Andre CampbellWhether you know it or not, you’ve seen a tachinid fly before. It looks like the common housefly, but it is incredibly beneficial to your garden.
Tachinid flies are one of the best native insects in agriculture that you can ask for in regard to natural pest control. Besides, they’re super easy to lure into your garden.
Below, we’re going to explain how to attract them and precisely why you want these ugly little angels among your greenery in the first place.
Species
This is a highly successful group, comprising over 1,520 genera with more than 10,000 described species. America has over 1,300 species of tachinid flies (Tachinidae). They are found in almost every state.
You will also find tachinid flies in other parts of the world.
This is great news for all of you potential gardeners. However, it’s really bad news for all the bugs these guys eat and destroy.
You don’t need to worry about these little guys attacking your plants. They’ll leave them alone almost entirely in their search for food and for suitable hosts with whom to lay their eggs.
Types of Tachinid Flies
You actually have a few varieties to keep an eye out for in the garden.
- Voria ruralis specializes in cabbage looper caterpillars as both a food source and an egg source.
- Lydella thompsoni likes the European corn borer and, as such, is a dear friend of corn farmers. This species was actually introduced a few times to different regions around the U.S.
- Myiopharus doryphorae. The Colorado potato beetle is a favorite of this one for an egg source, which, of course, kills the poor beetles, paving the way for more parasitoids.
Different types of these flies will exist at different points around the world. Therefore, research which ones you’re most likely to see in your area and what types of pests they target.
Identification
Tachinids are parasites that resemble house flies. They come in different colors (gray, striped, dark red, and black), sizes, and shapes.
They certainly aren’t picky at all, and they lay their eggs on the bodies of targeted host insects.
To spot these parasitic flies, pay attention to the plants you have chosen. Also, watch for certain signs later on.
For instance, if you happen to see a caterpillar crawling around with little white dots on its back, leave it alone. It’s been infected with tachinid fly eggs and will soon die.
This will later release a new little horde of larvae into the world to continue their good deeds for your garden.
Reproduction Methods
Adult flies search for spots to lay eggs. If they find an insect like a big, juicy caterpillar, they will land and insert their eggs into the body of that caterpillar.
Whether eaten or injected, those eggs are toxic to the host.
Once the babies hatch internally, they begin by consuming whatever the host can live without. This allows them to continue moving about normally until the non-essential tissue is depleted.
That’s when they prey on the vital organs, killing the host quite swiftly. At this stage, the young are ready to start pupating.
Once the larvae hatch inside the host bug, the host bug eventually dies, and the larvae escape to begin a new life cycle. A single fly can expect to be a grandparent twice over in just under a year.
Benefits for Your Garden
If you’re wondering how to get rid of tachinid flies, don’t! They are very beneficial.
These tiny bugs are helpful because they eat many small, annoying pests in your garden.
Whatever is ‘bugging’ you, they will likely kill and eat it pretty quickly. However, these tachinid flies’ predators primarily focus on the larvae or eggs of their prey. These include:
- Caterpillars
- Sawfly Larvae
- Earwigs
- Mexican Bean Beetles
- Cucumber beetles
- Squash Bugs
- Potato Bugs
- Japanese Beetles
- Grasshoppers
In addition to killing pests, these parasitic insects also help pollinate the plants around them, much like honeybees. This makes them especially helpful at higher elevations where honeybees can’t survive.
If you don’t have a lot of bees around, you’ll want to take notice of this little insect. They may be what ultimately pushes your garden over the brink of survival as the season progresses.
How to Attract Tachinid Flies to Your Garden
If you genuinely want to keep these beneficial farm insects, ensure that you plant a highly diverse garden that will appeal to them.
Doing this will attract the beneficial little predators straight to you, drawn in by the frenzy of prey items that become available.
You can also buy pollinators for your garden. Just ensure you have enough food to keep them well-fed all growing season long.
If your garden is full of flowering herbs, you can expect to see a lot of these beneficial insects once the heat of the season arrives.
Plants that attract tachinid flies include dill, carrot, sweet clover, asters, angelica, buckwheat, and yarrow.
Keeping Tachinidae Once You’ve Got Them
This can be a tricky part. Depending on what you’ve planted, you may see an upsurge or a downturn in beneficial flies throughout the season.
They’re most attracted to flowering herbs planted in rich soil, especially plants from the Aster family. Herbs such as dill, parsley, cilantro, chamomile, feverfew, daisy, and ox-eye.
You can even leave certain weeds behind to keep them interested, such as the wild carrot and the sweet clover.
Potential Problems
It’s always possible that they might be a little too good at their jobs.
If you notice a sudden drop in caterpillar numbers while creating a butterfly garden, tachinid flies might be the cause.
The tachinid fly larvae will burrow their way inside worms and caterpillars, later killing them. Hence, silkworm ranchers consider this normally highly beneficial fly to be a supreme pest and a dangerous nuisance.
Takeaway
It’s always a good idea to attract as many parasitic insects to your garden as possible, even if you have to release them.
Whichever way you decide to do it, the tachinid fly is one of the best choices you can make as a gardener starting for the season.
Sasha Campbell
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