The Not So Pesky Lady Bug
The ladybug is really not a bug, but a beetle. Other common names for the ladybug include the Asian Lady Beetle, the Lady Beetle, and Lady Bird Beetles. The ladybug is a tiny oval creature with red wings, yellow wings or shades and variations of these colors. The most common ladybug is the red winged beetle with a few brown or black spots on the wings. Most often this little beetle is found about one quarter inch or smaller. There are over four hundred different variations of the ladybug found to exist today. The ladybug does not live very long, hatching in the spring; they will feed, lay eggs and then die or hibernate underground over the winter

Posted Thursday, April 6, 2006

The ladybug lives only to eat other bugs, which include aphids, white flies, mealy bugs, scales, mites and others such as the bollworm, the tomato worm, the cabbage moth and the broccoli worm. So, as you can see, finding ladybugs in your greenhouse or in your garden is not really such a bad thing, as ladybugs are helping you control other pesky bugs that can really do damage to your garden.

If you have a problem with any of the pests listed above and you are considering how to use ladybugs to combat your problem here are a few tips. While ladybugs are often known to fly off as soon as you release them, releasing them into the contained greenhouse will be much simpler than releasing them into your outdoor garden first. But, if you really need to fight pests in your outdoor garden, here is a little trick you can use: Using a bottle of soda, any sugary type will do, add a cup of water, and then put this in a spray bottle and spray it over your ladybugs before you release them. The sticky soda will cause the ladybugs not to fly away, and they will realize that there are bugs and pests that they can eat right where they are. So when the dew or the rain-washes off the soda from their wings they will not fly away from your garden while they help you fight these other nasty bugs and pests.

Not only are ladybugs fun to watch and considered good luck, but they also are a natural ally in fighting other pests in the garden and greenhouse. Natures complimentary pest control!