Beneficial Insects: Green Lacewing

Green Lacewings

Overview

Green lacewings are one of the most effective and important beneficial insects to have in your garden. These small insects are found in the spring and fall in Texas, when temperatures are warm, but not too hot.

Eggs (See photo on the right)
The eggs of green lacewings can usually be found on the underside of plant leaves. They look like little white dots on the end of a hairlike structure (see photo on the right)

Larva (See photo on the right)
The larva is the stage where the green lacewing does all of its insect control. These small larva have large mandibles and will eat most soft-shelled insects in their path. They consume insects for about a month before they pupate into adults.

Adults
The adults of green lacewing will feed on pollen of flowering plants. The adults themselves do not control pest insects, but if you see them flying around at dusk then you can be sure you have a good population of larva as well.

How to attract lacewings

Adult green lacewings will lay their eggs near plants that are being attacked by pest insects. The adults can smell the honeydew of aphids or the frass of caterpillars and will lay their eggs in the area so the larva can feed on these pests.

Keeping a good population of lacewings in your garden requires keeping lots of flowering plants and habitat throughout the garden. Some flowering plants that attract green lacewing adults are:

Dill, Angelica, Caraway, Cilantro, Cosmos, Queen Anne's Lace, Fennel, and Dandelion.

Lacewings can also be purchased and released into the garden as larva or adults. Arbico offers green lacewings in several forms:

Click here to purchase green lacewings for your garden!