You can offer a natural homemade food source placed strategically around your plants (especially plants that are overrun by pests). This will help draw good bugs to the garden and encourage them to stay a while. All you need are a few simple household ingredients to get started.
Wheast, a combination of whey and yeast, is the standard feed used by commercial insectaries. It’s basically ladybug and lacewing food.
In a home garden, it works as a food supplement for beneficial insects you introduce, and it also helps attract more insects. This version is similar to what you can buy in garden centers, minus the whey.
– 1/4 cup white sugar – 1/4 cup brewer’s yeast In a small bowl, combine the sugar and yeast with a small spoonful of water at a time, mixing until it becomes the consistency of a paste.
Spread the paste onto small wooden stakes or popsicle sticks, and insert them in the soil around your plants. (This works especially well if you release ladybugs in the garden.)