Why an insect hotel?
Beneficial insects help you control pests and pol inate flowers in
your garden. Creating an insect hotel is a good way to increase the
chances that these insects wil pay you a visit and help create a
balanced ecosystem in your garden. Built in any shape or size, it
can be assembled from all sorts of reclaimed and repurposed 1
materials creating a variable habitat for different types of bugs,
attending to their different preferences.
Step One
Gather a load of materials. An assortment of twigs, wood chips, egg
cartons, pieces of concrete, broken tiles, pine cones, rol ed up
paper, leaves, moss, or hol ow reeds, thin cardboard tubing, and
blocks of wood with holes drilled into them ­ anything real y.
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Step Two
An old set of shelves or something similar makes for a great
framework upon which to display al the materials you've col ected.
Ensure the container has space to hold the materials securely. An
old wine crate, desk drawer or even a cookie tin can work.
Step Three
Arrange the material with bugs in mind. Mix and match, using
different materials within each layer or section.
Step Four
Use wire or hook the cage to hang the finished hotel on a wall
Keeping a bug hotel in your garden ensures that your herbs,
veggies, and flowers wil never be lacking in pol inators.
Insects you will attract
Solitary bees and wasps are attracted to holes drilled into wood
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and bamboo canes, as they offer the perfect place to lay their eggs.
Holes of different sizes can be dril ed into the wood. Rotting logs
are perfect for wood-boring beetles whose larvae wil feast on the
decaying wood. Decaying plant matter attract centipedes, which
devour slugs, and other woodland litter insects such as mil ipedes
and woodlice. The woodlice wil provide a welcome source of food
for birds.
Twigs, sticks and stems of different sizes bundled together offer
welcome lodgings for ground beetles and ladybugs. These beetles
and bugs live off pests that hinder our crops, including aphids and
mites.
Lacewings make their home in straw, dried grass or rolled up
cardboard. They are truly a gardener's best friend, devouring
aphids and other pests such as scale insects, many types of
caterpil ar and mites.
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