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misc What to feed ladybugs besides aphids?

F

fireface

I'm trying my hand at raising some ladybugs. I purchased 1000 online and released about 600-700 on my garden of 16 containers over the past week. My aphid problem is under control now, the ladybugs that are still around and their larvae are chowing down on the remaining aphids. This leaves me with 300-400 ladybugs that I'm going to try to keep around for a while.

For a habitat I used a tupperware container with a mesh lid and soil on the bottom to keep it moist. For food I found some leaves in my garden that still had several aphids or aphid eggs and threw them in for them to eat.

My question is what do I feed them once these aphids are gone? I have found commercially available ladybug food but it seems expensive for what is probably something simple that can be made at home. Any ideas?

Pics of their home

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You must provide Ladybugs with fresh water and food, even if you think they are hibernating. Do not give them distilled water! Use Spring water, if possible, or use water that has been boiled and sat for 24 hours. For their food, use a small Styrofoam tray to put the food on so you can keep the area clean. (They also like to hide under the edges when you put it in a corner.) Use a sugar water mixture (1 part sugar to 10 parts water) or you can use hummingbird nectar mix.


Read more:

<a href="http://wiki.answers....ed_pet_ladybugs
http://wiki.answers....s#ixzz2304MGZD7

Raisons or honey to eat. Put some water on a coton ball or tissue paper to drink. Put them in a small container or jar and put some soil at the botom with grass over it (this is optional). Change the food every 2 days and the water every week. Hope that helps! Good luck!
Animalover09
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf67311408.tip.html
 
From my experience,raising Lady bugs is a LOT different than keeping them alive.
Larva will die if they run out of critters to eat.
They will die if they can't eat each other and or other bugs.

Adults can be kept alive with a cotton ball of water and or some honey.
Adults seem to prefere pollen to anything else.
Some lit. says they need pollen to lay eggs.

Most suppliers sell stuff they collected in the wild when they gather together to hibernate through the winter,thus how long they/adults can last in your fridge...

Larva are a totally different story.They eat anything,more or less that they can eat.

I've read that raising them is too labour intensive.
A big problem seems to be parasites and separating eggs from larva and adults.

I have no problem buying the adults and releasing a few here and there as needed while keeping the rest in hibernation mode in the fridge with a cotton that is wet with sugar/honey water.

In general,screw Lady bugs.

Green lacewings larva are way more nastier to the bad guys.
They eat more critters and are a lot more aggressive.
An added + is they are also called Ant Lions for a reason.
They eat Ants + the Aphids they farm.
 
I've heard that ladybugs can't be raised commercially - I know that there is a big industry of wild ladybug gatherers in n. cal. that harvest from the wild in the spring every year.

Edit: what smoke said (reading comprehension ftw)
 
sounds like more work than I care to partake in, I'll just keep buying a new batch each season, maybe try lacewing larvae next year as well.
 
Ladybug food
Add
1 part brewer's yeast
1 part sugar
mix with water and spray plants or make a thinner paste and apply
 
if anybody tries POTAWIE's recipe for ladybug food, don't leave your sprayer out in the sun for a few days with the mixture in it, it may either blow up, or spray out like a fire hose. I experienced the latter thankfully.
 
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