My-Garden-World Blog

Queen of the garden!

One of our favorite insects is the ladybug which is actually a beetle belonging to the Coccinellidae family. The ladybug is known throughout the world with different names. In the UK, the lady bug is known as the ladybird tied to history associated with the Queen (I think it had something to do with the spots on the Queen’s robe). Most scientist refer to the ladybug as the lady beetle.

Enough history. How is the ladybug a beneficial garden insect? They can reek havoc on aphids! They also like thrips, mites, and other small insect eggs if there are no aphids around to feed on.

BEWARE! There are good ladybugs and some bad ladybugs lurking about. The bad ladybugs are the Mexican bean beetle (Epilachna  varivestis) and the squash beetle (Epilachna borealis). The adults will feed on plants. You can identify he Mexican bean beetles by their “cooper color”, sixteen black spots and about 1/4 inch long. The squash beetle looks like a Mexican bean beetle, but a squash beetle has a different diet. Look for them on squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, and melons. The Mexican bean beetle likes to eat the leaves of almost any kind of bean and other legumes.

Attracting ladybugs to your garden.

Aphids are the main attraction for ladybugs. It is sort of like the age old question- “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” It does not make much sense to allow the aphids to do damage before the first ladybug arrives on the scene. Of course, the best scenario would be to have the ladybug in place and ready for the aphids to arrive. Right?

How do we get the ladybug on the scene before the aphids? Adult ladybugs also include pollen and nectar in their diet. They will feed on this until the more desirable aphids become available. Making available such plants as any type of mustard plant, as well as other early blooming nectar and pollen sources, like buckwheat, cilantro, red or crimson clover, and legumes like vetches. Also, early aphid sources, like bronze fennel, dill, cilantro, caraway, angelica, tansy, yarrow, of the wild carrot family, Apiaceae. Other plants that also attract ladybugs include coreopsis, cosmos (especially the white ones), dandelions, and scented geraniums. 

Building an army of ladybugs to defend your garden doesn’t just happen. It takes a little effort to attract enough ladybugs to have an impact on aphids. A good way is to make the garden inviting to the ladybug by planting some of their favorites.

Caution! Synthetic pesticides will kill the ladybug. This is where a decision has to be made- use synthetic pesticides to control aphids or allow the ladybugs to control the aphid population.   

If all else fails, consider using Pyrellin EC at 1 to 2 teaspoons per gallon of water in an organic setting to wipe out the aphids.

Please leave a comment weather or not you found this post useful.

‘Til next time,

Poppy

www.my-garden-world.com

marvin@my-garden-world.com