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NATURAL  PREDATORS

Predators are the “good guys” or natures’ little helpers. In the right conditions, they can really make a difference, especially if you do not kill them by spraying them with pesticides.

Ants. For some reason, ants seem to get a very bad press! In some garden centres, there are more metres of shelf space allocated to ant killing sprays and powders, than to killing anything else. They may build their nests in the shelter of a slab or stone, but they are not likely to cause any real problem in an allotment. Yet it is said that they can help in keeping greenfly under control by harvesting them and dragging them down into their nests, where they milk them for their sugary secretions.

Hoverfly larvae. As they love to eat aphids, you should grow some flowers to encourage hoverflies to your plot.

Ladybirds and their larvae. These are dedicated aphid killing machines and should be encouraged as much as possible. The recent accidental introduction of harlequin ladybirds may cause some problems for the native species, but the harlequins are particularly voracious  hunters of aphids.

In the Spring, aphids breed so fast that the predators cannot keep up with them. Eventually, the predators catch up with the numbers of the aphids and bring them under control. In a good year, you may see swarms of ladybirds hunting for food.

Wasps. Yes, even wasps have their uses as they kill caterpillars. The trouble is that they eventually cause much damage by eating fruit.