Ladybugs and the sad news.

[lovenlife]

Well I had one ladybug and then another joined her. They became a couple. They were doing quite nicely in my lil plant space together. I was hoping they could take care of the aphid situation.

Today I saw one dead on the floor. Poor one left over. One sad day for the lil lady.

Let us have a moment of silence please.

This fall ladybugs invaded the outside of the house. I felt so happy they came and exhillirated. Others called them pests. I love them!

[streetsurfer]

Maybe all is not lost. Look around the leaves for small yellow/orange egg clusters. Maybe they procreated. Have you ever seen a lady bug in it's larval stage?
You can see some here, so you know what to expect if they show up...
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/PUBS/INSECT/05594.html

haha, now that I see you put a picture up, it appears you may find some eggs. Keep an eye out.
I see nasturtiums in there too, yummy.

[lovenlife]

Oh I knew I could count on you. I will look at the picture and see if there are some. What if there are a huge amount? How many might I expect in the nursery?

I was looking for the pix of the ladybugs on the outside of the windows and didnt locate it. ~sigh.

Oh and I am ready to change out my soil. I have to because things are not doing well. My kale supplier dried up....well the garden forze (I guess the garden dried up in a sense..hahah). So I need some greens growing quickly!

[lovenlife]

VERY informative link. I learned alot! Thankx. I will go look now.

Ok here are the pictures.

SCORE! I think? I KNOW the one leaf has eggs without a doubt. I was pretty happy finding them though not sure why...hahaha I guess it redeemed my feelings about the fallen one maybe. My apprehension is....HOW MANY lil ladies will I have in there soon! Will I be overun? How nice that might be BUT....

What are the other ones, Aphids?

[lovenlife]

So, I just looked and NOW THERE ARE THREE LADYBUGS!!!! I know the eggs didnt hatch. Where did they come from? This story is getting interesting.

The one I found may not have been the partner...phew. They have been around the house so maybe its a different one.

Will keep you posted here.

[streetsurfer]

You're quite the matchmaker.

It's hard for me to tell from the pic, but I think you're right to suspect aphids. If those orange-ish eggs hatch out, they'll have plenty of good eatin' with the aphids around. You can wipe the majority of the aphids and their eggs off though, which I would do, with a cotton glove, light rag, or sponge soaked with the soapy water in the meantime. Of course don't disturb the lady beetle eggs, if you can help it. And I doubt you'll have problematic numbers of beetles. Looks like a dozen or so eggs. It might balance out nicely. A little ecosystem.
I'm off to search for a mate for the lone lady beetle I placed in my grow area.:D A couple years back I had a huge cluster outside in a lean-to shed. They congregate in masses in high sheltered corners. I ll see if I can wake a few up.

[lovenlife]

Awwww I wish I could ship you one. I have three and it looks like more on the way! yay!

Thankx I will carefully wipe some of the aphids away. What are they? They must be alive right? Would I be killing them then? eeeeeek

I love that I have my own ecosystem! I also have lil spiders and stuff in there too. hey must like the heat and light.

[stiggs]

Awwww I wish I could ship you one. I have three and it looks like more on the way! yay!

Thankx I will carefully wipe some of the aphids away. What are they? They must be alive right? Would I be killing them then? eeeeeek

I love that I have my own ecosystem! I also have lil spiders and stuff in there too. hey must like the heat and light.

very weird cos I had a dream last night about seeing 2 ladybugs in my garden (on plants that dont exist there in real life).
I was watching a program a few weeks ago that said ladynugs are GOOD for your garden, they eat the green/black (or something) flies which eat your crops. They showed one being born too its came out of a larva yoke.

[buffalogal]

In the springtime, we are overrun with them both inside and outside the house.:eek: They drive me buggy!!!:D When I smoosh them or vacuum them up, they smell awful. We don't want the little buggers in the house!:mad: Wish I could send them all to your house!!:p

[lovenlife]

I LOVE them. The day they came and were all over the side of the house and the windows, I was so excited. I felt like I had been given a special blessing.

Other people were complaining about them.

OOOO I could never squish anything. I invite them outside if I need to.

But these are very welcome in here with me.

stiggs, maybe I will see one "born" too. Wonder how long it takes? I dont kno whow long the eggs have been there on the kale!

[lovenlife]

Well, today, more ladybug love! Hmmmm I am wondering, and a bit concerned about how many I will have!



Streetsurfer, I am MORE concenred with getting my soil more suitable so my food actually grows. I give it love every day. I have wiped aphids and I renovated the whole place today (careful not to disturb the ladies n gents).

I still need to purchase some kind of new soil..what kind???

pppsssst They said they didnt mind me taking pictures.

[lovenlife]

So the eggs are doing something. Too small to see but momma or pappa are right nearby. I think they will be coming out soon!!!!! Yipeeeeeee

AND I got lots of advice on my greenhouse to change it up to make it for productive and have food to eat! I want to wait for the lil ladies to get hatched and grow a lil before I renovate the area.

[streetsurfer]

Great. I use a 15x and 30x lupe to view bugs and lawn and plant diseases. I like Fox Farms brand Ocean Forest soil.

[lovenlife]

LUPE???

Oh and I do not know. In my lil ecosystem (which is out of balance) my hatchlings look like a mass of black dots or something. I hope they are ok?

My friend suggested to bake the soil in the oven. That doesnt feel right to me. There are critters in there. Some that I thought were not harmful are eating the plants so they are part of my problem..eeeeek.

I feel like, by bringing in the outdoor soil, it gave me a few things to handle because I dont want to kill things. It is too cold to let em outside now. Awww my big raw heart hurts for them.

[streetsurfer]

Scorching the soil if you go too hot can build up toxins which can hurt the plants. Then too you wipe out good microbes as well as pests. I'm not a fan of it, but it was neccessary once due to gnat eggs/larvae and I wanted to use it up. I don't know the temperature limit that is safe. You would have to research it.
I have no problem knocking out pests but I respect your wish not to. I try to always use an integrated pest management approach or IPM. Express your concerns to a garden center and they should be able to set you up with an ideal mix.
This is what I mean by lupe or loupe...

[T-Bird]

I have a hard time too lovenlife....

Unfortunately - we got a bunch of moths in the house, and I had to turn into the texas chainsaw massacre... It is a battle, and I don't do poison....

Defending territory is an animals right.....so I must defend.....but I don't like it..:(

[lovenlife]

I do not know what happened. These eggs didnt turn into ladybugs either. They were lil black dots like spiders and now I can find them at all. I was hoping to have a whole bunch of ladybugs.


The lil slug like things are eating and ruining. I am bummed. I tossed some outside tonight. I had to. I dont want to bake th soil as there are living things in.

I might just toss it all outside and fix it all new with bagged soil...ugh. What a dilemmm-na.

The grown up lady bugs are still doing thier grown up things...I hope I have so me baby bugs soon...hahaha

[streetsurfer]

You'll have to read the link. The larvae probably head to the soil to pupate into another instar (stage of development). I've not studied the whole life cycle of lady beetles.