misc ladybug carnage!!! aphids gone, white flies remain (f them too)

impending_bending

impending_bending

Letting the ladybug carnage begin. And the ladybug porn... horny bastards
 
So I discovered a massive aphid and I think white fly(?) infestation after about 5 days of neglect. Got some ladybugs and released them about 30 minutes ago. This is for those who doubt the effectiveness - I'll either demonstrate that they work, or that I'm a jackass and don't know what I'm talking about. So here are the before pictures of typical leaves and the setup.
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And they are everywhere in this setup:
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I really hope I don't make an ass of myself lol. Ass or not, you'll all soon know the results
 
They can wipe out an infestation in hours. I went around the house and collected like 10 lady bugs once for an infestation on one of my overwintered plants and they tore through the aphids.
 
     I'm gonna watch the hell out of this.  :high:  (I couldn't find the emoticon of the little dude eating popcorn, so I'll do this instead.)
     I know ladybugs (adults, at least) tend to stay put if the plants they're on are wet. Have you thought about occasionally misting your plants with water to encourage them to hang around longer?
 
Pepperjack91 said:
They can wipe out an infestation in hours. I went around the house and collected like 10 lady bugs once for an infestation on one of my overwintered plants and they tore through the aphids.
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I've used them before but had no idea you could get good results with so few. Was it seriously only about 10???
 
 
dash 2 said:
     I'm gonna watch the hell out of this.  :high:  (I couldn't find the emoticon of the little dude eating popcorn, so I'll do this instead.)
     I know ladybugs (adults, at least) tend to stay put if the plants they're on are wet. Have you thought about occasionally misting your plants with water to encourage them to hang around longer?
Click to expand...
LMAO  at emoticon best one ever. I kinda wanna just toke up and watch them eat for hours now :)
 
impending_bending said:
I've used them before but had no idea you could get good results with so few. Was it seriously only about 10???
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Yeah probably 8 to 10. Just as many as I could find in the room.
 
Pepperjack91 said:
 
Yeah probably 8 to 10. Just as many as I could find in the room.
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Soooo, you're sayin' I should get another bag of 1000 then huh? :)
I guess if you only have a few and they don't run into each other then they'll spend less time bone smuggling and more time eating.
 
I've had some success with randomly catching ladybugs and putting them on my plants, but the problem is that the ladybugs won't stick around for the second course.  They all fly off and die somewhere, while the next generation of aphids hatches and lays even more eggs.
 
I've gotten my hopes up countless times, but I still have yet to find anything that works 100% except for hacking off every leaf on every plant and actually sticking to a damn quarantine.
 
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dash 2 said:
     I'm gonna watch the hell out of this.  :high:  (I couldn't find the emoticon of the little dude eating popcorn, so I'll do this instead.)
     I know ladybugs (adults, at least) tend to stay put if the plants they're on are wet. Have you thought about occasionally misting your plants with water to encourage them to hang around longer?
Click to expand...
Forgot to respond, got distracted by the emoticon :)
I've misted before, should probably do it again. If you turn off the lights or do it at night they don't fly supposedly.
 
Wulf said:
I've had some success with randomly catching ladybugs and putting them on my plants, but the problem is that the ladybugs won't stick around for the second course.  They all fly off and die somewhere, while the next generation of aphids hatches and lays even more eggs.
 
I've gotten my hopes up countless times, but I still have yet to find anything that works 100% except for hacking off every leaf on every plant and actually sticking to a damn quarantine.
 
 
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Love the pic haha. Look for some artificial nectar stuff or make your own. If they find food somewhere they tend to stay longer. Also make sure to release them at night.
Wulf said:
Also, 1,000 sounds too small.
 
You probably want 144,000 of them.
http://www.natural-insect-control.com/product.php?id=000000314
 
(Note:  I have never used the above link, but I keep them in mind in case I ever want 2 gallons of ladybugs for gardening / general terror purposes)
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Sweeet. I'm gonna prank the wife so bad... might be talkin to you guys from beyond soon
 
I'm very close to ordering some lady bugs to get control of my aphids on my overwinters.  Nothing else has seemed to work.  Don't know how keen I am on letting them free in my basement though...
 
impending_bending said:
 
Soooo, you're sayin' I should get another bag of 1000 then huh? :)
I guess if you only have a few and they don't run into each other then they'll spend less time bone smuggling and more time eating.
Click to expand...
 
They're like freaking aphid vacuums bro! I wouldn't release that many into my house though. lol
 
[SIZE=10.5pt]I released 3,000 ladybugs on 400 plants and sorry but it did not help me. I think that over 4 weeks I had sprayed too much on the plants trying to kill or get the aphids under control and when I released the ladybugs the residual left overs on the leaves killed the lady bugs. I just killed all my plants and started over. No OW ever for me again it’s not worth it. And the OW weren’t even mine I was doing a favor for a co-worker and it costs me 400 plants.[/SIZE]
 
Don't worry about ladybugs in your basement, garage or even in your house.  They just seek a safe place to winter over and sometimes to lay their eggs.  The nymphs are strange looking but really fun to watch -- like mini alligators munching down aphids as if they were pop corn !  The adults hang around as long as there is something to eat and will fly away when their job is done.
They must leave enough eggs behind, as I don't need to replenish them.
 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exjuH-Wpc6Q
 
Brain Strain Pepper Head said:
[SIZE=10.5pt]No OW ever for me again it’s not worth it. And the OW weren’t even mine I was doing a favor for a co-worker and it costs me 400 plants.[/SIZE]
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We're obviously on different scales of operation here, but I wouldn't write off OW completely.
 
Just enforce a strict "Porn Star" policy.  If they're not shaved completely bald first, they don't get near the other plants.  Every time I infect my plants with aphids, it's because I'm retarded and think "ah, it looks ok" when bringing in something new.
 
Wulf said:
 
We're obviously on different scales of operation here, but I wouldn't write off OW completely.
 
Just enforce a strict "Porn Star" policy.  If they're not shaved completely bald first, they don't get near the other plants.  Every time I infect my plants with aphids, it's because I'm retarded and think "ah, it looks ok" when bringing in something new.
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Yea but my co worker did the Bonsai on them they were as naked as they can be and it took about 2 weeks before they emerged from the soil and went crazy.
 
The soil eggs are a good point.  Luckily I haven't had that as a source of re-infection yet.
 
Amended Policy Name:  "Porn Star Enema".  Shave em bald, take em out of the pot, flip em over and hose off all the dirt.
 
Disclaimer:  I have entered theorycrafting at this point, but if the aphids somehow survive all of that, just let em have the plants.  They earned them.
 
 
 
Google tells me that the eggs are in the first 1/4" of soil.  You could try removing / replacing the top 0.5" or more of soil which is less drastic than completely desoiling them.  This is all well and good for my level of the hobby, but I can easily see 400+ plants not being worth the risk / effort for a simple OW.
 
Dirt is cheap for me about $100 worth for 400 plants so I wasn't going to try and save soil. Root aphids actual burrow to the roots. The only way to kill them is to remove the root ball and wash the plant. Way easier to just start over instead of taking out 400 plants given them a bath and then re potting just to miss one egg and have this crap again.
 
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Oh, I wasn't suggesting doing that to the 400 plants, just the individual overwinters before they are brought inside.
 
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