If someone compiles a list of beneficial insects, bees and ladybugs are sure to be on it. In reality, there are definitely more items, and the protagonists are often mistaken for pests and thus exterminated. One example is the lacewing – an inconspicuous insect whose presence is evident in our homes in autumn and winter when it seeks shelter. Even in spring, it is worthwhile to invite the lacewing to the garden, and the pest population will definitely decrease.
Lacewing are very useful. They feed on aphids, mites and potato armadillos.
How do you recognize a lacewing?
Lacewings are not very conspicuous insects, but their presence may worry you more than usual as they seek shelter from the cold. How do they look like? Lacewing, although there are many species, are very similar to each other. They are characterized by a green color, translucent wings, long tentacles and large, shiny golden eyes, although this is not the rule. It is this form, several millimeters long, that you can meet in autumn, when it flies into houses, attics and garages and – unfortunately – is mistaken for other insects and is often exterminated. Lacewing larvae that live in the garden have an elongated body with ash or brown colored legs.
Lacewing, don’t worry. They do a lot for you in the garden.
Is lacewing considered useful?
The very fact that lacewing larvae are very voracious puts them in the honorable group of useful insects. Now you can easily take advantage of this fact and invite the lacewing to your garden. How? So that you plant a lot of honey and nectar plants in the garden, which the adults feed on. You can also opt for the so-called biodiversity and at least partially sow plants such as yarrow, motherwort, buckwheat or phacelia. Lacewing also suits the presence of willow, rowan and linden.
There are also sweet ways to attract beneficial lacewings. It is enough to prepare the sprays from time to time in the evening or in the morning: simply mix water with sugar and apply to the plants or place bowls with the sweet drink. It is worth knowing that such a drink will also help tired and weakened bees, which are often, in the face of a lack of food, weakened and exhausted.
On the other hand, don’t be surprised if you don’t see lacewings in your garden when you use plant protection products to grow crops, which in excess can harm even your beneficial insects.
Winter is not kind to the lacewing
Lacewings suffer during the winter and most of their population may not survive another season. If you already know that they are very useful for you, you can prepare a box for them for wintering. Just drill small boxes and fill the center with straw or dry oak and beech leaves. Paint the whole thing red, orange or brown and place it two meters high in the garden. After the first frosts, such a lacewing shelter can be moved to an unheated garage or utility room and placed in the garden again only in spring.
Lacewings suffer during the winter, so you can prepare a box for them to hibernate.
