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Companion Plants

How to attract lady bugs

20 years ago

Does anyone have advice on attracting and keeping lady bugs in the vegtable garden? I hear they like to eat aphids.

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Comments (6)

aka_peggy
20 years ago
One of the easiest plants I know to grow for ladybugs is cilantro. It produces a nice flower that attracts the LB and it reseeds in the spring. Beneficial insects are often attracted to plants with tiny white flowers.

You can also overwinter a few carrots in your garden. In the 2nd year they produce a nice flower loved by many good bugs.

Here are some other ideas~

Here is a link that might be useful: Attracting ladybugs
jojose417
Original Author
20 years ago
Thanks for the tips!
JJ
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Small red bug with 3 black spots on back and wings, not lady bugs
Q
Comments (9)
It's definitely the bean beetle. This one above has more spots, but after seeing one spot turn to two, it might just be they get older and they get more spots. I've also gone at it with the squash bugs and they are a type of stink bug, they are armored and fairly large. I have only once seen a squash bug fly, didn't know they had wings, but I searched every squash bug, stink bug, I could find, so I am aware of the stink bug you are referring only by picture, none found in the yard yet. I didn't take a picture because I am fairly sure it's the been beetle, just don't know why they are dive bombing my tomatoes. Do they like cannas, lilies, or elephant ears? I hope not, the only bean I planted was nubbed down by a goold ole' rabbit/mole/deer/groundhog/squirrel. I have to say the rabbits are hiding better this year, unlike the groundhog and the squirrel. Well, anyways I found my culprit, it's definitely a red bean beetle, now just to find out what he's eating. I hope not my castor bean plant, isn't it poisonous to bugs too? They are only flying around the tomatoes and those flowers I mentioned above, plus the honeysuckle bush.
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"You know you're hooked when..." or "Heliopsis blues"
Q
Comments (6)
That is a funny story, David and represents very well how different the non gardener views the gardener. (g) I did want to say about the aphid/ladybug deal, that because I garden organically, I normally take the approach to let things work themselves out in the garden as often as I can, and when I see aphids, I automatically think, 'Oh good, I have a lure for ladybugs now.' :-) And that is exactly what happened in my garden. I rarely see an aphid and when I do, a week later, I don't see them any more. I was pretty excited to see lady bugs plural this year, interested in our Asparagus foliage. So I am hoping that this may be some sort of habitat for them. Of course, I have to have enough aphids to feed them, if that is how many they can eat in a day!
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Inundated with lady bugs
Q
Comments (15)
Clearly gardengal has never had Asian beetles in her house. In the last house we lived in, this time of year was miserable. In one room of the house, there were always thousands. Inside. I could literally vacuum up every stinking one and 5 minutes later there would be at least 50 new ones already. It was the most awful thing I had ever seen. That house was about 35 years old and was built of natural limestone. It had a working fireplace in the room. It had a west window where the sun shown in brightly. We worked and worked and worked to try to seal up every opening, but it was impossible. They came down the fireplace, around the windows, and seemed to literally come through the walls. The deluge stopped about December every year. We sold the house about 3 years ago. And I was just sitting here in my new house, watching a single Asian beetle trying to get into my screened in porch, and wondered how the new owners were dealing with that issue. I really thought they'd complain, but I haven't heard a thing. :)
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Lady Bugs have arrived.....
Q
Comments (8)
Debra, I have a lady bug house and the lady bugs won't use it. They do try to overwinter in our barn-style garage, our screened-in back porch (we cover the screening with greenhouse plastic in winter to turn it into more of a sunporch) and our laundry room (I vaccuum them up and relocate them back outside). I have found that lady bugs follow the food. They'll be in my garden as long as there are bugs to be found, but once they eat everything they like to eat, they move on. You can't keep them around in a mostly bug-free garden because that is un-natural. They have to follow their food supply. Some years we have enough pest-type bugs around in the pastures to keep some of the lady bugs around, but that has not proven to be true this year. So, when late-season pests, like spider mites, showed up, I didn't have lady bugs around to eat them. I guarantee you, though, that before the first frost they'll return to overwinter in their usual places. I'll have to have a little chat with them about why they abandoned our garden this summer and didn't come back in time to help with the mites. I could have bought and released more, but those usually are the Asian lady beetles and they do like to come inside the house and are a colossal nuisance because of that. I love the lady bugs and often have them all over the place, but this was apparently a bad lady bug year here. Dawn
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scarleta
16 years ago
I know I am late replying to this post, but in case someone wants to know how to : leave aphids alone they are great food for lady bugs larvae.Lady bugs will only put their larvae where there is plenty of food.So next time you see aphids on your plants leave those alone, don't be tempted to remove any.Soon lady bugs will find them.In few years you will have lots of lady bugs and they will stay with you if you don't spray and keep the aphids.When I see an aphids I just wait for lady bugs." if you built it they will come"
It works
vera_eastern_wa
16 years ago
These attract ladybugs and other aphid/pest predators to my garden:

Sweet Alyssum....allow some to grow among the veggies. They will perform all year thru a few hard frosts if lightly sheared.
Dandelion....allow some to bloom (but not set seed) around the perimeter.
Wild Mustard....
Statice
Dill
Caledula
Feverfew
Cosmo
Marigold
Chives

In fact I have my veggies planted where the the borders have a variety of flowering plants. They attract lots of different beneficials: parasitic (braconid) wasps, tachinid flies, hover flies, minute pirate bugs, damsel bugs and mantids. Mantids however are not discriminate and will eat all and everything...a few will do ya!

Hover flies as adults are pollinators, they lay their eggs near aphid colonies where the larvae feed on them for up to 2 weeks. A single larva can consume over 400 aphids!
ALSO if you ever see what looks like a empty aphid shell...it will look white...LEAVE IT BE! Inside that shell are braconid wasp larvae or tachinid fly larvae! The adults lay eggs not only in aphids but also hornworms and other cats, beetles, ect.

Happy gardening!

Vera
rebecca150
16 years ago
Also, butterfly weed and I have heard clover.

A shallow dish of water with a rock in it isn't a bad idea either. Provides a water source for all sorts of beneficial insects. Just keep it fresh of course!

I'm including a link with a list of some more flowers and info.

Happy Gardening.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ladybugs
jbclem
15 years ago
At the beginning of this thread, back in 2003, there is a link, in the 2nd message, named "attracting ladybugs". This link takes you to gardenguides.com and the article on "Luring ladybugs into your garden".

This is actually an article about ladybugs as pests. Did you know that your home can be invaded by ladybugs, one after another, until you have a ladybug infestation. But worry not, this article abounds with remedies. After you've screened all windows, fixed the cracks in the concrete foundation, caulked all holes...well if those volkswagen like pests keep breaking in, get out the vacuum cleaner and suck them up. And if that doesn't work, having a few birds flying around inside the house should take care of business, cause birds will eat the ladybugs...the ones that aren't bitter. And if that still doesn't work, and you're tired of counting the spots on the backs of these nasty creatures...all you need to do next is "spray the walls of your home with a long-lasting pesticide".

To recap, you buy a box of ladybugs to get rid of your aphids in an organic fashion. But the ladybugs turn around, as ladybugs are wont to do, and sneak into your house. You end up with birds flying around the room looking for ladybugs, and all the walls smeared with some incredibly toxic chemical. This was such a great solution that I couldn't not share it...

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