles break down the sheep poop and dog poop too!
Red wasps routinely patrol the garden plants, searching for caterpillars. We once observed a red wasp eating a tomato horn worm! I only knock down wasp nests that are on the house or in a place we use a lot where one of the grand kids might get stung.
What beneficial insects are in your garden?
