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"When you kill off the natural enemies of the pests, you inherit their work"
~ C. Huffacker
Using natural beneficial insects is not only more fun, they are better for the bird population, for the children who play in my garden and they do the work that I would have to do if they were not here.

Brochures: Beneficial Insects

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Thanks Joan.  I knew about some of the beneficial insects, but not all.  I took special note of Wasps.  

There are always lots of paper wasps under my eaves and in other sheltered places.  I know they're not aggressive, and I've never been stung, but I get nervous when they buzz around me, so I've been killing them.  I spray them with detergent in the cool of the morning when they are at the nest and immobile.

However, the article you mentioned say wasps are beneficial, and Wikipedia say paper wasps are considered by gardeners to be beneficial.  Therefore, I'm not going to kill them this year, and see if I can control my nervousness.

The other thing I didn't know was:  "In areas with dry summers, provide a safe drinking water source where they won't drown. Fill a container of water with rocks, so that the rocks become islands or make a floating island from a disc of plywood cut to a size slightly smaller than the diameter of the water container."   I'm going to do that this year.

It sounds like a lot of beneficials like a water source, and when I had a swamp cooler, I noticed the paper wasps always drinking from it.

thanks - love those



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