Slugs have a particular liking for stale beer and will drown in a shallow saucer of it placed in the garden. Japanese beetle traps commonly use sex hormones and floral lures to attract the adult insects to them. Predators and Parasites These insects, often called beneficial insects, are the ones you want to encourage in your garden. The most well-known predatory insects are ladybugs and their larvae. Their favorite food is aphids, and one ladybug can eat 40-50 of them a day.
Ladybugs also consume mites and other soft-bodied insects.
If you buy ladybugs, make sure you release them where the aphids are numerous. If they find food readily available, they'll stay around, and soon be laying eggs for new generations. There are several other insects that like to dine on garden pests. Green lacewing larvae feed on aphids and other soft-bodied insects. Trichogramma wasps, pediobius wasps, braconid wasps, syrphid flies, and tachinid flies all parasitize their host.