Orius predatory bug
Orius spp.
Role in the garden
A small bug, a generalist predator: mites, thrips, aphids, young caterpillars, pest eggs. Also pollen-feeding as a complement. Used commercially in greenhouse biological control (Orius laevigatus, O. majusculus), notably against thrips (van Lenteren, 2012).
Activity period
April to October
Practical guide
Where to find them
On young tender shoots, in inflorescences, near thrips and mites. Recognisable: very small, a flattened oval shape, wings lighter than the body with a dark triangle.
Sources
- van Lenteren, J.C. (2012). The state of commercial augmentative biological control: plenty of natural enemies, but a frustrating lack of uptake. BioControl, 57(1), 1-20.
Favourite plants / resources
Related plant entries
Broad bean (fava)
A nitrogen-fixing legume (Rhizobium symbiosis), to be dug in as green manure before it goes to seed or left for the harvest of the pods. One of the oldest crops of the Mediterranean basin, found in Neolithic sites.
Nasturtium
A trap plant: preferentially attracts aphids and feeds hoverflies, ladybirds, and lacewings.
Phacelia
A very fast-growing annual green manure, phacelia structures the soil with its fine, dense root system and limits erosion and leaching between two crops. Its abundant blue-violet flowering makes it one of the nectar plants most sought after by beekeepers, and it also attracts hoverflies, whose larvae eat aphids.