Many studies have separately compared the efficacy of conservation- and augmentative biological control to monoculture farming. Studies directly comparing efficacy of conservation- and augmentative biological control are few – most conservation biological control papers examine the augmentative effect of the conservation practices, as opposed to augmentative releases per se (e.g. Diaz et al., 2012). Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effectiveness of conservation- with augmentative biological control, while simultaneously comparing their pooled effect with a monoculture control on parasitism of H. zea eggs. In addition, the influence of conservation biological control on predator density was compared with the monoculture control, quantifying Orius spp. response to the treatments and density of H. zea eggs and thrips (primarily Frankliniella occidentalis and Frankliniella williamsi) in corn cropping systems.