Ladybugs to the rescue! These little insects are amazing and so helpful. Here is the greatest value ladybugs bring to your garden!
There are so many benefits to having a garden. Give gardens love and attention, and they’ll give back tenfold. However, your precious garden, whether a flower one or a vegetable one, falls prey to predators. Animals are big ones – rabbits, deer, woodchucks, moles, etc, etc, etc, but so are slugs and aphids. These pests are bad news and can wreak havoc on those plants that you have been nurturing for weeks. A good sturdy fence can keep out the varmints, but what to do with those aphids, mites and other soft-bodied insects?
This is where ladybugs come into play.
I keep a vegetable garden every year, I water it daily in season and I try my hardest to stay on top of the weeds, pulling a few every day. Just recently, I noticed a few leaves on each plant had some bites taken out. Looked like some little pest had a case of the munchies. Most of the herbs along with the green beans had fallen prey to aphids. The leaves had gaping holes in them and a few even looked like something had noshed off half.
The Greatest Value Ladybugs Bring To Your Garden
If these pests have made an appearance in your garden and have done a bit of damage to the leaves, then you need to buy some ladybugs. Ladybugs will eat all of those small garden bugs because that is their favorite meal.
Nosh! Nosh! Nosh!
Readily available at most local garden centers, they’re usually found near the register. Typically stored in a half pint container with wood chips, they’re worth their weight in gold. If none of your local garden centers carry them, you can purchase live ladybugs online. Ladybugs online FOUND HERE!
The Best Time To Set Ladybugs Free In The Garden
The best time to let the ladybugs loose in the garden is at night. Ladybugs don’t fly in the dark, so releasing them just after sunset ensures they’ll stay the night. In the morning, they’ll be hungry and start looking for some delicious plant pests to munch on. You could also try releasing them in small batches over a day or two.
Simply open the container and let them crawl and fly out.
Some will end up crawling up your arm or whatever, but simply brush them off and onto a leaf that has been infested by aphids.
Side note: I bought two containers of ladybugs. I released one container when I had some daylight simply so I could photograph. A lot (or most) flew away. I released the second after dark and they have been on garden aphid control ever since.
I let a few loose here and a few there, making sure that all of the problem areas were touched by ladybugs. I stood and watched and was fascinated at how quickly and efficiently they worked. Or rather, ate.
Now, time will tell. Based on the fact that the ladybugs went to work right away on the aphids will prove that my plants will continue to thrive and produce flowers and fruit.
This Is A Great Gardening Quick Tip!
It is a fact that ladybugs feast on aphids, so it’s worth the small fee to buy them and set them free in your garden(s). After all, these small bugs will help the hard work you have put into your garden, be prolific. Everything will end up paying off.
Of all of the gardening quick tips I have shared over the past 10 years, this one by far, is the best.
Lady Bug!
Lady Bug!
Fly away home.
To my garden!
And eat all of those aphids that are munching on the leaves.
Here is another great article on the benefits of ladybugs in your garden. Click HERE!
For more gardening quick tips and design inspiration, click HERE!