Wasps generally have a bad reputation. But despite this, these insects play an important role in the ecosystem. They’re the best organic pest control around. Wasps are attracted to flowers where the insects they hunt are also found. So having wasps is quite beneficial for your garden.
Here are the 3 major benefits of wasps in your garden:
They control pest
The insect population can grow rapidly if nothing is happening to keep it down. So having wasps in your garden can be a great help. Wasps provide a useful role in natural pest control since they are predators of several crop-eating pests. Having them in your garden will help to keep other crop-eating insects from overpopulating your garden.
Wasps can be great pollinators
Just like bees, they are great for pollinating. Everyone assumes that wasps are bad for your garden, but they can be helpful pollinators.
Wasps are famously known for pollinating fig trees. Without wasps, chances are figs would probably be non-existent.
Wasps help control invasive species
Parasitoid wasps specialise in targeting other species of insects and lay their eggs inside of them. The eggs hatch and the larvae feed on the other insect from the inside out, killing the host insect.
These types of wasps control pests by using this method. The bonus of having parasitoid wasps is that they are small and solitary, meaning you won’t have a colony of wasps in your garden.
A fun fact about wasps is that male wasps are harmless, unlike the females that use their micro-barbed sting repeatedly at prey.
When you see a wasp buzzing around your garden, welcome it as chances are they might be an additional benefit to your growing garden. Without the vital ecological role that wasps play in controlling the numbers of crop-eating insects, it’s likely our environment would be full of potential pests.
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