Watch a hover fly larva eat the aphids on my cucumbers

Hover flies (Syrphidae) are common insects in gardens. We see them flying around flowers hovering in mid-air like little helicopters. The adult hover flies feed on nectar and pollen and are important pollinators.

Hover fly larvae are ferocious aphid-eating maggots. Hover fly larvae are the most effective aphid predators in my garden. They can be a bit hard to see, especially when they are in their early larval stages, but a hand lens of some sort will help.

I hope you enjoy the video. I am trying something a bit different with this one. I'm not in it!

MY BOOKS:
"Garden Pests, Diseases & Good Bugs"

"Backyard Insects"

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[oneminutebugs]

I've wanted to shoot some decent footage of hover fly larvae for ages. I hope you enjoy the video. Let me know what you think!

[MRTOMBO]

If you put a Praying mantis egg sac (Ootheca) in there, when it hatches you'll have hundreds and hundreds of tiny Mantis nymphs srip every aphid out of there in no time. Many years ago i had a rose bush that was looking awful, and on closer inspection it was absolutely covered in aphids.

I happened to find a praying mantis egg sac glued to the bottom of a branch on a nearby bush. I cut the branch section off, put it in a jar, and one day coming home from work I saw the inside of the jar was covered in tiny nymphs, many still exiting the egg sac. Shook them out on the rose bush and I watched in glee as the tiny nymphs dropped onto leaves and such, took a moment to orient, then INSTANTLY started grabbing aphids.

Fun stuff.

[allegrosotto]

Fascinating, great footage. I can see though how easy it would be for a novice gardener to mistakenly kill the larvae blaming it for the leaf damage. Observation before action is my motto.

[russellbanfield]

Amazing footage, Thanks for another interesting part of our world.

[charliekezza]

Hover fly just randomly wakes up one day with wings and eyes.

[MBNZT]

Thanks Denis - as usually a great video!

[thisearththeonlyheaven]

Plenty of aphids in my garden atm, and I have seen large hoverflies(?) flying around infestations. I will have a closer look for any larvae, but ladybirds might clean up the aphids first.

[VictorFursov]

Funny video and story. Thank you.😮😮😮😊😊😊

[noroiko]

My murnong was invested with aphids and I pucked them off manually until now they're pretty rare. I do remember there were small fly larvae amongst them, and I've seen hover flies visit. I wonder if they were hover fly larvae and if I inadvertantly destroyed their food source 😰
(I only have a balcony, so not a lot of plants. Manually squishing aphids was pretty manageable).

[jeffreysokal]

Great video. these fellows aren't as good at eating aphids, I think, as lacewing or lady beetle larvae. You should be able to purchase them locally and help prevent the damage the aphids do.

[Chris-opyt]

unless it's very close to end of season, should get on top of the aphid infestation...which is not going to happen with predators. you get better space management and it's easier to pick up problems, if you grow the cucumbers vertically up support. i use garden stakes and a commercial poly netting designed for it, using zip ties to attach to stakes.
nice close-up video

[theshuman]

honestly amazing predation still manages for completely blind animals. just a big ol game of chance they bumo into a meal and yet the chances are good

[SPIOoner]

GREAT IDEA! go ahead and make wheres waldo amurs about hover flie larvae