Create a lacewing home

BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Published: Monday, 21 October 2019 at 4:17 pm

Create a retreat for pest-eating lacewings with this winter shelter.

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Lacewings are an important part of the garden ecosystem, as their larvae (often known as aphid lions) are voracious predators of aphids.

With that in mind, it's well worth making garden habitats for them. This lacewing home will provide a retreat for overwintering adults, so they will be on hand to tackle any early infestations come spring.

Follow these easy steps to create your own lacewing home.

You Will Need

Recycled plastic bottle
Scissors
String
Stick around 1cm in diameter from the garden
Sheet of old cardboard

Total time: 20 minutes

Step 1

Cutting the end off the bottle

Cut the bottom end off your plastic bottle.

Step 2

Creating holes for the stick

Use scissors to poke two holes either side of the hole you've just created, in the end of the bottle.

Step 3

Adding in the roll of cardboard

Roll up your cardboard and insert it into the bottle. If it's too long to fit in the bottle, trim a bit off and try again.

Step 4

Inserting a stick through the two holes

Stop the cardboard falling out the end by poking the stick through both holes, holding the cardboard in place.

Step 5

The finished lacewing home hanging from a crab apple tree

Tie string around the lip just below the lid of your bottle, then hang from a shrub or tree in the garden – even better if it's one that suffers from pest damage.

Lacewing lifecycle

Adult lacewing

Mated female lacewings emerge from winter hibernation in spring
Once prey are located, the female lays eggs nearby that are held individually on the end of a hardened mucus thread
After around five days the eggs hatch and larvae seek out prey to eat and moult as they grow larger
After a further 15-20 days, the larvae are fully grown and create cocoons in which to pupate
Within two weeks the adults hatch, mate and start the cycle again – several generations in a year are possible

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