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Lady Bugs Are Your #1 Natural Pest Control
By james ellison
First, this bug has many names. Some of it's names are:
lady bugs
ladybugs
lady beetle
asiatic lady beetle
Asian Lady Beetle
Asian Lady Bugs
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle
The Ladybird Beetle is the correct name for a Lady bug and are not
bugs but are beetles. Worldwide there are nearly 5,000 different
kinds of ladybugs of which 400 are found in North America. The
Convergent Lady Beetle is the most common beneficial species of
Ladybird beetle in North America.
The life cycle of all Lady Bugs are mainly the same. The eggs are
laid in the spring. When they hatch the larvae will feed for a couple
of weeks and then pupate into adults. During the winter they will
hibernate or will have died in the fall. Springtime they awake to
feed and lay more eggs again.
As a form of biological pest control Lady Bugs are widely used and
are the best known. Besides eating their favorite food aphids they
also eat mites, scales, whitefly, mealybugs and most other soft
insects. They are known to eat cabbage moths, bollworms, tomato
hornworms and broccoli worms. These bugs will eat up to 1,000
aphids in it's lifetime in both their larvae and adult stages.
The most common complaint against the Lady Bug is that when
they are released they will fly off and let the aphids have their
feast with your roses and tomato plants. But really only a part of
your release will venture off, the rest will eat all the aphids they
can find and then maybe fly off.
-There are a couple of tricks you can do to keep your Ladybugs-
1. Only release the ladybugs in the evening since they are not
known to fly at night when it is cooler.
2. Take a can of soda and mix it with equal amounts of water and
spray on the Lady Bugs just before you release them. The sugar
will make the wings sticky for just a couple days so they will hang
around at least for awhile and eat the pests. Since Lady Beetles
claim certain areas home they will stay in your yard and make it
their home and the females will start laying eggs in and around
your garden.
-What about Lady Beetles in the house-
We are glad to have these beetles hang around and control the
pests just like mother nature intended.If they stay at your place
over winter they will look for a nice cozy place to stay and that is
where your home comes into the picture.
These bugs don't seem to have any logic to picking a house they
just have found yours and they like it there. In the yard and
garden they were welcome guests, in your home not so welcome.
What we want to do is ask the lady bugs to leave. They don't
speak our language.
-So a few suggestions to try-
1. Get out your vacuum cleaner and find the hose attachment.
2. Get a nylon stocking and place it inside the hose with the top of
the stocking overlapping the end of the hose and place the hose
attachment end nozzle on this to keep the stocking on.
3. Start the vacuum and get the bugs cleaned up. This will keep
the bugs alive and then you can take them outside and release in
another area away from your home. Refrigerate for next spring or
give them to a friend with a green house.
The ladybugs may be a problem outside the house also, help them
relocate by:
1. Spray water at them with the garden hose.
2. Use your leaf blower and blow them away.
3. Upset the lady bugs and eventually they will move on to another
location.
Needless to say they are a very beneficial bug, but for some
people bugs are not their favorite. They can be helpful and at the
same time create a problem. What we need to do is learn to live
with our tiny friends and make sure they stay around.
About the Author
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| Some other articles by james ellison | |
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