{"id":265,"date":"2011-08-27T17:27:24","date_gmt":"2011-08-27T22:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/?p=265"},"modified":"2011-08-27T17:27:24","modified_gmt":"2011-08-27T22:27:24","slug":"most-bugs-are-good-bugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/27\/most-bugs-are-good-bugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Bugs are Good Bugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

I \"\"<\/a>recently saw a\u00a0fascinating\u00a0(and a little gross) picture on facebook that caught my attention. \u00a0I’ve had these fat little munchers (hornworms) on my tomato plants in the past, and they have quite an apatite! \u00a0Like everything in nature, there is balance and control. \u00a0Fat worms like the hornworm are used by certain wasps to lay their eggs in. \u00a0The wasps (Braconidae) also like to use\u00a0caterpillars, beetles, aphids, squash bugs and stink bugs. \u00a0It is a pretty\u00a0gruesome\u00a0process to think about, having your body used to feed the eggs of a\u00a0predator\u00a0insect, but that is\u00a0exactly\u00a0how nature works. \u00a0If you see a worm like this with white specks on its back in your garden, let it live! \u00a0You will be blessed with a new family of bad-bug-killing warriors in a few weeks. \u00a0(and don’t worry, that worm’s days are very limited!) \u00a0There are probably thousands of little interesting interactions like this one, and even more that occur in the soil that you will never see. \u00a0I urge people to keep things like this in mind when you decide to ‘do’ something in your garden. \u00a0It is hard to know what\u00a0repercussions\u00a0your actions have, so doing the minimum necessary is often the best choice. \u00a0You might be ‘fixing’ one thing, but unintended consequences are hard to predict. \u00a0Chemicals are like the atomic weapons of gardening, they are very powerful, so please understand the downsides, avoid when possible, and take personal responsibility for your actions.<\/p>\n

According to the Texas Bug Book<\/a>\"\" 60% of the bugs we have are beneficial or ‘good’ bugs.<\/p>\n

The picture came from\u00a0Nick with\u00a0saveourskills.com<\/a>. \u00a0Read more about the\u00a0Braconid wasp<\/a>.<\/p>\n