Many people are looking for natural remedies to combat pests in the garden. But how do you get rid of aphids naturally? Do wasps eat aphids? The answer is yes, but getting rid of those pesky aphids is just one of the benefits of having wasps in the garden. What other use do wasps have in nature? You will find out this and much more in this article.
Although wasps are very beneficial to the garden and the environment, they are often feared. But is one of their advantages the ability to destroy annoying aphids in your garden? Yes, wasps eat aphids when they are younger. When they become adults, they focus on eating sugar, but they also feed their offspring the invertebrates. Wasps are an effective remedy against aphids. This is very useful not only in gardens but also in agriculture.
Wasps and the natural control of plant pests: Some wasps are parasites and therefore have a different method of killing invertebrate pests such as aphids. The very attractive jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa) is a beautiful emerald green wasp species that helps control cockroaches by laying an egg on them. The wasp larva then eats the insides of the cockroach and kills it.
However, parasitic wasps are less well known than the yellow and black ones we are familiar with. These include parasitic wasps, digger wasps and chalice wasps. Their use in agriculture is increasingly being researched by companies and applied by farmers. Some are so effective that they are now bred and sold to farmers to help with pest control.
This has the advantage that farmers can reduce or completely avoid the use of pesticides, which can also kill non-target species such as bees. Instead, they can use a natural predator that only attacks the invertebrates the farmer wants to get rid of. Aphidius colemani, for example, is particularly effective against round-shaped aphid species such as Myzus persicae (peach potato aphid) and Aphis gossypii (melon cotton leaf aphid). The adult wasp lays its egg in the aphid. A parasite larva develops in the aphid's body, eventually killing it and leaving behind a papery "mummy" that was once the living aphid.
Why adult wasps don't feed on pests:Adult wasps do kill aphids, but they allow their young to consume the prey rather than themselves. This is because adult wasps no longer need proteins to grow, so eating aphids would be of little benefit to them. Wasp larvae, on the other hand, would benefit greatly from eating aphids.
In the wasp life cycle, the adult stage is very short and they do not live long. That's why adults only consume sugar to get fixed amounts of carbohydrates. They need carbohydrates as a source of energy to move and mate before they die. However, some of their carbohydrates come from the aphids in the form of honeydew, a sugar solution that these pests produce.
How to fight aphids with natural remedies – recipes & ideasyou can find here!
What else do they feed on?
Because it is an apex predator, a wasp's diet varies and can be influenced by both the specific wasp species and the stages of the life cycle. As we have already mentioned, it is mainly young wasps and larvae that eat insects such as aphids, but this does not apply to all species of wasps. However, since there are over thousands of species of wasps, we cannot look at the diet of each one. However, we will look at the most common prey items consumed by wasps:
- Spiders:Since many species of wasps are known as spider wasps, it is not surprising that spiders are common prey. They are usually hunted by solitary wasp species, which paralyze them and cause them to eat their young alive.
- Flyare not unlike aphids, only larger. They are another insect that wasps can eat regularly without any problems.
- caterpillars: Certain species of wasps have caused problems due to the number of caterpillars they eat. When improperly introduced into various countries, their consumption of caterpillars has occasionally caused native bird populations to decline due to a lack of prey.
Wasps also hunt other prey, and their young eat almost any type of invertebrate. But the creatures mentioned above seem to be the most common prey for most species of wasps.
What other use do wasps have?
- Pollination by wasps:Wasps eat aphids and are also useful pollinators. This is another benefit they bring to any garden. Most wasps pollinate in a similar way to bees, except that bees carry a larger amount of pollen. The pollen sticks to the hairy bodies of the bees, which then carry it in a pollen basket on their hind legs. Wasps do not have this ability, and this difference makes them less effective at pollination. Nevertheless, they are important because they can visit and pollinate flowers that bees cannot reach. There are also special pollination tasks performed by wasps, such as pollinating orchids and figs.
- Shared nest:Some wasps help other beneficial insects! Surprisingly, some wasp nests provide a home for other beneficial insects. For example, the nest of the common wasp can provide a home for some species of hoverflies.
If you are still fed up with wasps, you can use coffee to get rid of the insects.Read herehow to do it!
