1. Aphid Midge: These insects look like a delicate, small wasp. The larvae eats more than sixty varieties of aphids from the garden. You can attract them by growing plants with a lot of pollen and nectar.

2. Big-Eyed Bug: This is a fast-moving bug with large eyes and very small black spots on it’s head and thorax. They are usually found in field crops and orchards. The big-eyed bug eats leafhoppers, spider mites, plant bugs, aphids, and small caterpillars. This bug is a real asset to gardening.

3. Ladybug: The ladybug ranges in size from 1/16 to 3/8 inch and have round red, orange or yellow bodies with black markings. They prefer gardens that have a large amount of pollen and nectar-producing flowers. The ladybug is fond of aphids, mealybugs, small insects and scales. The Mexican bean beetle is related to the ladybug but is not beneficial.

4. Minute Pirate Bug: These bugs are 1/4 inch long in adulthood and feature a black and white pattern. Fast-moving like the big-eyed bug and attracted to gardens where goldenrod, yarrow, alfalfa, daisies, and other flowering, pollen-producing plants are grown. They eat small caterpillars, thrips, spider mites, insect eggs and immature leafhoppers.

5. Mealybug Destroyer: The adult mealybug is 1/3 inch long with an oval body and a coral-colored abdomen. Their wing covers are black. If mealybugs are present, the mealybug destroyer is there naturally and feeds on mealybugs in the garden.

6. Spined Soldier Bug: An adult grows to ½ inch in length. They are grayish brown and the shoulders of the thorax come to sharp points. Bugs of choice are caterpillars, armyworms, grubs, sawflies, and Mexican bean beetle larvae. The spined soldier bug likes the shelter of perennial plants near a garden.

7. Tachinid Fly: These bugs look like large, hairy houseflies and grow to a length of 1/3 to ½ inch long. The females deposit eggs that kill caterpillars of many pest species such as gypsy moths and armyworms. The adults feed on flower nectar and enjoy sweet clover, parsley and dill. Don’t kill the caterpillars with white eggs attached to them because the eggs will turn into more tachinid flies.

8. Tiger Beetles: Look for adults that range in length from ½ to 3/4 inches. They are long-legged and bright-colored and eat many kinds of pests. Plant perennials when gardening and the tiger beetles should follow.

9. Assassin Bug: This bug is ½ to 1 3/8 inches long and have a flattened look and elongated heads. They eat most common pests and are found naturally in any garden where pests live.

10. Bumblebee: The adults grow to 1 inch long and are plump with yellow and black striping. They have a hairy body and smoky-colored wings. The bumblebee is a pollinator and is attracted to pollen and nectar flowers.

During the first stages of the tree’s life, the roots, trunk, and branches have not yet fully developed to a self supporting strength. Therefore if your tree is growing fruits, occasionally the combined weight is enough to snap off an entire branch. If this is the case, you should provide external support for your branches – prop them up with boards, or tie them to something at a higher altitude. As long as you can provide your tree the support it needs in these early years, it should grow to be independent in no time at all.

Proper nutrition is not only necessary for the production of healthy fruits, but is also necessary for the tree to survive longer than one season. The exact specifications vary with the area, climate, and type of tree, but I’ve found that there is no better source than a nursery employee. Maybe they’re just eager to sell you the right type of fertilizer, but in my experience they are almost never wrong. Just inform them about the conditions your tree is living in and how healthy it is looking, and they should be able to help you find something to improve the state of your tree.

Lots of people think that the only way to ensure a tree’s healthiness is to provide it insane amounts of water. This is not the case at all. As a matter of fact, giving too much water to a tree can be more harmful than making it go thirsty. At the best it will have a negative effect on the taste of the fruit. But at worst, your entire tree could die and prevent you from ever growing fruit in the future. So do not ever try to solve your problems by giving it lots of water! Solve your tree’s health problems at the root, so to speak. Go to where the problem originates from, and fix that.

If it is too late and you’re already starting to see unhealthy branches that look either diseased or damaged, you should always remove them. If the tree is wasting nutrients by sending them out to the branch that cannot be saved, it is practically throwing away all the nutrients that it could use on the other, healthier branches. As soon as you start to see a branch that is deteriorating or becoming unhealthy, chop it off right away. At the very least, trim down the unhealthy part but leave all the segments that still look like they could continue growing.

Once your tree has started to enter the picking stage, never leave any of the fruit on the ground that is bound to fall. Also, be careful to get every piece off of the tree. Even if it is an ugly looking fruit that you don’t want to keep, you should still pick it and throw it away. Once these fruits begin to rot, they provide a perfect home for unwanted insects or diseases that can transfer to the tree itself. So always remember to rake up these fallen fruits, and prevent yourself a lot of future grief.