Farming with Native Beneficial Insects (A Xerces Society Guide Book)

Attract, Conserve, and Learn More About the Predatory Insects that Prey Upon Pests!

A companion title to Xerces’ early classic, Attracting Native Pollinators, Farming with Native Beneficial Insects (FWNBI) covers the roles and conservation of beneficial insect species in a way like no other book.

Rather than pollinators, this is a practical guide to the bugs that eat other bugs: lady beetles, lacewings, syrphid flies, gentle solitary wasps, ambush bugs, and many (many!) more.

In hundreds of photo-rich pages, the book describes:

• The biology and ecology of major beneficial insect groups (as well as their prey species)
• The science behind managing farms and gardens for natural pest suppression
• The functional habitat requirements of beneficial insects, including over-wintering, nesting, and egg-laying sites
• The supplemental native plant species that many beneficial insects use as supplemental food sources (when not feeding upon pests)
• Step-by-step procedures for creating hedgerows, insectary plantings, contour buffer strips, and other habitat features that increase beneficial insect populations.

This was the first North American conservation book to describe the construction of beetle banks – elevated berms of native bunch grasses – a concept that originated in Europe to maximize populations of predatory ground beetles (the single best farm and garden predators of slugs!).

Farming with Native Beneficial Insects is relevant to regions across the U.S. and Canada, with species profiles of insects and native plant recommendations that are discussed by region.

272-pages / paperback=

Publisher’s list price: $24.95 / Our Price: $22.00