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misc I'M DONE with ladybugs

CAPCOM

CAPCOM

I got a shipment of ladybugs yesterday. 1/2 DOA and the rest pretty much a wash as far as usefulness. I am done wasting my valuable time and money on ladybugs. I cancelled the rest of the order and I am inquiring of some parasitic wasps.
Seems temperature is a big issue with wasps though. Its always something.
May have to turn the lights on 4 times a day for 2 hours so the temp dont go too high.
 
First off - why are you yelling???  ;)
 
Dude, patience is in order, amongst other things. You just got the shipment yesterday. The ones that are alive need a period of rest from their travels, and also a drink of much-needed water. Give them a few days to a couple weeks before writing them off. 
 
Half are dead? Most orders start at a few hundred ladybugs. Consider this: Just a few ladybugs (like 10) can wipe out a teaming aphid infestation within a couple of weeks. When the aphids are gone, so is the ladybugs' food supply - by ordering ladybugs at this time of year, in a way you are ultimately killing them by starvation. Oh, they'll take agave nectar diluted with water for a while, but chances are very slim they'll survive more than a handful of weeks after the aphids (or other) are gone. In a way, the fact that half arrived dead is a good thing, as you likely don't have enough pests to feed all of the ladybugs that came in your order. 
 
Even if you order parasitic wasps at this point, they arrive in eggs and you have to wait until they hatch. By the time that happens, the ladybugs may have solved the problem. Note, however, if you got the ladybugs from a less-than-reliable dealer, they may not work. I got ladybugs from Hirts the first year, then found others on this site didn't have good experiences with them. Nor did I - they are clearly raised in captivity and fed in a manner that they don't have to hunt. A good vendor knows how to raise them hunting, or captures them wild.
 
geeme said:
 they are clearly raised in captivity and fed in a manner that they don't have to hunt..
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I have to laugh at this.  It reminds me of hatchery trout raised on pelletized food, too stupid to rise for a nymph. 
 
I catch lady birds from our horse paddock but this year I also bought in 200 eggs along with 200 parasitic wasp eggs.

Its spectacular.

I found an aphid today in a curly leaf.

It was shaking in fear and sobbing.

But, the food source is not far from running out, or another way of putting it balance will be established.

My plants are covered with mummies from the release so in a couple of more days I will have a second wave of wasps start which will probably wrap things up, leaving my ladybird nymphs hungry.

I'm seriously considering starting a small aphid farm in a fish tank.
 
The wasps are spectacular in their effect - once they arrive.
 
Fortunately, they seem to be naturally occurring in my neighborhood. For ~2 weeks this spring, I suffered a steadily increasing aphid population. I'd dab the monsters with a q-tip wetted with pyrethrin (fine when you have a few dozen small plants and an hour each evening) to slow their advance.  One day I noticed the first cocoon. The next day there were a few more and I knew something was up. Once I stared looking for them during the day, I saw my first wasp out hunting.  It was just like the videos - stalk - reaaaach with the stinger - and JAB! the fat little buggers! 
 
:dance:
 
As bad as the peppers were, the roses suffered far more; some leaves were literally covered in the vermin.  Within two weeks, the thundering herds of aphid had been replaced with as many hollow shells.  I don't doubt the survivors suffered a bad case of PTSD.  ;)
 
Capcom is in Illinois - pretty much everything is hibernating there by now, or very close to it. That means his plants are most likely inside, in a fairly contained space. Baby manti from 3 egg cases would be amusing for a while…  :lol:
 
geeme said:
First off - why are you yelling???  ;)
 
Dude, patience is in order, amongst other things. You just got the shipment yesterday. The ones that are alive need a period of rest from their travels, and also a drink of much-needed water. Give them a few days to a couple weeks before writing them off. 
 
Half are dead? Most orders start at a few hundred ladybugs. Consider this: Just a few ladybugs (like 10) can wipe out a teaming aphid infestation within a couple of weeks. When the aphids are gone, so is the ladybugs' food supply - by ordering ladybugs at this time of year, in a way you are ultimately killing them by starvation. Oh, they'll take agave nectar diluted with water for a while, but chances are very slim they'll survive more than a handful of weeks after the aphids (or other) are gone. In a way, the fact that half arrived dead is a good thing, as you likely don't have enough pests to feed all of the ladybugs that came in your order. 
 
Even if you order parasitic wasps at this point, they arrive in eggs and you have to wait until they hatch. By the time that happens, the ladybugs may have solved the problem. Note, however, if you got the ladybugs from a less-than-reliable dealer, they may not work. I got ladybugs from Hirts the first year, then found others on this site didn't have good experiences with them. Nor did I - they are clearly raised in captivity and fed in a manner that they don't have to hunt. A good vendor knows how to raise them hunting, or captures them wild.
Click to expand...
Huh?...is bold the new CAPS I mean I knew Orange was the new Black. 
 
tumblr_inline_n83i6uWE191sczicw.png
 
I took a chance that early ladybug orders would be different than last years when I was ordering in Jan/Feb. chalk it up, No change
queequeg152 said:
whats after the wasps?
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Restart
 
geeme said:
First off - why are you yelling???  ;)
 
Dude, patience is in order, amongst other things. You just got the shipment yesterday. The ones that are alive need a period of rest from their travels, and also a drink of much-needed water. Give them a few days to a couple weeks before writing them off. 
 
Half are dead? Most orders start at a few hundred ladybugs. Consider this: Just a few ladybugs (like 10) can wipe out a teaming aphid infestation within a couple of weeks. When the aphids are gone, so is the ladybugs' food supply - by ordering ladybugs at this time of year, in a way you are ultimately killing them by starvation. Oh, they'll take agave nectar diluted with water for a while, but chances are very slim they'll survive more than a handful of weeks after the aphids (or other) are gone. In a way, the fact that half arrived dead is a good thing, as you likely don't have enough pests to feed all of the ladybugs that came in your order. 
 
Even if you order parasitic wasps at this point, they arrive in eggs and you have to wait until they hatch. By the time that happens, the ladybugs may have solved the problem. Note, however, if you got the ladybugs from a less-than-reliable dealer, they may not work. I got ladybugs from Hirts the first year, then found others on this site didn't have good experiences with them. Nor did I - they are clearly raised in captivity and fed in a manner that they don't have to hunt. A good vendor knows how to raise them hunting, or captures them wild.
Click to expand...
not yelling. I was typing in low light and increased font size. just forgot to resize before posting.
 
nzchili said:
id send you a bunch of leaves off my plants(with mummies on them) if you were in NZ :(
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Thx for the thought anyway. The ones I will have to order only ship Fed X priority overnite.
 
Hydrogardens also sells a mix of predators, Aphelinus addominalis, Aphidius colemani & Aphidius ervi. They often have the lowest shipped price on beneficial insects. When you release them, look at a couple under a magnifying glass so you can recognize them later. They are easy to mistake for gnats.
Renais
 
Renais1 said:
Hydrogardens also sells a mix of predators, Aphelinus addominalis, Aphidius colemani & Aphidius ervi. They often have the lowest shipped price on beneficial insects. When you release them, look at a couple under a magnifying glass so you can recognize them later. They are easy to mistake for gnats.
Renais
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Thanks for the input. I checked hydro-gardens out and their prices do appear slightly less. however, I spent considerable time looking for assurances and guarantees of live delivery or satisfaction of product and found nothing. Having used Arbico in the past, I will probably stay with them.
 
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