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beneficial insects

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

Kids Post: Give Mason Bees a Helping Hand—Build a House

April 17, 2017

Mason Bee_US Dept of Ag_CC BY 2.0_Flickr
Mason bee on flower

The tiny WNC native bee
I recently remembered the tiny mason bee (Osmia lignaria)—an insect native to Western North Carolina—while looking for a project for parents or Scout leaders to do with children. These busy pollinators hatch out around this time of year and get to work on the earliest spring blooms. They are especially at home in orchards, but pollinate wildflowers, azaleas, and other flowering shrubs, as well as fruit trees. They are said to pollinate faster than honeybees, and after 4 to 6 weeks of activity, they’re gone!

Providing for the children_Martin Cooper_CC BY 2.0_Flickr
Time sequence of female mason bee preparing tubes for egg laying

Homes for mason bees
The solitary mason bees do not live in hives. In the wild, they use hollow brambles or stone crevices. Females gather mud to form cells in which to lay their eggs. Each cell contains pollen and nectar to nourish the egg. The eggs will hatch the following spring. You’ll see mason bee “homes” for sale in garden catalogs, some for as much as $50. These homes are either chunks of wood with small holes drilled into them, or shelters with short lengths of  bamboo cut and stacked inside.

Make a mason bee house
When I was a kid, I made mason bee houses from an empty can and paper straws. So I thought I’d try it again to see if it was as fun and easy as I remembered.

Start with a coffee can
Start with a small coffee can—a good size for the bee’s 6- to 8-inch-long nesting tubes. Wash the can thoroughly and dry it in the sun to get rid of the coffee smell. Use a can opener to make a triangle opening on the bottom. I spray-painted the can and gave it a day or two to dry.

Construct nesting tubes
The next step is to create the nesting tubes. Use paper straws—not plastic,  which can mold and infect the nest. You can make your own straws using baking parchment paper. Roll the parchment around a pencil and fasten it with school glue.

Small diameter bamboo canes are an alternative to straws. Cut them into 6- to 8-inch lengths, making sure the edges are smooth and there are no knots in the bamboo, because Mason bees have very delicate wings.

Start with coffee can
Construct nesting tubes; insert into can
Mason bee house for sale

Hang your house outdoors in February
Hang your house near an early-blooming tree, shrub, or flower. Make sure the home is in the sun, at least 3 feet off the ground, and stable. The bees will not use a house that swings in the wind.

Find a protected place for safekeeping
After the bees finish nesting in late June, take down your house and put it in a safe place until February. A cool, dry place, like an unheated garage, shed, or basement is perfect. The paper tubes are delicate and will likely collapse if left out year-round. Even houses with bamboo tubes should be brought in to keep winter-hungry birds from devouring your bees. Next year, put the tubes back out in the sun and wait for the bees to emerge.

Mason bee facts
– Male mason bees hatch first, wait around for the females, then die soon after mating.
– Mason bees rarely sting unless trapped underfoot or inside clothing.
– The bees will not reuse the straws or bamboo tubes. If you want to hang another house next year, you will need to replace them. 

Blue Orchard Bee_Osmia lignaria_Seabrooke Leckie_CC BY-NC-NC 2.0_Flickr
Blue orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria); male
Mason bee (Osmia rufa)_bramblejungle_CC BY-NC 2.0_Flickr
Red mason bee (Osmia rufa); female
Mason Bee (Osmia lignaria)_John Brandauer_CC BY-NC-ND 2.0_Flickr
Mason bee (Osmia lignaria); size of man’s fingernail

Author’s note
You may have heard about the decline of honeybees. Scientists are trying to understand the reasons for hive collapses and find solutions. Unfortunately, our native bee species are having difficulties, too. Providing safe habitats is one way to give them a helping hand. 

Article written by Nancy Good, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

Resources
How to raise and manage orchard mason bees for the home garden:
https://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Other/note109/note109.html

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Categories Gardening for Children Tags bees, beneficial insects, children's project, mason bees, pollinators

Kids Post: Butterflies in Your Garden

May 11, 2016

Butterfly_onAsterFlowerWe all love butterflies! They are like a puff of magic flitting around the garden.

Fun facts about butterflies:

  • Butterflies live from one week to many months, depending on the type.
  • Butterflies are cold-blooded and cannot fly if the temperature dips below 55 degrees.
  • It can take as little as two weeks to two or more years for a caterpillar to turn into a butterfly.
  • The Spanish word for butterfly is mariposa.
  • Butterflies taste with their feet.
  • Butterflies drink nectar from garden flowers, but they also love the sugar in rotting fruit or even Gatorade.

Help feed the butterflies in your garden.

Put out a plate with sliced oranges or strawberries or a splash of a sugary drink. Just be sure to use a very shallow dish to keep the butterflies safe from drowning.

Learn more about butterflies.

BrownButterfly_metamorphosisSpend time this year learning more about butterflies. Visit the Quilt Garden at The N.C. Arboretum (www.ncarboretum.org/) to look for butterflies. If you are in Durham, drop in at the Magic Wings Butterfly House at the Museum of Life and Science to see one of the largest butterfly houses on the East Coast (http://www.lifeandscience.org/magic-wings). Go to Friends of the WNC Nature Center website (http://www.wildwnc.org) to learn about plans to build a butterfly garden at the WNC Nature Center. Discover ways to encourage butterflies in your own backyard at http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/butterflies-in-your-backyard.

Written by Tish Szurek, Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.

(Resources used for facts about butterflies include the North American Butterfly Association at http://www.naba.org and the Lepidopterists’ Society at http://www.lepsoc.org/education.php which has an educational resources section for K-12 students.)

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Categories Gardening for Children Tags beneficial insects, butterflies, pollinator gardens, pollinators

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