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Blog / Gardening for Children / Kids Post: Good bugs!

Kids Post: Good bugs!

May 19, 2020

Do you like bugs? Getting to know bugs can be a fun—and important—part of enjoying gardening. There are almost 1,000 different types of bugs that live in North Carolina—most of them won’t damage our gardens, and some actually help us!

What ARE bugs?
• Scientists call them “arthropods.”

From “Good Bugs and Bad Bugs”

• Most are insects with 6 legs and 3 main body parts: a head, a thorax, and an abdomen.

From “University of Kentucky, Spider Anatomy”

• Spiders and daddylonglegs are not insects—they are part of a special group of arthropods called “arachnids.” They have 8 legs and 2 main body parts: a cephalothorax and an abdomen.

Daddylonglegs are arachnids that prey on insects, but don’t spin webs like spiders.

What makes good bugs good?

• They live off of bad bugs!

Wheel bug preying on a bee. Sometimes good bugs eat any bug they can find.

o Some prey on insects: lady beetles (you may call them lady bugs), wheel bugs, soldier bugs, and spiders may eat other insects—young and adult—as well as their eggs.

Braconid wasp eggs laid on tomato hornworm.

o Some parasitize insects: braconid wasps, for example, lay their eggs on tomato hornworms so the new hatchlings will have a meal waiting for them!

Black Swallowtail_John Flannery_CC BY-ND 2.0_Flickr
Black swallowtail pollinating a zinnia flower.

• They pollinate plants: bees, butterflies, and moths that feed on pollen and/or nectar move pollen from flower to flower, helping pollinate plants.
Where to look for bugs:
• You can find bugs on many garden plants. IMPORTANT: look, but don’t touch! Many bugs can bite (such as wheel bugs) or sting—even touching the “hair” on some caterpillars can hurt! Also, you may injure or kill a helpful bug if you try to catch it!

• Look for insect eggs, young (larvae), and adults:

o On branches

Lady beetle laying eggs on branch.

o On flowers


o On the leaves—look underneath the leaves, too!

Wheel bug larva.
Green lynx spider feeding on wasp.

o In the soil
Identifying bugs:
• One place to start is to have an adult help you look on the internet: For example,https://www.insectidentification.org/bugfinder-start.asp is a page that shows the shape of each type of bug and then helps you decide if the bug you’ve seen is that type of insect or arachnid.
• Identify our native bees here: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/the-bees-of-north-carolina-identification-guide
Protecting good bugs:
If you want good bugs that help control bad bugs in your garden, you need to let them be and be careful about using pesticides!
Make sure that your plants are healthy—plant them in the right amount of sunlight and give them the right amount of water and fertilizer—and that you have some native plants in your garden; healthy plants make good homes for good bugs.

Learning more:
“Lady bugs” for kids: https://www.clemson.edu/public/scbg/education/ladybug1.pdf

Beneficial insects:https://growingsmallfarms.ces.ncsu.edu/growingsmallfarms-beneficials/

North Carolina insects:https://www.insectidentification.org/insects-by-state.asp?thisState=North%20Carolina

Insect identification:https://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

Bug facts site:https://www.bugfacts.net/

Has a printable bug checklist:https://www.bugfacts.net/images/checklist-z.pdf

Where to find bugs:http://www.bugpeople.org/pubs/pdf/10SurePlaces.pdf

EMG Blog: https://www.buncombemastergardener.org/beneficial-insects-attracting-good-voracious-ugly-garden/

Good Bugs and Bad Bugs: Student Booklet: http://entomology.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Good_Bugs.pdf

Spider Anatomy: https://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/spiders/anatomy/spideranatomy.htm#palps

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Categories Gardening for Children Tags beneficial insects, bugs, children gardening, children's project, insects, pollinators

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