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Ladybugs are the proven bulldozers of organic pest control and buying ladybugs have become mainstream over the past few years. Having hordes of ladybugs patrolling your garden scape can eliminate the need to spray for the insects that damage your plants which has become a great concern as the lasting effects of insecticides become more apparent. Although buying ladybugs may be the easiest way to introduce them to your garden, some questions have come up as to whether or not purchased ladybugs stay and do the work you have for them. Attracting local ladybugs is being promoted as an alternative to buying ladybugs that have been harvested from the wild to be shipped to locations across the United States.
Snacking on 50 to 60 aphids a day along with whatever scales, leaf hoppers, mites, and mealy bugs that cross their path, the ladybug can make a serious dent in the undesirable insect population in your yard. Coccinellidae is the formal name of the family of beetles that are commonly called ladybirds or ladybugs. Although most commonly thought of as the little insects with red wing covers decorated with black dots, ladybugs can be grey, orange, yellow, brown or black. Over 450 species are native to North America and all are excellent eaters in larvae and adult forms. Completely harmless to humans ladybugs are a wonderful alternative to spraying chemical insecticides to control the pests that plague our crops and flowers.
The effectiveness of buying ladybugs from a nursery or over the internet and releasing them into your garden to feed and breed is questionable. Many entomologists state that once released, most ladybugs will migrate right out of your garden before settling down to eat and procreate. It is highly likely that your neighborhood will benefit more from your buying ladybugs than you will.
An issue involved with buying ladybugs is the discovery that the introduction of very predatory species of ladybugs in an area has the negative impact of displacing the native coccinellidae. The most recent example being the introduction in the twentieth century of the multicolored Asian ladybug into crop lands to eat aphids. The species has become a pest in its own right due to its habit of wintering in homes and occasionally taste testing the human inhabitants. They have effectively crowded out the locals and taken over. Another concern is the impact harvesting wild ladybugs from their natural habitat is having on the balance of nature there.
The alternative to buying ladybugs is attracting the local species to your garden by planting combinations of plants they are known to congregate on. Ladybugs supplement their insect diet with pollen and nectar from flowers so combining different crops and flowers provides a good neighborhood for them. Composite flowers like asters, cone flowers, sunflowers and yarrows give ladybugs places to nestle in when not on the hunt.
Ladybugs are definitely an insect worth having in your garden but buying ladybugs may not be the most effective or ecologically responsible way to get them there. Creating an inviting habitat is the current method favored over buying ladybugs.
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Author Bio Box: Patricia Wainwright
Get all the facts about beneficial insects and gardening articles at GreenThumbArticles.com!
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