Insects are the gardener’s great allies. Butterflies, bees, lacewings, ladybugs (and many more…) play an important role in the garden, participating in pollination and eliminating insect pests like aphids.
To attract these useful insects, you can make an “insect hotel”, to welcome them.The insect hotel is in the form of a wooden structure gathering different insect houses. The “refuges” created are made mainly from natural or recycled materials, such as:
-Pierced logs or sections of poles
-Terracotta: pottery, pieces of flowerpots, hollow bricks
-Slate, (broken tiles ..)
-Fagots of branches or twigs,
-Fagots of hollow stems, stems of elder, bamboo or reed,
-Straw, hay,
-Corrugated board,
-A mixture of clay and straw,
-Flowerpots turned upside down and filled with hay,
-Old logs …
The flower pots, suspended and stacked, can accommodate chrysopes or will shelter forficules when filled with straw.
Hollow bricks, pierced logs, bamboo hollow stems and elder stems will mostly house bees and solitary wasps.
For the structure, opt for boards of a durable wood essence. Wooden parts must be made of untreated wood.
The insect hotel should be located in a sunny location, preferably south / south-east, with flowers and fruit trees to be pollinated.
It can be installed on a pedestal to prevent moisture from the ground, hanging from a pole or leaning against a wall that protects it from the prevailing winds.
A preview of Transjardins’s Pinterest album on the insect hotel:
Click here to access the Pinterest de Transjardins album and enlarge the visuals.
Below, publications Transjardins about Hotel to insect: