Friend or Foe?

Let’s Ask the Roses…

Some of these little guys are very good friends to us and to the flowers.
Some of them pollinate, some of them eat other bugs and some of them are just plain cute!
At our farm we value the friendlies and try really hard not to spray for fear of harming them in any way.
We also market our roses as edible flowers, so sprays are a no no!
So who are the friendlies?

• Ladybugs.. but make sure they’re the ones with the orange and black .. they’re look alikes aren’t so nice
  Ladybugs eat aphids.
• Honey bees and native bees pollinate the flowers and collect honey
• Frogs and Toads… I love FROGS! They’re cute, but the toads.. Hmnnn. However they do eat the little black
  beetles, moths and bugs that love roses
• Magpies, Butcher birds and Willie Wag Tails love bugs
• There’s also a curious little spider that amazes me. Not sure if he eats other bugs besides the bees. He is so tiny
  but lies in wait in the middle of the flower and kills the bees. I’m hoping he has a diet of rose grubs as well.
  Much prefer he ate those.

I love this article on sustainable gardening. If we never have to use poisons all the better and these little guys can help so please try to look after them. Ladybugs, lacewings, praying mantis and parasitic wasps. We don’t always need to grab for the spray bottle. Some of these bugs are more effective than spray. https://www.sgaonline.org.au/aphids-inside-a-colony/

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