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misc Ladybugs?

Ladybugs are one of the few insects everyone seems to love. They come in many colors, shapes and sizes. In fact, there are more than 450 different species found here in North America. Most people know they are good for the garden, but have you ever stopped to wonder why?


Some species of ladybird beetles congregate in masses during winter to hibernate.

Ladybugs come in many colors. This is the pink spot ladybird beetle, Coleomegilla maculata.
Photo Credit: ©2005 Buglady Consulting

Ladybug larvae don’t look like adult ladybugs at all, but they’re just as beneficial to have around. The best way to get larvae in your garden is to attract adults, which will lay the eggs.
Photo Credit: ©2005 Buglady Consulting

While not all its spots are visible in this shot, the seven-spotted ladybird beetle, Coccinella septempunctata, can be identified by its polka dots.
Photo Credit: ©2006 Buglady Consulting
Ladybugs, or ladybird beetles, are “generalist predators.” This means they feed on a wide range of insect pests and mites (sometimes they even eat the other good guys). As the adult and immature ladybugs wander through your garden and landscape, they’ll eat just about anything in their path.

Because many of today’s gardeners want to control their pests naturally, they’re turning to these little friends to eat away garden pests. Many people are buying adult ladybugs at garden centers or over the Internet to release at home.

Where do these ladybugs come from?” Most ladybugs for sale are the convergent lady beetle, Hippodamia convergens, and sadly, they’ve been “harvested” from natural winter aggregation sites.

What does this mean exactly? Well, in the western United States, after the ladybugs have fed all summer, they head up into the mountains by the millions to spend their “off season.” While resting clumped together by the thousands, collectors come along and scoop up the hibernating ladybugs. Next, these dazed beetles are either packaged and shipped out to retailers or they’re held in refrigeration to break their hibernation. If they aren’t held to “break” their hibernation cycle, they won’t lay eggs when released. This dormancy stage must be broken for the life cycle to continue.

If you do purchase wild-harvested ladybugs after they’ve had their dormancy broken, what will happen? Most of the time once they’re released, the beetles migrate before starting to feed or laying their eggs. In most cases, they’ll migrate right out of your garden. Unfortunately, this means little or no control for your pests.

Another concern is that harvested ladybugs may have been parasitized by a small wasp called Perilitus coccinellae. The wasp develops as an internal parasite, killing the ladybugs. There is no test for the parasite, so you may inadvertently be adding them to your garden when you buy your ladybugs.

The short point here is that purchasing wild-harvested ladybugs, which almost certainly what you will find at retail outlets, will not do much good for your garden, and it may introduce non-native species into your local ecosystem. Additionally, purchasing these ladybugs may contribute to the decimation of the wild ladybug populations. This is an unfortunate situation because some collectors are taking advantage of an opportunity to literally pick money (the ladybugs) from the landscape, and they don’t see the longer term consequences. If more people know about this reality and stop purchasing wild-harvested ladybugs, this problem can be stopped.

How can you control your pests naturally without buying ladybugs? There are other beneficials you can purchases that are reared in labs – like green lacewings or minute pirate bugs. Or you can use plants to attract your native beneficials, and they’ll do the pest clean-up work for free.

Ladybugs are great to have in the garden to help control your pest problems, but it’s best to let your local ones do the work for you.
 
I've found what has been said to be true. In spite of watering before releasing and making sure there are flowers to feed on (in addition to the already ample aphid population), most are gone by the time I wake up in the morning. At least I saw a couple laying eggs in the yard, but it'd be nice if they'd do it on the infested plants...

Of course, after I released a few, I found out most years they have a ladybug "problem" here, whatever that means.
 
I average 10 ladybugs doing their job and eating aphids everytime I go and check on the plants but today I found some ladybug porn and turned the vid on them double click the pic to watch. :party:
 
A good friend of mine whose father in-law lives in Trinidad and has grown superhots almost all of his life has said that lady bugs may be useful to rid your plants of aphids. The drawback is their eggs do attract other pests that will feed on the lady bug's larva. I am clueless as to what those other pests might be.
 
Ladybugs saved my plants this year. Neem oil knocked the population down, but they always quickly came back. The beetles came in and finished the job fast. Haven't seen an aphid in months, in fact, I quit looking. I'm going to share them with my neighbor for her greenhouse to share the love (and so they don't spread to my yard like last year). I still have at least 1500 in the fridge that have keep well all this time.
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when you are putting out your ladies, spray them with a 50/50 coke solution. The sugar will make their wings stick together or to their body so they can't fly away for a day or 2. They will be forced to motor around on your plants looking for food.
 
It's good to see this again. It was posted either last year or the year before and I hope it gets posted next year and every year after.

Being an invert collector I know all to well the cost of collecting wild animals. When you choose a company to purchase any type of critter from ask first to see if they breed or collect them from the wild.

That male ladybug has got some serious moves, great catch with the camera Cappy.
 
They are the ONLY thing that worked for me in my first years, sprays, green lacewing eggs, dips, smashing all helped deter them for a while, but it was the ladybug that was the only thing that killed them and KEPT killing them day after day.
 
What about those Asian Beetles that look exactly like lady bugs. I dont know how to tell the difference anyway. They are a pest around here especially late in the fall as they like to infiltrate your house. Do they eat the bad bugs.
 
when you are putting out your ladies, spray them with a 50/50 coke solution. The sugar will make their wings stick together or to their body so they can't fly away for a day or 2. They will be forced to motor around on your plants looking for food.


Thanks for the tip, nice to know!!
 
I just can't buy off on the premise from the OP there is some kind of ladybug shortage due to collectors scooping the hapless creatures at will. The forested areas of the western U.S. mentioned are VAST and largely inaccessible to people especially during the Fall and Winter. The percentage harvested must be miniscule.

Last thing I need is to feel guilty about re-locating some of these cool beasts into my greenhouse, where they have been quite effective. The first wave of ladies knocked the holy bejesus out of the aphids and after a few days when their work was done, flew off to their new homes. (Just saw a LB larvae today, however.)

I have a partial LB container ready to deploy tonight, as I see a couple of aphids. Since there isn't much aphid body parts left to eat, I'll feed the area with this stuff, which they absolutely love. (Posted by DownRiver via John, thanks!)



Good LadyBug Chow

Mix all the following ingredients together in a glass or plastic container:
2/3 cup of warm water
4 tablespoons of brewer's yeast
2 teaspoons of honey
1/2 cup of sugar
To use: Take 2 tablespoons of the mix and dilute it in 1 quart of lukewarm water. Use this solution to spray on plants in the spring and early part of summer. Remember don't spray plants when temperatures are over 80F. Store the mixture in a sealed container in the refrigerator so it won't go rancid. It will keep for 7-10 days. The sugar in it is actually good for your plants.

Since I have them in the house I didn't want to spray the stuff all over so I reduced the water and made a paste which i put on small pieces of cardboard.

I also think it has a longer shelf life than 7-10 days.


I made a paste also. I put it on the little pieces of cardboard and scattered them about. Worked pretty well.

P.S. Should you happen to see this, Thanks again John for sharing this recipe.
 
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