Release the hounds which astonishingly resemble ladybugs (or how to use ladybugs in your garden)

Last weekend, I went to our local garden center and attended a class on how to use ladybugs and other beneficial insects in the garden. I am excited to share what I learned!

The garden center is a local chain called Armstrong. Their prices are higher than the wholesale nursery that I love, but they have unique things and very kind and knowledgeable staff. This is the first class that I went to, but it will not be my last!

As a kid, we would try and save ladybugs from our pool and put them in the flower bed so that they would eat the aphids that congregated on them. I learned that they eat even more than that though. They eat all sorts of bugs that can invade or infest plants in ways that we try to prevent.

Ladybugs for sale to release into the garden

Bugs Ladybugs eat

Aphids
Mealybugs
Whitefly
Moth Eggs
Mites
Scales
Thrips
Leif Hoppers
Chinch Bugs
Other soft-bodied insects

So why wouldn’t you just use sprays to kill the bugs instead?

Their are a few problems with sprays. The first is that at least 90% of the bugs in the garden do great things that help it. Chemical sprays don’t distinguish and kill off everything. This throws your garden ecosystem put of wack. And you know what is crazy? There are some strains of bugs that you are trying to remove, strains of White Flies for example, that have become resistant to the chemical sprays. So you would kill off the beneficial bugs and only be left with those you were trying to remove in the first place. Pest management needs to be more about management and less about extermination because extermination is nearly impossible.

If you go the route of inviting the predators into your garden, there is no built up immunity to that! You may not irradicate them, but you can maintain an acceptable level of garden pest.

Recently there has been links between certain prolonged exposure with chemicals like round up and certain types of cancer. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/business/monsanto-roundup-cancer.html

While studies still need to take place to learn more, we know that lady bugs are not going to hurt you or your family. The only thing that needs to worry about them are garden pests.

How to add ladybugs to your garden

Buy ladybugs from the garden center (or even online)
Plan to release the ladybugs either in the cooler morning or evening
Before you release them, mist your garden. Your ladybugs like water and it will encourage them to stick around longer.
Open the bag and release them around the garden at the base of plants. This time of day they will be slow moving.

Tips for releasing Ladybugs in your garden

If you are not releasing your ladybugs right away, store them in the refrigerator (for up to 3 weeks). Do not freeze your ladybugs.
When you do release them, do so at dawn or dusk or on a cloudy day. This increases the likelihood that they might stay around.
Irrigate your plants because with lots of food and water, they will start to reproduce as soon as they are released.
Release the ladybugs at the base of your plant or on your plant. They will start to climb up in search of food.
You can release them all at one time or spread it our over a few days.
To keep lady bugs around, you want to give them a home they makes them want to stay. You will need a bit of water, places for them to hide in, and a food for them to eat.