Changing views on insects...

Isn't it funny (or is it just me?) how your view changes on things when you are a gardener?

My changes are....

Butterflies - still like looking at them but hate the fact that they lay their eggs on my plants and then..

Caterpillars - used to love them too but now just think of them eating leaves! (Still love them though)

Hover flies - used to think they were just annoying. Now, hearing that they eat aphids or whatever, I love them!

Bees & wasps - never was frighened of them but now I go inches away from them, watching what they do:luv:

Ants - sorry havent' got anything good to say about them.

Slugs & snails - yuk!

What do you think? Have you changed your outlook?

cheers

 

Like them or loath them, insects are essential to life around us. Without bees and hoverflies, little would be pollinated, so we know where this would lead. The thing is this, there are ways and means to prevent those that damage from doing their bit, hooray! A lot of what we donâ??t see, like beetles, all have their part to play in nature by attacking the harmful creatures. Itâ??s like a circle and as in all life, there is good and bad everywhere.

I haven't changed my outlook on insects, etc, but try to enjoy the fact that they are very much a part of my garden.

 

In general I have always loved insects, and welcome any visitors to the garden in whatever zoological form. Moreover, what with the endangerment and reductions in species, I am more inclined to try and "work with" insects than think of getting rid. Having said that, I am one of those people who would not so much have swatted a fly a few years ago. In recent years, though, I find myself becoming a very casual killer of flies (a serial killer, I suppose you could say) because I grow a lot of herbs in compost straight out of the bag on my windowsill. This means the flies invade my own living space and have to go.

Another way I have changed is my increased knowledge of companion planting and the concept of "keystine species," which gives me more ammuniation when ranting at others for being too heavy-handed.

 

Completely-I couldn't stand creepy crawlies as a child-now they are probably the best bits of gardening.

 

I would never have been so close to bees before. But i was just out at my veg patch, and was appreciating a couple of bees at my brassicas

 

As a boy, I was always interested in insects and now I like them even more, particularly spiders and beetles.

It's a shame if gardeners "shoot first and ask questions afterwards. " Just because an insect looks ugly to us e.g. a ladybird larva, doesn't mean it's harmful. Just the opposite, in fact.

I'd recommend getting a copy of the Reader's Digest "Field Guide to the Butterflies and other Insects of Britain" if you want a quick but excellent introduction to all the insects you're likely to find in the garden.

 

My opinion on them is the same and I doubt will change - like you, yuk!

 

I managed to convert my mum from being absolutely terrified of bumblebees to liking them but having still have a mild distrust of them by systematically educating her that they are not aggressive, some (the males) can't sting you even if they wanted to, their eyesight is such that they can't even see us very well, they have no interest whatsoever in us etc.

By regularly referring to them as 'airborne teddy bears', she is now coming round to the idea of seeing them as cute, instead of seeing them as airborne stingy things as she saw them before.