Multnomah County Master Gardener Association

Stop by on Sunday to learn more. Stay as little or long as you want.

Aphids Provide a Meal for Many!
Lady beetles are feasting on an aphid colony on Jewel fava bean plants. The fava beans. planted as cover crop, are now serving as an breeding ground for a variety of parasitic and predatory insects.

Also feeding here are tiny parasitic wasps (Aphidinnae spp.), several species of flies feeding on honey dew from the aphids and on the aphids themselves, and downy leather-winged beetles (a species of soldier beetles (Podabrus pruinosus)). While this species of black aphids appears to prefer the fava beans to other plants, the predatory and parasitic insects are not particular about the kind of aphids they eat. Their rising populations should help keep insect populations in balance throughout the garden.

The beetles and flies also serve as unwitting pollinators as they roam about the plants collecting and spreading pollen as they go. The pollen collects on their legs and bodies as they search the plants for prey.

Come to our Demonstration Garden on Sunday and learn more about gardening with pollinators. Drop by between 10 and 1 PM.