15 May 2014

Ladybugs to the Rescue!!

So my organic Spring garden has been doing beautifully and I have been enjoying watching it grow and eating from it whenever I can. There's only one thing I wish I could change about it -- those pesky aphids!!

For some reason, those aphids are all over my peppers plants and my bronze star lettuce. I agreed they are tasty but sharing with the aphids is NOT what I had in mind when I thought about sharing the bounty. When I first noticed bugs my plants, I took a picture and posted it on Instagram for help on what to do organically. They were quickly identified as aphids and I started using a harmless to humans and plants  soap and water spray on them. This diminished them greatly but has not gotten rid of them completely.

I don't want to spray poison in my garden so ladybugs seemed the next best remedy. They're easy to find at the local garden stores or you can order them online too. I was told to keep them refrigerated until ready to use and then pull them out to warm up 30 minutes prior to release. Wet your garden area to keep the lady bugs around longer and be sure to release them close to your aphid infestation. When the food source is gone they will move on to other adventures.

Well, I have a full buffet, so I hope these ladies are hungry little bugs! Not only were they hungry, there was an army of lady bugs! More bugs than you can imagine fit in that container. I felt like a little kid watching them all come out and inspect every inch of my garden! :) Be gone aphids!

Here are a couple pics of the ladies at work. Enjoy!


3 comments:

Tessa said...

I knew ladybugs were a good way to deal with aphids, but I had no idea you could buy them normally like that! That's awesome! In other news, I'd like to nominate you for a Leibster Award if you'd like to play along :) http://krmbal.com/leibster-award-nominees/

Unknown said...

Wow ... I love that! Hopefully they will not only eat up the aphids but stick around and become permanent residents on your property. I once bought ladies and they worked wonders but I didn't have property so they ate and left. Still, they were great and hopefully helped other gardens in the area. Nice photo!!

Unknown said...

This is far afield, but... I regularly find dying and dead ladybugs inside a customer's sunroom, all clustered around the window frames. If I'm correct, ladybugs seek certain environments to hibernate in. Sadly, if that's what they were seeking in this case, they've found the wrong one.

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