Beneficial predator insects obviously don’t control ants, spiders and the other insects that CORKY'S PEST CONTROL keeps out of your home.  However, we tell you time and time again, that the plant insects (which the predators do control) are the food supply and one of the reasons for ants and spiders being on your property in the first place.  We are one of the few companies to address this problem as part of our service.  We are a Licensed Agricultural company besides being a Structural Pest Control company.  We spray ornamental shrubs and plants as part of our Regular Service.  However, except for the Dormant Treatment (between December and February) and an early spring organic treatment (between February and April), we do not treat your fruit trees or vegetable gardens.  Late spring and summer is your special time for the Beneficial Predator insects you see pictured alongside.  We no longer spray your trees and shrubs, even with organics, because of the summer heat.
During their 1 to 2-year lifespan, a single Ladybug can eat over 5000 aphids.  The female will lay up to 1000 eggs, and the larvae that hatch are what actually goes after aphids and other insects.  Larvae are about 3/8ths inch and colored black with orange spots.  Adults will also feed on insects, but will eat pollen and nectars in addition. Ladybugs can be stored for a few weeks in a cool environment such as a refrigerator as long as the temperature is kept well above freezing.  You can release a few at a time. Outdoors they hibernate over the winter if it turns cold.

There is an even better insect than the well-known ladybug beetle for controlling aphids and many other plant pests: the Green Lacewing.  The lacewing usually works better than the ladybug because it's delivered in the egg stage so it obviously can't fly away, and it can be placed right where the pest actually is.  Green Lacewings are delivered in egg form on a card that is then stapled to leaves where they’re most needed.  The eggs come glued to a strip of heavy paper along with many dead moth eggs.  When the lacewing egg hatches into wingless larvae, this predator gets its first meal from these moth eggs, then, with its strength up and its appetite whetted, it begins to hunt for live prey - the pests on your plants!  The lacewing larvae feeds on insects from 14 to 21 days before it cycles to the pupae stage.  By putting out lacewing eggs 2 times 14 days apart in your plants, trees, and garden, you will develop a sustainable cycle of continuous pest-attacking larvae throughout the year except for the months of December through February.

The lacewing larvae will eat almost any kind of insect it can get hold of, including aphids (their favorite), mealybugs, whiteflies, spider mites, thrips, caterpillars, and many more.  The larvae are gray and alligator-shaped; as they grow they eat more and more pests - they’ve been known to eat 60 aphids in one hour!  They use their long, hollow, pincer-like jaws to impale their prey, then they suck out all the body fluids, leaving only a shrunken husk.  The lacewing larvae live about three weeks before growing large enough to make their cocoon.  About 5 to 7 days later, the adult lacewing emerges.  The adults only feed on nectar pollen, and the sticky excrement of aphids, whiteflies, and mealybugs, which is called honeydew.  When the adult finds some honeydew it will be stimulated to lay eggs, which appear on a thin stalk about 3/4" long, usually on the underside of a leaf.

The lacewing strips usually contain 600 eggs, and can be cut along perforations into 6 tabs with 100 eggs each. Place a tab near the pest infestation by stapling it to a leaf and when the larvae hatch they will move over to the infestation and begin reducing it. One tab will control pests over an area of about 20 square feet, so a strip of six tabs can cover about 120 square feet of garden or planter bed, or use one tab for one good size tree.  It usually takes three or four weeks for these predators to control a pest, but this can vary depending on the time of year, the initial number of pest insects, the pest species, the area covered by the pest, etc.  Releasing the lacewing at a higher rate will usually speed up the control.

The lacewings can also be used as a preventative measure.  If they are put out every two to four weeks in the spring and summer, wave after wave of these predators will be searching your plants for pest infestations and stopping them before they have a chance to build up to damaging levels.  This is especially useful if you have a species of plant that seems to get aphids every spring, e.g. citrus trees.

The Praying Mantid is also a commonly recognized insect predator.  Praying Mantids are wonderful for children to watch hatch.  They tend to go after larger insects, as they grow up.  These are available as egg cases, each of which has over 100 eggs in it.  Upon hatching, a young mantis will eat anything it can grab, including its brothers and sisters!  While they are still small, the praying mantis will eat aphids and other small plant pests, but as they grow they begin looking for larger prey like moths, and they become less useful for pest control.  If you have children or grandchildren and you want to give them a ‘Wow!’, buy a set of these mantid egg cases and put one in a jar in the house.  When they hatch, they’ll be running all around the jar, each a miniature version of the adult.  When the child has seen and played with them enough, take the jar and the child outside, and make a big show of opening the jar and sprinkling the young mantids all over your yard.  Kids really get a kick out of watching the little mantids searching the plants for food or a good place to lie in wait.

Among the many species of parasites that are available, the most useful in the garden are the Trichogramma, or, as some call them, the Tricky Grandmas.  These stingless Egg Wasps attack the eggs of moths and prevent the egg from hatching into the destructive caterpillar.  They are among the smallest of insects in the world, about 1/32nd of an inch in length.  Trichogramma come on the same type of card as the lacewing, but instead of the moth eggs being dead, they each have the pupa of a Trichogramma in them.  Within a few days of receiving them, the adult Trichogramma wasps will chew their way out of the moth eggs and begin looking for moth eggs in your garden.  Each strip of Trichogramma has about 18,000 stingless wasps on it, or about 3,000 per tab.  Because they can fly (and because there are so many more of them), a tab of Trichogramma will cover about 100 square feet of garden or planter bed.  Putting them out once a month during spring and early summer will usually suppress any major caterpillar infestations.  Trichogramma really are the answer when you have moth problems.

These insects are available from many local nurseries.  If you want to do it yourself, this is the way to go.  These insects are perishable—so if you order them PLEASE plan to put them out the day that you receive them.  Note that Lady Bugs are an exception—they must be placed out in the early evening just after sundown.  Most shipments will come with release information to maximize their effectiveness.  We recommend American Insectories in Escondido (760-747-2920).  You can also e-mail them at betterbugs@cox.net.  They also have the decollate snail, known as the “killer snail.”  These get rid of common garden snails.