How to Use Lacewings for Pest Control

Lacewings can be used for natural pest control in gardens, orchards, and flower beds. Lacewings and their larvae will prey on garden pests such as aphids, white flies, thrips, mealy bugs, and caterpillars. If used correctly they can provide season long gardening pest control without the use of insecticides or pesticides.

Instructions

1. Learn what lacewings are and about their life cycle, to identify and use them properly as a natural pest control force. There are two main types of lacewings, green and brown, both identifiable by their transparent dragonfly-like wings, their long narrow bodies, and their long thread-like antennae. Unlike dragonflies and damselflies, lacewings carry their wings folded back over the body like a tent and they have soft not hard bodies. The adult lacewings measure from 1/2 to an inch long and are rather weak fliers often swarming at night when winds are light. Green lacewing eggs are attached to long stalks which are attached to plant surfaces. Green lacewing adults feed on plant nectar, pollen, or honeydew, as well as other insects. Their larvae feed solely on insect pests and are voracious feeders making them a true biological pest control force. Brown lacewings are smaller, do not have stalked eggs, and the adults are solely predatory. The wingless lacewing larvae, brown, tan or gray in color, have a segmented body, drawn out to a pointed tail and head, with short legs. They have pincher shaped jaws that they use to grab insect pests which can be larger than themselves. Each lacewing larva can kill and eat 200 or more garden pests or pest eggs a week, during their two to three week growth period. After this stage, the lacewing larvae pupate and approximately five days later adult lacewings emerge to mate and repeat the life cycle. Each female can lay over 400 eggs and depending on climatic conditions, the adult can live about four to six weeks. There can be several generations every season and the last generation of larvae, or aphid lions another name they have, will over winter as pupa to emerge as adults in the spring. Because they are weak fliers, lacewings will not travel far unless their food supply of garden pests runs out.

2. Determine what garden pests are causing the problems and if lacewings will attack them. Aphids are small, less than 1/8 inch, soft bodied insects that suck plant juices and spread plant diseases. They may be green, brown, black, or red, may or may not have wings, and are often clustered together on plant leaves or stems. White flies are even smaller and cluster together on the underside of leaves and on stems. They are easy to identify due to their white color and how they will fly up in swarms if the plant is shaken. White flies are especially bad on citrus and roses. Mealy bugs are tiny, flat bodied pests usually wingless with oval shaped bodies and very short legs. They feed on leaves and stems and can produce large amounts of honeydew that can cause black sooty mold on plants. Plant thrips are smaller still often less than .04 of an inch in length. They resemble small wasps but with a fringe like edging on their wings. As they feed, often amid flower petals or on leaves where they join plant stems, thrips cause leaves and fruits to be distorted and spread diseases. Caterpillars are the worm-like larvae of moths and butterflies that chew on plant leaves and can often totally defoliate a plant. Lacewings and their larvae feed on all these types of insect pests. Lacewings feed especially on insect young and lacewing larvae will even feed on their eggs. This is the best type of biological pest control as it wipes out gardening pests before any plant damage is done.

3. Start garden pest control early in the season to knock down the pest populations before they get out of control, but not before there is a food supply for the lacewings. Once daytime temperatures start staying above the upper 70's and nighttime lows stay above the lower 60's, garden insect numbers will begin to grow. Start scouting plants for signs of garden pest infestations. Look at young new growth and on plants where you had problems last year for insect pests. Shake bushes and look under leaves for white flies and scales. Being poor fliers, lacewings don't tend to leave an area as quickly as ladybugs do, but they will leave if there is not a food source available for both the adults and the larvae. Once aphids, white flies, and other lacewing prey species are found on the plants, it is time to order the lacewing eggs, larvae, or adults. Below under resources there are links to several sources for buying lacewings. Ants are known to eat lacewing eggs so treating the release area to keep ant numbers down may be a good idea. Ground treatments and individual mound treatments are the best bet for ant control. There is a link under resources below to an article on how to control fire ants.

4. Plant a flower garden near where the lacewings are wanted to fight the insect pests, as a food source. The adults, especially those of the green lacewings, need flowers as a source of nectar and pollen. Lacewings like broad petaled flowers such as zinnias, daisies, sunflowers, and the flowers of Queens Anne's lace and Golden Rod, that produce lots of pollen and nectar. Do not use pesticides on the flowers or on the plants where you want the lacewings to control insect pests. 500 to 1000 lacewings are considered enough to act as a natural pest control for the average small garden. Lacewing larvae will eat each other so do not release them all in the same spot if larvae rather than eggs were ordered, and they have been known to bite so be careful when handling them. Under resources below you will find links to other articles about gardening. Please rate this and any other articles you check out, thank you.
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