Organic News 3

lso be sure to consider bloom time,” Gardiner
“Asays. “You want to provide a diversity of flowers
from early to late in the season so that food is always available
for the beneficials.”
In addition, be sure to include some plants with
extrafloral nectaries, which are nectar-producing
glands apart from the plant’s flowers. Such plants are an
important supplemental food source for lady beetles and
other beneficial insects, especially during periods of drought
or other extreme weather. Plants with extrafloral nectaries
include sunflower, morning glory, peony, elderberry, vetch,
willow, plum and peach.
Until your season-long flower supplies become
well-established, you can supplement beneficials’
diets with a simple solution of sugar water. Several
studies conducted by Utah State University found a sugar
solution effective for attracting parasitic wasps. The researchers
used a mix of about three-quarters of a cup of sugar per
1 quart of water, and they applied it in a fine mist with a
handheld sprayer onto the crop’s foliage. (The researchers
used the solution on alfalfa.) Be sure to use fresh solution,
Gardiner advises.
2. A HOME OF THEIR OWN
Rather than just interplanting a few of these
flowering plants within your vegetable garden,
try to give them a wider berth: their own permanent
space near your garden crops. Doing so will help create an
undisturbed habitat where insect predators and parasites can
feed, reproduce and overwinter. Many beneficials, including
ground beetles and soldier beetles, spend at least part of their
life cycle underground, so having patches of soil that won’t
be churned up by digging or tilling is helpful.
y taking an annual cropping system and
“Badding borders or strips of diverse perennial
vegetation, we mimic natural systems,” says Don Weber, a
research entomologist with the Agricultural Research Service
who is based in Beltsville, Md. “From there, predators can
move quickly into nearby annual crops to help suppress
pests.”
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