Grow Tips, Pest Control
Beneficial Insects for your Grow Room
Aug
Insects and Pests such as Aphids, larvae, grasshoppers and crickets can and often do cause damage to crops and plants. These pests are frequently found within your grow rooms and greenhouses, they manage to infiltrate via pets, clothing or even other plants previously infected by the pests being brought into the grow room.
Fortunately not all insects bring harm to crops, some of the insects found could actually be beneficial to the growth of your plants. Stated below are a couple of predators and insects that will eat some of the nastier insects found damaging plants.
Praying Mantis:
A popular predator insect, commonly known for the crazy way they mate (the female possibly eating the males head during the process). These are a great insect to have occupy your grow room or greenhouse, even if they are not found frequently among your crops.
The Praying Mantis is extremely fast and always hungry, they eat a large range of different insect pests such as grasshoppers, aphids, flies, crickets and even moths. Sadly the Praying Mantis isn’t perfect due to its large appetite… you may find it eating other insects that benefit the growth of plants.
Ladybugs:
This insect is a very common predator and is effective in removing the threat of larger harmful insects and plant lice (aphids). However, The Ladybug is not so effective in removing spider mites and their eggs. This Predator will often avoid eating the eggs and even the smaller mites.
The Ladybugs are effective in removing a lot of the pests but sadly the chances of them removing an entire population of spider mites are slim. It is still an advantage to the growth of your crop plants if you keep ladybugs within your grow room.
Nematodes
This species can be both beneficial and destructive to plant growth. Fortunately Most Nematodes are beneficial as they assist creating organic matter that benefits the soil while also preying on pests such as caterpillars, earwigs and many more insects harmful to your crop plants.
Beneficial Nematodes can be bred by a combination of leaves and other organic matter soaked in water in a dark cool place. They can also be purchased as an organic pesticide.
Not all pest problems need to be solved with unnatural pesticides.
The synthetic pesticides are more effective than the more natural forms. However, it is always a great feeling to solve the issues of pests through natural means.
Natural Predators can be found naturally in and around your grow room or greenhouse, if not they are frequently sold in specialised stores. You can easily keep away the pesky pests while keeping the plants and crops growing healthily.
