Coccinella septempunctata - Ladybug
As you may already know, ladybugs are a voracious carnivore of bugs in our yards. Most of their predators will stray from them once they get a taste of just one. A ladybug secrets an awful liquid from its joints to make them taste foul to anyone trying to eat them. This makes them a large colony out to protect your vegetation.
If you have been to a plant nursery lately you may have noticed some odd looking wooden houses that don’t look like bird or bat houses. Heck, they aren’t even for butterflies. These slitted boxes on their bottoms are the style of home ready for a ladybug colony to take shelter in. My question is, “How do they know it is for them?” It must be instinct because my own father has one in his garden.
Those ladybugs are a smart sort and they will get rid of any aphids trying to take over your garden. I have seen spiders’ webs run amuck with ladybugs as they take on the spider. This is probably the only bug I have seen to actually escape from a spider web.
Research shows that there are over 5000 variety of these helpful critters. But then again, some of them are not so helpful. There are a small few that will actually harm your crop. In order to not take this risk, you can actually buy some ladybugs from your local plant nursery or order them online.
Either way, once you get them you will find that they are hibernating. I just use a thin layer of sand to cover them up as I spread them around the plants I want protected. Ladybugs also bore into the ground after grub worms and other unwanted bugs. If you really want to see a battle, watch then take over an ant colony.
A word to the wise on ladybugs…frogs and toads will eat them as they are not offended by the foul liquid they produce. Therefore, if you are trying to save your water pond let the frogs and toads take care of it for you.
Don’t be surprised if you find a ladybug that isn’t red with black spots. They can be different in color. I have seen orange, yellow and lime green looking ones. Understand that ladybugs are actually beetles, so if they are not warming up to the house you bought them it would be because they are used to burrowing down into the ground at night to seek shelter.
The average size of a ladybug is about a quarter of an inch when fully grown, but I have seen them smaller since their are so many varieties. You will also notice that some have different spot patterns than others. Again, this is because there are so many of them out there.
When you are done putting in your pesticide, wait 30 days before you submit your ladybugs to the garden. They will thank you for it. God created a wonderful beetle when He made the ladybugs. Cherish them in your garden.
By: Harold Sink