Demonstrated Success With Ladybugs?

[ducks4you]

I saw a program with an entomologist who said it is the ladybug larvae that you want to use. They are voracious eaters of pests and they DON'T fly away on you.
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/beneficial/lady_beetles.htm

 

[baymule]

I never bought and released ladybugs. At our old house and at our new house, they just showed up. Since I never sprayed for aphids, the ladybugs came to dinner. I put the water hose nozzle on a jet stream and blasted off heavy concentrations of aphids, but that's all. They won't show up if there's nothing for them to eat.

Edited to add; Ladybugs are successful for me in battling aphids. If you need to buy some and release, do so. While they might not stay in your immediate area, they will be in your area and over time, they will multiply. They will come to your garden if there is something there for them to eat. At our old house, I had assassin bugs with orange bodies and black legs. They also went after aphids and other bugs. I liked them so much that I trapped some and moved them up here. I see them in my garden from time to time. I think they are already native to the Tyler area, but I wanted to make sure that they were native to MY garden!

 

[Nyboy]

Anyone remember tiring to catch lighting bugs summer nights.

 

[thistlebloom]

I saw a program with an entomologist who said it is the ladybug larvae that you want to use. They are voracious eaters of pests and they DON'T fly away on you.
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/beneficial/lady_beetles.htm

I've never seen larvae for sale, so the next best thing is to get your ladybugs and hope they stick around long enough to lay eggs. I noticed last evening that I have some eggs on the back of some apple leaves. That will make a good visual for the garden class. I marked the branch so hopefully they'll still be there to observe. Or maybe we'll see some larvae!

 

[henless]

We used to every summer. Sad to say, we also pulled off their tails and wore then as decorations.

We have a lot of lightening bugs where I live now. No, I don't pull their tails off now, nor do I let my granddaughter. That is one childhood experience she'll have to grow up without knowing.

 

[Nyboy]

Lady bug larvae kind of expensive http://www.ebay.com/itm/Insect-Lore...777212&hash=item3f763fa91a:g:M2AAAOSwx6pYrzU4

 

[thistlebloom]

How about that? I just learned something! Thanks Nyboy, I have never seen them offered at the usual natural pest solution sites. That is a little spendy. I'll stick to the ladys and hope they make me some homemade larvae.

 

[ducks4you]

I realized that I don't use any insecticides bc the ones, like Sevin that I used didn't work. I wait until July to start my brussels sprouts from seed (that's just timing), and all of my squashes from seed so that I can nurse them on the porch until the squash bugs and vine borers have eaten somebody else's vegetables and moved on. I don't have the time to babysit any plants and usually have to water in small pots every year what I buy before I get around to fixing their beds. I do have praying mantises and the cornfields still attract asian ladybug beetles and they eat some insects. I have found tomato hornworms covered with parasitic wasp eggs before.
I have been told that when your plants don't get watered and are compromised that they attack insects, kind of like older prey attract the wolves. I have also heard that you can still eat the cabbage that has holes in some of it's leaves.
Following...

 

[Nyboy]

How about that? I just learned something! Thanks Nyboy, I have never seen them offered at the usual natural pest solution sites. That is a little spendy. I'll stick to the ladys and hope they make me some homemade larvae.

try candle light and wine