Release the hounds, sorry, bugs

T’is the season that avid vegie gardeners look towards with mixed emotions. Spring is the time when much of the vegie garden comes to life but it is also the time that insect pests do their dastardly deeds. Shield bugs such as the Southern Green Shield Bug (Nezara viridula) (click HERE for more info) can do a lot of damage to vegetables such as tomatoes.

However not all shield bugs are bad. Some predate the very pests that we want to get rid of. Pictured below is a hatching of Spined Predatory Sheild Bugs (Oechalia schellenbergii) in my garden. These bugs have sucking mouthparts which they insert into other insects, inject enzymes and then suck out the juices. And the good news is that one of their known prey is the caterpillar of the Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae).

This shield bug undergoes five moulting stages before becoming an adult. The first instar (pictured above) is the only stage that is not predatory. That’s OK. I am prepared to wait for it to grow up a little before it tackles those caterpillars.

Release the bugs!