I have been having a pretty significant aphid problem on my indoor plants that I can't seem to get under control and I have lots of herbs, so I didn't want to use pesticides. Thus, I decided to place an order for some ladybugs. Little did I know that 1000 ladybugs was so many!!!! Now, I want to create a ladybug habitat so I can stick aphid ridden plants in my contraption while not allowing ladybugs to roam my house (Needless to say it was quite an experience trying to put 'a few' at the bottom of my aphid ridden plants. Bah! They all wanted out at once and two of my hands against 700 or so ladybugs was NOT doing it). So, I am really hoping someone has some experience or ideas on what I can do to fix my ladybug dilemma. I think it is too cold to release them outside. :(
Ladybugs + Aphids = Fixed Plants!
Well this is a first for me. Very cool idea but I'm not sure how it will work. Yupper too cold to release them outside. I'm really interested to know how you got aphids indoors in the first place. Did you bring plants in that had them? Are you sure they are aphids and not gnats? I'm interested to hear from others because I'm not sure that ladybugs will stay alive if you break their cycle.
I have been doing some frantic reading and it says they can be kept for a few weeks in the fridge as long as they don't dry out (whew!) There are currently a bunch crawling around on my doorstep as I wait for them to go dormant haha. I was bringing a lot of plants in and out during the summer, so that is probably where the aphids came from. I didn't notice the aphids, but I wasn't looking for them either. I am pretty sure they are aphids (they look kind of like http://www.planthealth.info/images/high_res/aphid_oneil_highres.jpg)