Ladybugs

I want to buy some ladybugs this year - been looking around DG for a good place to get them....anyone have any ideas? Didn't know where to post this....we need a "Beneficial Bug" room!!

TamTam, I ordered mine from Henry Field a several years ago. They seem to be reasonably priced and arrived in good condition.

Thank you!! I'm gonna look it up on the internet now!!! Aphids Be Gone!!!!

TamTam,
Here in North Carolina each early spring we get invaded by the Ladybugs,
Not kidding when i say by the 100's of 1000's. They get in the house so bad that we have to vaccum them up, using new bag of course so we can let them go outside only to vaccum them again in a couple of days. I have no Idea how to keep them alive for shippment, but I could try to send you a
Million or so when they start thier invasion. LOL

Gary

OMG Gary - wow - that is amazing you have so many!! Wonder what it is they like so much?!?!? How FUNNY you vac. them up and how SWEET you let them loose!!! I wonder if anyone out there has an idea for shipping them!?! I already ordered some, maybe I can send you an empty whatever-they-come-in and you can fill 'er up!! Hee Hee!! Got lotsa seeds I could put in the empty container, in trade!! Heck, if we can figure this out you might get rich!! :)

It really is a sight to behold!!! They get in the cabinets, behind the pictures, just about everywhere. When we set out on the deck you can see them coming out of the eve's of the house. Oh yeah and for a couple of weeks until they disburse, they become a condiment at meal times as it is really hard to keep them form landing in the food. I'll do my very best to get picutre's when they start as I know it sounds hard to believe. Keep checking in as it's about 3-4 weeks before to fun begins. I'll do my best to try a get some to you when the time comes.

Gary

Are you folks talking about the "Lady Beetle"....they are an Asian Look Alike of the American Lady Bug. The American Lady Bug is more red in color and has the same amount of spots on it. The Asian Lady Beetle has any number of spots, and different colors of orange or can even be solid orange....

Deann

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/trees/ef416.htm


http://www.kunafin.com/ladybugs.htm

I understand the imported LB is a bit larger, have huge appitites, are more aggressive, and much hardier than the native LB. It is feared they may take over the territory and starve the natives into extintion. We get one or the other in our house in the fall but not a great number like others seem to have.

I have these YELLOW ladybugs - not orange - and a couple years ago I thought (silly me) that since they looked so much like a "good" ladybug, I'd let them hang out. BOY do I regret that decision!! They are awful, eat eat eat. They're pretty slow, tho, I can clap my hands together and squoosh them in flight most of the time. Heavy Sigh. The things we gardeners must put up with.

The Asian Lady Beetles also bite.......and if you kill them they emanate a disgusting smell.....they also stain anything they die on....they are a plain nonsense as far as I am concerned....I too have problems with them in the fall of the year....they congregate by the thousands on a warm side of your building.

Now I'm not being prejudiced here but I would make sure that what ever Lady Bugs you buy you get the American Lady Bug...

I think Gary may be referring to the Asian variety. Every fall they swarm here to get into the houses and under the vinyl siding to overwinter. I have them crawling in window sills and at least 5 or 6 a week on my kitchen counter near the sinks. They're pretty docile during the winter - I usually either run them down the sink or wrap in paper in the trash. Don't crush them - you'll be sorry... Then in the spring - it's a reverse migration swarm. I don't see near that many red lady bugs - American variety and rarely in the house.. Lots of folks complain about the Asian bugs here in NC.

Swoz

Well now I betcha Gary has the good ones. (His gardens would be complaining if he rescued the "bad" ones!!) I've seen big batches of good ones - not for a few years, tho.

TamTam,
I sorry to tell you but I think everyone is right. I Think they are the Asian. Even that said they sstill do keep the gardens rid of most Aphids. I have seen a few of the american lady beetles though. I wander if they cross breed?

Gary

So you don't notice them munching on your flowers? Do they do any damage at all? My nasty yellow ones like the brugs and dat's, especially. But since I got so good at squooshing them maybe that's why I got more aphids than normal - hmmm, still, I'm sure I can encourage the GOOD ones that come in the mail to go forth and multiply. I'll keep mashing the others. Gotta take my aggressions out somehow!!

Two things about lady bugs:

1) I have read that when you release them in your yard, they "fly away home," and that "home", wherever it is, is NOT your yard. It therefore appears to me to be a waste of my money to buy lady bugs. (Maybe you can very carefully take each one and trim its wings just a tiny bit, so it can't leave your yard... :+) )

2) There is a cure for Asian lady bugs in the house. Have your home treated by an exterminator. When my wife and I first moved to our present house, we had a HORRIBLE problem with lady bugs!!! But guess what? For the last two seasons, we have had an exterminator come spray the house inside and out, right around October, and we have had NO problem with lady bugs in the house---NONE! It costs 90 dollars, but IT IS WORTH IT! It was terrible when they were in the house! They'd crawl on our computers, fly in our faces, get on light bulbs and stink, and dead ones would pile up all over the place, under couches, in the living room---it was DISGUSTING! The 90 bucks is WELL WORTH IT! NO MORE PROBLEMS!

Blessed wishes,

persevere1

LOL persevere!! Glad you got rid of em!! The ladybugs will certainly leave my yard, but hopefully they will not go far to set up house. I did consider rambling thru the nearby field and will probably still do that (not much of a field anymore tho, all the new houses...) to nab some locals who don't know the delights of my gardens. You're right, tho, it might not be worth it, they may just get wiped out by those nice tan construction guys this summer. BUT I'm still excited for my babies to arrive!! Probably won't send you the box to fill up, tho, Gary!! :) Haha!

I'll pay the shipping and handling!!!!!! LOL. oh well thought I had the good kind. You sure now?

I hope with all these billions of Asian Lady Bugs, that aphid numbers are down, at least, and crop yields up!

Ladybugs, like all other creatures, will hang out where the food is. If you don't have aphids for them to munch, they cannot stay. They'll die. They must have food, so they'll migrate someplace where they can find aphids.

If you already have aphids, the ladybugs will find you somehow. No reason to buy them. They'll come forage until the food source is gone.

No, I haven't had ladybugs eating my plants. They merely eat the aphids and then move over to the next infested plant.

We have Asian ladybugs here too. They hide out in the house mostly during the winter. I find 100's dead in the windowsills and behind the couch. I haven't been bitten by any. And I haven't smelled the smell I've heard about, but perhaps my infestation isn't THAT bad. They remind me of spring, so I don't mind them. Maybe a few will hang on til spring.

Ladybugs come in many colors. We have red, lime green, yellow, and orange spotted ones. They're fascinating to watch.

Tam Tam, if you have no ladybugs (the exterminator of aphids), that could mean you have no aphids. If you see aphids and can't find ladybugs anywhere, you could buy some to eat them. But once they aphids are gone, the ladybugs will be too.

TamTam. You might try HD, my sister bought some there 2 or 3 years ago. Good Luck :)))

Butterfly Chaser, yes ladybugs are fascinating to watch. One of the most fascinating things I ever seen a lady bug do was when a ant was trying to drag away the body of a half or three-quarter dead one, and the ladybug ended up eating the ant!This took place on a city sidewalk, outsidea my favorite Eyetalian restaurant at the time. It were very funny and fascinating indeed! Hooray for the ladybug! :+))

Speaking of ants persevere1, did you know that ants never leave their dead behind....they will carry them back to the nest......have no clue as to why....but the insect kingdom is indeed strange......

Deann

Oh, yeah, I've knowed that for a long time. I know the reason, too. The reason is that ants, when they get old, turn into uncles, and the ants, not wanting to confuse antologists, hide those uncles down in their ant holes till they decompose, and nobody knows that but me.

Actually, there was one time that an antologist DID discover an old ant that had turned into an uncle. He just couldn't understand it. The more he tried to understand, the less he did, and the more frustrated he became, till he began to sigh from all of that frustration.

And that is how the first "sighantologist" and how the "science" of "sighantology" began!

This message was edited Feb 11, 2006 5:20 PM

Oh My, Persevere, I have not laughed that hard in quite a while. I LOVE it!!! Really needed that laugh, too!! ROFLMAO quite describes it!! :) I still hang onto my "Yankee" accent and tease kids (sometimes grownups, too!) about their "ants and uncles" since I still say "Ahhhh-nt" so I was especially tickled - you are GOOD!!! :)

I have already ordered my ladybugs, and reviewing this post got me thinking that maybe all the construction DID wipe out my ladies since I had a bigger problem than normal with aphids (and some other hungry bugger - maybe some sort of mite) and not a red lady to be seen. So hopefully these newbies will populate what's left of the "woods" around here! They were only $13 so no big loss if they eat and run! :)

And I gotta run - Gary, I still think yours are the good kind. Try stomping one and see if it stinks. LOL! Byeeee!

Well, Tam, actually, if roses are pretty healthy, aphids don't hurt 'em all that much, and if one is really concerned about aphids, they can be washed off easily with the hard spray from a hose.

Also, in my experience, good lady bugs have a stink, too, but not nearly as bad as the Asian lady bugs. Tell you what is REALLY disgusting---putting a raspberry in your mouth that happens to have one of those Asian ladybugs on it. You think they SMELL bad? (DON'T) Try tasting one!

Oh, yes, here is a leetle joke for the wee young'uns: Why are baby ants confused? Because all their uncles are ants!

Adios,

persevere1

This message was edited Feb 11, 2006 5:49 PM

EEEEeeeewwwwwww on the raspberry with a crunch!!! And I'll get my little kiddies tomorrow with the baby ant joke!! LOL!!!! Take care!

I have used and encouraged wasps. They remain and love to eat aphids. I think because they seem to have eliminated my aphids sucking out the life of my new growth on my plants. Am I wrong or do they ?

Hi, Soferdig.

I believe some of those little waspers may even be wingless...? So that they can't fly away...?

As a side note, Aphids are born pregnant.
AAAAAuuuuugh!
;)

It still seems to me that aphids are far less of a problem than most other plant-attackers, since they can be knocked off with the hard spray of a hose. Now BLACK SPOT or mildew or rust or a VIRUS, (which I susspose aphids DO spread from plant to plant) THERE are some problems!

The worst plant attacker is Bambi! I had to dig over 100/ 4' deep holes over an entire summer then pull stretch and wire up 10' elk fence to keep the buggers out. I have spent more money on fence than I will ever lose to aphid, white fly, virus, etc. Deer are a beautiful creation but we need to train them to eat hamburgers.

Soferdig...........wow....ever think of using a product called LIQUID FENCE???? I live on 200 acres, Most of which is woods.....deer all over the place......when I started using LIQUID FENCE.... that stopped them dead in their tracks....

Deann

The yellow lady bugs may very well not be lady bugs at all but Mexican Bean beetles.

You sure could be right, Leaflady. I'll be counting to see if there are 16 spots on my yellow pests this year - and to see if the thorax is yellow - good ladies have a black thorax. 16 seems like alot of spots!!!!!

Deann I cannot believe that anything would work. I have tried it all and nothing worked. What is Liquid Fence? The real thing works great and I don't have to put it out every day/week/month. How often do you reapplicate? The deer in Montana figure out every scent repeller in less than 2 months.

soferdig.........I generally apply two times, tree at the most in a season.....it does not wash off with rain. They have a website you may want to ck out, but you can buy Liquid Fence at nurserys. I get mine from a large grocery chain which is like a Walmart, and I believe you can get it at Walmart as well

www.liquidfence.com

Deann

thank you for the info I could not connect to the site but when I get off DG I'll go to liquidfence. I did it all before I built the fence. I have recently bought a new property and plan to plant trees I'll give it a try.

Hi TamTam,

My local Home Depot has good garden insects for sale: Praying Mantis (200 babies in 1 unhatched egg case) and Live Lady Bugs (1/3rd cup about 1500 count) that are each about $4.00. These will protect your roses, flowers, shrubs, gardens and trees. The Mantis eat Aphids, Thrips, Whitefly, Mosquitoes, Flies, Grubs and other harmful plant pests. The Lady Bugs will eat almost the same diet.

They also have Live Nematodes but these rang up for about $12 (contains approximately 5 million)!!! These will protect your lawns and gardens from Japanese Beetles, May/June Beetles, Grubs, Borers, Strawberry Root Weevil and Flea Beetles.

Try this company for lady bugs:

http://www.abetterplant.com/free_ladybugs.htm

I got my ladybugs from bugological - very happy with their service.
http://www.buglogical.com/