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The insects you see on your plants are not all necessarily harmful. Less than half of 1 percent of all insects are pests on plants. Many beneficial insects feed upon harmful ones. It is important to learn to identify these beneficial insects and to recognize when they are holding pests in check.

Many insects are merely resting or taking a break on the plant and are neither pests nor beneficial.

Learn to determine when a pest is present in damaging numbers and to determine whether the predator or parasite population is large enough to control these pests. This will help you to use fewer chemicals in your yard. The following are a few of the more common pests you might find around your yard.

Bougainvillea caterpillar and moth

This is a very persistent and damaging pest of the bougainvillea. The caterpillar is about one inch in length and is green in color. It eats the leaves and is often found in rolled up leaves. When a bougainvillea shrub is disturbed, the caterpillars drop unobserved to the ground leaving most people wondering what is eating their bougainvillea plants. The moth that lays the eggs from which the caterpillars develop is about one and one fourth inch in length and is brown in color. The moth is busy laying eggs during the warmer months. Like now.

Chemical controls include Thuricide, Dipel, or Sevin. Dipel and Thuricide are a more natural control using Bacillus Thuringiensis that will control only caterpillars and will not harm the beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps.

Chinch bugs

Chinch bugs are very small insects. The adult chinch bug is only about one sixth of an inch long. The young chinch bugs are orange-red very small specks. The red color changes to brown and then dark brown to black with white wings.

They seriously damage St. Augustine grass with the injection of their salivary juices when they suck the sap from the grass. Damage will appear first as a yellowing of grass blades in a small area. The area will then turn brown and begin to spread with the edges of the area remaining yellow. If you part the blades of grass at the edge of the damage, you will see the chinch bugs running around in the soil area and on the base of the blades. It is sometimes necessary to check several spots before you find them. You can also cut the ends off a coffee can and stick the can through the grass into the soil. Fill it with water and within a few minutes chinch bugs will float to the surface.

Beneficial insects include the Black Big-eyed Bug, which is about the same size as the chinch bug and can be confused with them. Look for the larger eyes and more robust body of the big-eyed bug. The Earwig is another good predator of the chinch bug. An adult earwig has been known to eat as many as fifty adult chinch bugs in one night.

Aphids

Aphids are small, soft bodied, sucking insects about one sixth of an inch long. They have a pear like shape with fairly-long antennae. They also have a pair of projections on their posterior. Aphids cause damage to plants as they suck the sap from the leaves and stems. They only feed on young growth. The leaves curled by their feeding will never be normal again and flower buds may drop off. They produce honeydew upon that sooty mold grows. They are also carriers of many virus diseases of plants. Most aphids are wingless females, which give birth to live young without mating. You can see how they can get out of control rapidly. At times winged males and females are produced. These mate and fly off to other plants where eggs are deposited. Wingless females are produced from these eggs.

Chemical controls include Cygon or Malathion. Beneficial insects are Ladybugs, Aphid Lions and Lacewings.

Cutworms

Cutworms are large caterpillars up to two inches long. They are greenish-gray to brown and smooth and soft. The cutworm usually feeds at night by cutting plants off at ground level. It can be found in the soil at the base of the plants. The adults are large, night flying moths. Cutworm can nip off several vegetable or annual plant stalks in a single night. It will look like someone was in your garden stepping on your plants. There are several species of cutworms in Florida and they are common throughout the year. There are also some cutworms that climb plants and eat the leaves of plants at night. These are called climbing cutworms.

Chemical controls include Seven or Dylox bait applied in late afternoon. Beneficial insects are Wheel Bugs, Caterpillar-Hunter Beetles and Paper Wasps.

Contact the Collier County Extension Office for literature on these beneficial insects and learn what they look like so you can protect them. This will allow their numbers to grow and we won’t have to use as many chemicals in our fragile barrier island environment.

Eileen Ward and her husband, Peter, own and operate Greensward of Marco Inc., a lawn maintenance and landscaping company. Besides completing horticultural courses from the University of Florida, she has a commercial maintenance spray license and is a registered dealer in agricultural products in Florida.