Lacewings: Beneficial Insects for a Healthier Garden

Cleaning up gardens too soon removes habitat for beneficial insects like lacewings, leading to pest outbreaks. By leaving fallen leaves and perennial debris over winter, we provide shelter for overwintering eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults of lacewings and other beneficials. This debris acts as natural mulch, suppressing weeds and conserving moisture, while lacewings reward you with voracious larvae that devour aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs, and more.

Latin name: Order Neuroptera; families Chrysopidae and Hemerobiidae
Common names: Green lacewings, brown lacewings; larvae called aphid lions
Common genera: Chrysopidae (green): Eupeodes, Ceraeochrysa, Chrysopa, Chrysoperla spp.; Hemerobiidae (brown): Hemerobius, Megalomus, Micromus, Sympherobius, Wesmaelius spp.
Distribution: Abundant, diverse, worldwide.
Habitat: In or near woodlands, gardens, old fields.

Lacewing eggs and cocoons attach to leaves and stems in fall and winter—a population awaiting emergence. Alter garden practices: reduce/eliminate pesticides, ensure diverse season-long flowering plants, and you'll be rewarded with healthy lacewing populations.

When to Look for Them

Multiple generations per year; adults active early spring to late fall; green lacewings especially common in early spring. Adults visit flowers for pollen, nectar, and aphid honeydew. Eggs and larvae found on leaf undersides late spring to late summer. Green lacewing eggs are white/cream, suspended by silk; brown lacewing eggs attached directly, white to pinkish cream.

How They Help

Lacewing larvae are voracious predators, each eating hundreds of aphids per week. Other prey: psyllids, mealybugs, thrips. Gardening for lacewings is simple:

1. Plant a variety of open flower forms with accessible resources (adults feed on nectar, pollen, honeydew).
2. Ensure plants flower throughout the season (early spring to fall).
3. Do not use pesticides, especially insecticides, on flowering plants. Beneficials are eliminated along with pests, and pests rebound faster.
4. Cut down perennial garden in late spring, leaving 12–15 inches of stem stubble. Use debris as mulch around perennials—it conserves moisture and protects emerging beneficials. New growth hides debris quickly.

How to Spot Lacewings

Adults: Green lacewings are pale to dark green with four delicate veined wings and metallic yellow eyes. Brown lacewings are light tan to dark brown, smaller, often nocturnal.

Larvae: Long, slender, alligator-like with tapered head and tail. Green lacewing larvae have stripes and spiky hairs; brown lacewing larvae are smooth, dark brown with cream/reddish spots or stripes. Both have prominent mandibles for capturing prey. Check undersides of aphid-infested leaves for eggs or larvae.

How to Lure Them

Attract adults with diverse plants: flowering perennials, grasses, sedges. Ensure flower food from early spring through fall. Adults need pollen, nectar, and aphid honeydew. Provide undisturbed overwintering sites (leaf litter, plant debris). A pesticide-free garden maintains beneficial populations that keep pests in balance.

Plants for larvae: Any plant afflicted by aphids, mealybugs, thrips, whiteflies, psyllids.
Prey for larvae: Aphids, leafhoppers, mealybugs, psyllids, thrips, mites, whiteflies, small caterpillars, insect eggs. Some brown lacewing adults also prey on small insects.

Life Cycle

Complete metamorphosis: egg → three larval stages → pupa → adult. Females lay eggs near aphids on leaf undersides. Eggs white/cream, elongated oval. Larvae hatch in ~4 days, immediately feed. When ready to pupate, larvae spin silken spherical cocoons on leaf undersides, stems, or debris. Many overwinter in cocoons; cocoons on deciduous leaves drop to ground after hard frost, insulated in leaf litter. Adults overwinter in protected places (behind bark, under leaf litter), emerge in spring to feed on flowers. Some brown lacewing adults are also predaceous.

Region by region: What to Do in Your Garden This Month