When releasing them into the bed it is best to do it late in the evening. You will want to keep them contained in the area of treatment to keep them around long enough to deal with your problem. Make sure they have fresh water in the form of water droplets.
Lady bugs are a small beetle that range in size and color. I use them as an indicator of my yards health as an ecosystem.
Generally they are considered to be a beneficial insect as many species of them feed on aphids, mites and scale insects which are common garden pests. They commonly lay their eggs in colonies of pest species and the larvae hatch and begin consuming the pests. Depending on the type of lady bug they will feed on most lifecycles of their pray species. It has been reported that they will pray on things as large as caterpillars and beetle larvae.
It is important to note not all lady bugs are beneficial and some do consume plant material instead of other insects. Most lady bugs are omnivores however their impacts on plants is generally minimal or neutral.
Lady bugs overwinter as adults typically concealed on the south side of large objects such as logs, rocks, or even houses. Once the longer days start to set in with above freezing temperatures they appear.
Their predatory nature allows us to used them as beneficial insects controlling a wide variety of garden pests. In this case I am using them to control aphids that have taken up residence in my brassica bed.
Provided you have a healthy garden environment lady bugs will stick around controlling your pests free of charge. We will leave these lady bugs in the shade cloth for a few days to let them get established and take care of our pest problem
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Some of my favorite childhood memories are of gardening with my parents and brothers. This channel is about low cost organic urban gardening in zone 3. I am by no means an expert gardener however I love to share my experiments and journey garden year round. Please feel free to join the conversation and if you think you might like this channel subscribe. Have a great day!
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