Beneficial Insects

What is a bug or insect?

     Insects are creatures of varying sizes that inhabit our earth at different times of the year that live in all kinds of habitats including in your house/basement. (eww no!) We will focus on insects outdoors since we are not exterminators, but plant health care specialists. These bugs crawl, slither, fly etc. to move around. Some are good, but it seems most are not-so-good.  But there’s a purpose for everything on this planet so we must tolerate them as best we can.

(Scale Insects)

You mean there are good bugs?

     Yes! There definitely are good bugs. For those people that don’t like any bugs, you probably think I’m nuts, but yes, they are good. They naturally perform functions daily whereas we as humans may have to mechanically deal with them. These beneficials, as I like to call them, eat other bugs! They eat the bad bugs that eat our plants so, that’s great. I mean why would we or how would we eat them ourselves, right? When you’re looking at your roses for example and you see aphids eating the new growth, isn’t it nice that there are several good guys that will come in and eat them up? I certainly think so!

 What are some “good” bugs?

     There are many beneficial insects out there, probably more than we know. I mean I’ve been doing this thing for about 34 years now and just discovered a beneficial I had never heard of, the Short Tailed Aphideater. It’s an extremely small caterpillar that eats aphids. I saw it on a Japanese Maple tree gorging itself on pesky aphids. Then there’s Lady Bugs, Green Lacewings, Praying Mantis, Soldier Bugs to name a few. They help our plants out tremendously, and many times, we don’t even know it. As I’m writing this blog (4/25/2025), the Mantis are hatching from there ooths or nests. It’s an amazing sight for sure! Do any of you plant tomatoes in your gardens in summer? Ever have the dreaded Tomato Horn Worm eating your tomato plants? There’s a beneficial bug called a Brachnid Wasp. It lays it’s eggs on the Horn Worm and then the nymphs or babies suck the worm dry, desiccating it over time. It’s amazing, amazing stuff!

(Brachnid Wasp larvae on Tomato Horn Worm)

Is this one of the reasons why we should treat our properties ORGANICALLY?

ABSOLUTELY! The organic applications we do, for instance, are comprised mostly of oils and soaps. They do a great job of smothering and desiccating the bad bugs, but don’t do much more than maybe “annoy” the good guys. So, we help those good bugs do their job. If we treated things with harsh non-organic chemicals, EVERYTHING would die, good and bad. What’s the use of that? Very simply folks, GO ORGANIC!

*** Plant Health Organics is a 100% Organic land care company serving Central NJ and Bucks County PA. We are PROUD of the work we do and know full well that what we do is BEST for you and our world. Contact us at 908-335-0553***  

    -Joe Gentile, Owner Plant Health Organics, LLC