Hi Ken,
One of the things that really amped up my micro-wasps, praying mantis, pollinators and birds was letting some grassy areas go wild. I also have a lot of diversity. If I prune I will create a pile and just leave it, logs, branches and, habitat, in general, are all over the place.
I pruned 6 40" blue spruce and put all of those cuttings in a pile. I couldn't believe how fast it decomposed.
The flowering
volunteer weeds that sprouted in the wild spots were preferred to the other flowering plants and attracted stuff I didn't have. I read somewhere that it's important to have some of the
local flora because that's what the local critters are accustomed to.
The weeds that flowered were mostly tiny flowers. Pokeweed was a favorite of the monarch. Last year we didn't have any butterflies but this year the butterfly bushes and pokeweed were loaded. I saw a lot of tiny wasps, and smaller bees of various types. The bumblebees seem to like everything.
I think where I'm at the bumblebees are doing more pollinating than the honey bees.
You can attract some predator bugs with small rock piles (I got a bunch from the hugelkutur mounds I dug.
Water is also an attractant. I haven't tried it but you can
Spray your plants with an artificial insect attractant. Make your own attractant by mixing 10 parts water with one part sugar and one part brewer's yeast or whey yeast
Your bugs will stick around year after year as long as there is food and shelter....hopefully you don't have a 100-acre
permaculture farm next door Another thing is not leaving things neat. You need some mess as this is habitat. I haven't purchased any bugs and I wouldn't. I agree with you that if you have the food and
shelter you will get the critters. You can go out an purchase a bunch of ladybugs but if you don't have the food and shelter they will just fly off.
I don't know if this video will interest but I like the way he thinks. He starts talking about predator bugs at 3:25
[youtube].[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAIZnfqT3YU&list=PL45Y9TRz-_P5W6r8QquFUMsdU3TJXlFHV&index=22&t=14s[/youtube][/youtube]