Garden

Bio Control agents suitable for
Home Gardens

Most mass produced natural enemies are best suited to commercial farms where there are oportunities for them to breed and become established in the crop.

There are however, some that are ideal for home gardens, most notably Persimilis a predator of twospotted mite a common garden pest and Green Lacewing a generalist predator that loves aphids in particular.

Some other beneficial insects are listed below but they may not work as well in home gardens.

Common garden pests and suitable natural enemies available for purchase
Insect pests	Biocontrol agents suitable	Other local natural enemies
Aphids	Green Lacewings - Mallada signata Brown lacewings - Micromus tasmaniae	Brown and green lacewings Damsel bugs - Nabis kinsbergii Aphid parasitoids Ladybirds Hover fly
Caterpillars Heliothis Cabbage moth Loopers	Pretiosum - Trichogramma pretiosum Green Lacewings - Mallada signata Brown lacewings - Micromus tasmaniae	Trichogramma Damsel bugs - Nabis kinsbergii Larval parasitoids Predatory bugs Predatory beetles
Twospotted mites	Persimilis - Phytoseiulus persimilis	Other predatory mites Stethorus beetles
Whitefly	Green Lacewings - Mallada signata	Lacewings White fly parasitoids - Encarsia formosa Other white fly parasitoids
Mealybugs	Cryptolaemus beetles	Predatory beetles Leptomastix wasps
Thrips	Hypoaspis predatory mites feed on thrips pupae Montdorensis predatory mites Cucumeris predatory mites Orius predatory bugs	Other predatory mites
Lightbrown apple moth, oriental fruit moth, codling moth	Trichogramma carverae	Trichogramma Larval parasitoids Predatory bugs and Predatory beetles
Mealybugs	Cryptolaemus beetles	Predatory bugs and Predatory beetles
Scale insects	Chilocorus beetles	Other predatory beetles.
Green vegetable bug	No species specifically reared for GVB	Trissolcus basalis - egg parasitoid Trichopoda - tachanid fly Predatory bugs
Armoured scale	Chilocorus beetles
Red scale	Aphytis spp.	Predatory bugs Predatory beetles
Soft brown scale, black scale	Metaphycus wasps	Predatory beetles
Macadamia nutborer	Trichogrammatoidea cryptophlebiae	Larval parasitoids Predatory bugs
African Black Beetle in turf - Heteronychus arator	Entomopathogenic Nematodes	Birds Parasitic wasps