How to make an insect hotel in the garden?
Insects, especially those that are pollinators, play an essential role in the garden since they transport pollen from a male flower to the pistil of a female flower, thus allowing fertilization to occur for reproduction to produce seeds or fruits. So, how can you encourage these insects to stay in the garden?
A few simple actions to help insects
First of all, it is important to ban all use of
pesticides and insecticides in your gardening practice. This seems obvious
but it’s better to remember it!
Organize your ornamental garden so that you have flowers
that will bloom from the beginning of spring until the end of autumn: you will
thus provide a lasting attraction to insects.
If possible, find a small corner that you leave in dirt so
that insects can make their little molehills. You can place a piece of tree
trunk or a log nearby in which you have made holes about ten centimeters deep
with a drill in order to attract wood-eating pollinating insects (small
woodworm, strangalia melanura, etc.)
Cut branches of elderberry , buddleia, raspberry , fennel and
make small bundles that you will hang where you have possible supports: they
will attract the insects that love them.
Make an insect refuge, shelter, house or hotel
In addition to these little tips, you can make yourself an
insect hotel or an insect house that you place on the ground or hang near a
flower bed or a hedge, from spring, so that it is available to the first
travelers such as bumblebees and solitary bees. The insect hotel will be placed
out of your traffic paths, facing the sun, with its back to the prevailing
winds and, as far as possible, sheltered from heavy downpours. Once in place,
do not move it, you risk disturbing the occupants!
You need hollow stems like those of bamboo ,
fennel or dried grasses. It is in these holes - which they will also be able to
dig further - that the solitary bees will come and lay their larvae.
Straw will also be necessary to attract insects such as
earwigs. Pieces of wood with holes (like the log above) can also find their
place. Pine cones will provide ladybugs with shelter. Hollow bricks will also
shelter the bees.
These elements will be placed in a birdhouse type shelter
from which you have removed the front panel, or in an upturned earthen flower
pot, or better yet in a real little house that you will build with a few
boards. It is important that the top is waterproof enough to prevent the entire
interior of the hotel from rotting.
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