We told you about the very first use of biological controls here.
‘Beneficials’ include pollinators, insects that prey on other insects, parasitoids, and ones that eat weed seeds. Others compost stubble or animal dung, or improve the soil. Having these bugs in abundance can have a major impact on the pest insects in crops, said Gavloski, who gave a rundown of several types of beneficials during a recent Alberta Agriculture webinar.
Minute pirate bugs — just two to five millimetres long — are a “valuable seasonal predator” that feed on aphids and insect eggs. Sleek and thin damsel bugs are quick and ferocious predators. “When they do find a diamondback moth caterpillar or an aphid, they put their beak in and inject their saliva into their potential food and then they suck the juice out,” said Gavloski. Damsel bugs can be especially beneficial because they sometimes kill more prey than they consume.
