By Astrid Cook-Dail, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer intern of Durham County
One person’s trash is an insect’s treasure? The bug snug is just that. Pruned hollow stems, fallen leaves, seed heads, and twigs are great for the compost pile, but you can also use fall yard waste to build both biodiversity and healthy soil in your landscape. (Image credit: Astrid Cook)
What is a Bug Snug?
A “bug snug” is a name for a small teepee or similar structure built in late summer or early autumn and packed with leaves and other garden detritus often gathered during autumn garden cleanup or tidying. Bug snugs are similar to insect or bee hotels in that they provide insect and arachnid (bugs, generally) habitat.
Why Make a Bug Snug?
Bug snugs are a great place for all types of important creatures to overwinter during the colder months. By using a combination of leaf litter, deadheaded flowers, and plant stems, you can provide a variety of nesting types for different insects. These are the primary habitat features insects use to survive the colder months.1 Many insects such as butterflies, moths, and beetles overwinter in leaf litter, and the bug snug also provides additional protection to the soil surface where some insects overwinter underground, such as ground nesting bees.
Not only does making a bug snug help provide habitat to insects, but by supporting insects, you also support other animals further up the food chain such as birds, 96% of whom depend on a healthy population of insects to eat overwinter and feed to their young.2
Furthermore, it can be a nice design accent in the garden if there is an area that you are tidying up in the fall. While leaving the leaves and plants intact – without trimming or shredding – through the winter is key to supporting next year’s insects, oftentimes there is a small area that may be preferred to be a bit more tidy. If that is the case, then you can make use of those garden trimmings in an intentional way by building a bug snug. Best of all, this project takes almost no time and is free to make if you have a few sturdy branches around!
The bug snug should remain in place until May, or when temperatures consistently rise above 50F for at least one week, which is the time insects break dormancy and resume activity. Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation provides additional cues to determine when insects have finished overwintering and the proper time to disassemble your bug snug. And as simply as you put the bug snug together in the autumn, you can take it apart just by removing the branches used to make the structure holding in the leaf litter and stems.
How to Construct a Bug Snug
Materials
- 3 tall branches or wooden stakes
- Leaves, twigs, hollow stems, and debris from autumn garden cleanup
- Jute twine
(Image credit: Astrid Cook)
Step 1: Gather all materials. Here, I have leaves, vines, and flower stems, as well as wooden stakes.
(Image credit: Astrid Cook)
Step 2: Position the stakes to make a tripod and tie securely with twine.
(Image credit: Astrid Cook)
Step 3: Fill with leaf litter and garden trimmings, alternating layers of hollow stems with leaves for airflow and to provide different overwintering habitats.
Notes
1–1 Xerces Society, “Nesting & Overwintering Habitat” 2020 https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/18-014.pdf
2–American Bird Conservancy, “Insect Freefall” 2019 https://abcbirds.org/blog/insect-freefall/
Resources and Additional Information
Enhancing your fall landscape to support wildlife:
https://marylandgrows.umd.edu/tag/landscaping/
On the blog, more about the benefits leaving fall leaves and photos of insects in their different stages that would benefit from a bug snug: https://wp.me/p2nIr1-5bS
Managing backyards to support birds in winter: https://gardens.si.edu/learn/blog/providing-winter-habitat-for-non-migratory-birds/
Edited by Melinda Heigel, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County
Article Short Link: https://wp.me/p2nIr1-6I1