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Building a ‘Good Bug Tub’ For Your Garden
Building a ‘Good Bug Tub’ For Your Garden
Why would I want to attract insects to my garden?
Many people think of all insects as bad insects but that is definitely not true. In fact, less than 3% of all insect species are considered pests. Part of the reason many other insects do not become pests is because of good insects in the environment. These good insects keep other insect populations from becoming too large and bothersome to humans. Good insects are referred to as beneficial insects. You might want to attract beneficial insects to your garden in order to reduce the number of pest insects there.
A portable tub of plants that attract beneficial insects will control pests in your garden without you having to do anything other than move the tub. That means less money spent on pesticides and less time spent applying them. The ‘Good Bug Tub’ of plants will attract the good insects you would like to have in your garden.
How do I build a ‘Good Bug Tub’?
First, get a galvanized metal or plastic tub, the 18-gallon size are ideal for this project. Drill ten holes (1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter) in the bottom in order to provide water drainage. Fill the tub with a blend of potting soil, compost, or a commercial potting soil mix. If you don’t want to fertilize the tub weekly, add a time release fertilizer to the soil mixture. Set the tub on a stand with castors in order to make it easily movable. Keep in mind that larger wheels make the tub easier to move. Use plants from the list below inside the tub. Then place the tub in full sun, water it several times a week, and fertilize it weekly throughout the summer if you didn’t put time release fertilizer in the soil. Move the tub around as you need to. Remember that the tub will not only be a way to control pest insects, but it will also be a great decorative planter!
What bugs am I hoping to attract?
Ladybugs - more properly known as Ladybird beetles. While adult ladybird beetles do eat aphids, the immature beetle is
even more beneficial. The immature beetles look like tiny alligators and are often marked with orange or yellow spots. They don’t look anything like the adults that they will become! The immature beetles feed on aphids, scale insects, mites, mealy bugs, whiteflies, thrips, and the eggs of other insects.
Ground beetles
There are hundreds of kinds of ground beetles and most of them eat other insects. Both the adult and immature ground beetles are predators - they will feed on caterpillars, cutworms, root maggots, spiders, mites, and other beetles. Hover flies - also known as syrphid or flower flies.
Hover flies are often mistaken for bees or wasps because they have yellow and black markings similar to those insects. Hover flies cannot sting you. Adult hover flies are not predators, but the immatures (maggots) are. They are pale, greenish brown and they eat aphids, leafhoppers, scale insects, mealybugs, thrips, corn borers, or corn earworms. One hover fly maggot will eat 400 aphids! Parasitic wasps
Many wasps are predators of small insects and many other wasps are parasites of pest insects. Parasitic wasps live inside small insects or even inside insect eggs and eat their host as they are living inside them. When the adult emerges it kills its host. Some of these wasps are so small that you probably wouldn’t recognize them as wasps.
Here is a SMALL list of plants you can use in your ‘Good Bug Tub’:
Name
Description
Growing Needs
Beneficial Insects
Basil - Golden Bouquet
12-24” tall
full sun, well-drained soil
repels aphids, mites, mosquitoes
Curry plant
12” tall
full sun - drought tolerant
parasitic wasps, parasitic flies
Dill
3-5’ tall
full sun, rich soil
ladybugs, wasps, spiders, hover flies
Catmint - Dropmore
12” tall
average soil, needs at least partial shade
parasitic wasps
Roman Chamomile
8-10” tall
full sun, almost any soil type
parasitic wasps, hover flies
Gazania
6-15” tall
full sun, well-drained soil
ladybugs, spined soldier bugs
Monarda - Petite Delight
8-10” tall
full to partial sun, moist soil
parasitic wasps, hover flies
Nasturtium
6-12” tall
full to partial sun, poor to average soil
ground beetles, spiders
Scabiosa
24-36” tall
full sun, rich, well- drained soil
hover flies, tachinid flies
Sweet Alyssum
4-6” tall
full to partial sun, average soil
ground beetles, spiders
Yarrow
2-4’ tall
full sun - tolerates heat and drought
hover flies, ladybugs, parasitic wasps