What is a Garden Bug House? How it Helps Your Garden Thrive?
What is a garden bug house? Think of it this way. A garden bug house is a hotel for insects which caters to an exclusive clientele by providing a cozy and inviting atmosphere where beneficial bugs are encouraged to come and stay awhile.
Hmm, that's all very interesting you say, but why would gardeners (especially organic gardeners) want to attract bugs to their vegetable gardens? How does it help vegetable gardens thrive? The key word is beneficial.
Gardeners use bug houses, also known as insect hotels, to attract beneficial insects to their gardens. These beneficial insects help protect growing vegetable plants from pests and also help promote plant growth. Take for example, two of the gardeners favorite insects, ladybugs and bees.
Ladybugs are a vegetable gardener's friend. They may be small, but they are voracious eaters. Voracious eaters, that is, of the bugs and pests gardeners do not want in their vegetable gardens. One ladybug can consume 50 to 60 aphids per day or up to 5,000 aphids in her life cycle. Ladybugs also eat other pests such as unwanted larvae and insects that destroy crops, but the friendly ladybug never damages a vegetable.
Now let's talk a little about the beneficial bee. Bees are pollinators. And while not all vegetables flower and require pollination, many do. Some favorite home-grown vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and melons produce flowers and require pollination to produce fruit. Bees help by pollinating the flowers on vegetable plants that will in turn grow into squash, cucumbers, etc. Most any "fruiting" vegetable produces flowers and requires pollination. The busy and beneficial bee is necessary for proper pollination and growth of these vegetables.
By providing a warm and cozy bug house, you can encourage beneficial insects to live and thrive in your vegetable garden. The organic gardener uses no pesticides, and an insect hotel is an ideal way to invite beneficial insects to manage unwanted pests that will damage tender vegetables.
Last spring, when I saw the beginnings of this tidy plot in our Community Garden I was impressed, and also intrigued by the little house standing next to it. I had never seen an insect hotel and it wasn't until later that I discovered its purpose.
Insects like to hide and as you can see, this bug house has different rooms and layers to make beneficial insects comfortable and encourage them to stay awhile.
Materials such as dried leaves, twigs, and pine cones make additional nesting habitat for the bugs you want to hang around your bug bungalow.
Hmm, that's all very interesting you say, but why would gardeners (especially organic gardeners) want to attract bugs to their vegetable gardens? How does it help vegetable gardens thrive? The key word is beneficial.
Gardeners use bug houses, also known as insect hotels, to attract beneficial insects to their gardens. These beneficial insects help protect growing vegetable plants from pests and also help promote plant growth. Take for example, two of the gardeners favorite insects, ladybugs and bees.
Ladybugs are a vegetable gardener's friend. They may be small, but they are voracious eaters. Voracious eaters, that is, of the bugs and pests gardeners do not want in their vegetable gardens. One ladybug can consume 50 to 60 aphids per day or up to 5,000 aphids in her life cycle. Ladybugs also eat other pests such as unwanted larvae and insects that destroy crops, but the friendly ladybug never damages a vegetable.
Now let's talk a little about the beneficial bee. Bees are pollinators. And while not all vegetables flower and require pollination, many do. Some favorite home-grown vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and melons produce flowers and require pollination to produce fruit. Bees help by pollinating the flowers on vegetable plants that will in turn grow into squash, cucumbers, etc. Most any "fruiting" vegetable produces flowers and requires pollination. The busy and beneficial bee is necessary for proper pollination and growth of these vegetables.
By providing a warm and cozy bug house, you can encourage beneficial insects to live and thrive in your vegetable garden. The organic gardener uses no pesticides, and an insect hotel is an ideal way to invite beneficial insects to manage unwanted pests that will damage tender vegetables.
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| This is a bug house put up by one of the gardeners in our organic community garden. |
Last spring, when I saw the beginnings of this tidy plot in our Community Garden I was impressed, and also intrigued by the little house standing next to it. I had never seen an insect hotel and it wasn't until later that I discovered its purpose.
Insects like to hide and as you can see, this bug house has different rooms and layers to make beneficial insects comfortable and encourage them to stay awhile.
Materials such as dried leaves, twigs, and pine cones make additional nesting habitat for the bugs you want to hang around your bug bungalow.
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| A Bug Hide-a-Way |
More from our site:
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Product Recommendation: This Esschert Insect Hotel has a brick front and inviting rooms for ladybugs, bees, earwigs, and butterflies. Shop now!
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- Are you the handy type? Thinking of building a your own insect house? This site offers an array of beautiful bug habitat pictures to get your creative juices flowing.
- Check out this 3 minute video with instructions on how to build a homemade insect house.
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