Most of the pest control in a healthy garden is done by insects, not by sprays. These are the predators our catalog tracks, what each of them hunts, and which plants draw them in.
- HoverfliesThe adults only drink nectar. It is the larvae that eat the aphids.204 plants attract them · 2 pests kept in check
- Parasitic waspsPinhead-sized, stingless, and lethal to aphids and caterpillars from the inside.160 plants attract them · 7 pests kept in check
- LadybugsThe one predator here where the adults hunt as hard as the larvae do.53 plants attract them · 1 pest kept in check
- LacewingsGolden-eyed adults that mostly drink; larvae that hunt like small alligators.49 plants attract them · 4 pests kept in check
- Minute pirate bugsTwo to three millimetres, and both stages hunt — thrips and spider mites, thirty a day.18 plants attract them · 2 pests kept in check
- Ground beetlesNight-active ground hunters, taking slugs, cutworms and leatherjackets at soil level.17 plants attract them · 5 pests kept in check
- Predatory mitesToo small to see without a hand lens, and the main thing holding spider mites down.15 plants attract them · 1 pest kept in check
