Anyone have success with ladybugs as pest control?

12 years ago

I have mealybugs on my birds of paradise which are in my screened pool area. I bought a pack of ladybugs, watered the plants and then let the ladybugs loose at the base of the plants (there are three very large BOP) at dusk. I had kept them in the fridge for the day before then. I did everything the ladybug-person told me to do.

Of course I expected to see a world of difference the next morning.

I did not because none of the ladybugs stayed around there. They all seem to be at the very tip top of the screen, huddled in blobs.

I guess they aren't hungry for my mealybugs. There are some holes/slits in my screen so they will be able to find their way out, but I was hoping they would fill up on my mealybugs before they left.

I hate to resort to a pesticide, I will give it some time and try something else.

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starryrider

12 years ago

ladybugs eat aphids not mealy bugs

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Comments (10)

julieyankfan
12 years ago
My dwarf powder puff bush is loaded with aphids and mealy bugs. The pest control store recommended Neem and malathion. I just used the Neem and it really worked on the aphids and helped with the mealy bugs. I waited a few days and washed the heck out of the plant and sprayed with Neem again. I also squashed the bugs as I was spraying.

I'll let you know how it works. I hate to have to use the malathion. The lady at the store said to use Neem for 3 weeks.

Julie
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julieyankfan
12 years ago
Several websites say that ladybugs do eat mealy bugs and most of them recommend neem or insecticidal soap.
tryinginfla9b
12 years ago
Ladybugs prefer aphids, but will eat mealy bugs.

I had a bad aphid problem about a month ago and let loose 1500 ladybugs. My peppers were covered with aphids and wilting. I can hardly find an aphid now and there are ladybugs still living in my garden. My peppers are huge and healthy even with the incredible heat and humidity.

If they are not eating your mealybugs I agree use neem or insecticidal soap.
Arianna's Organic Exotics
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I must say, I just put a ladybug down in front of a mealybug on my pepper plant, and watched it just walk away. Then round in a circle, came back and again missed the mealybug which was slow as a turtle but still managed to escape- LOL. I doubt most ladybugs eat mealybugs very quickly.
(Jay/Jax FL/Zone 9a)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I'd be careful buying ladybugs, the species for sale are almost always an invasive chinese species (Harmonia axyridis) which is very variable in form but always has an "M" shape on back of the head. This ladybug is more generalist and often eats aphids. If your yard provides habitat + food for predatory bugs they will come generally, so long as it isn't an invasive species then there might not be any predators. Bought generalist ladybugs often just leave the area and contribute even more to invading habitats of native ladybugs.

There is also Cryptolaemus montrouzier, a more specific eater of mealybugs, which UF reccommends as a biological control for mealybugs but because they require so much prey to survive, they alone cannot completely remove them. Kinda like how a wolf doesn't kill all the elk, there's a balance.

Mealybug we tend to see iirc are also invasive. I have a bad infestation this year that I've never seen before and I think it's the new invasive species "pink hibiscus mealybug'. I'm trying to kill all eggs and females (males are harder since they like flies) but it's difficult and I can't spray because I butterfly garden (and generally find pesticides only worsen pests in the longterm) also i do not believe there are any pesticides approved for them so do not bother.
Orlando Diaz
6 years ago
I just tried ladybugs for the first time last week. I released 1500 of them during a cloudy day shortly after a rain shower. I have aphids, mealy bugs, caterpillars and white flies I think. Many of the lady bugs I released at the plants bases got ransacked by ants. Many escaped and climbed up the plants. Next day I saw very few, and fewer everyday after. I haven't seen any more. I guess it was a bust for me.

My peepers plants have aphids and may have white flies too. My papaya trees, lantanas and pentas have mealybugs. My citrus has leaf miners. My tomatoes and bananas often have caterpillars. A smorgasbord of pests. I spray neem oil occasionally with limited success and use BT for the caterpillars.
George
2 years ago
I released ladybugs on houseplants (LOL…) after buying a bag on Amazon. They ate the mealy bugs and eventually died off themselves. Unfortunately two months later I am noticing more mealy bugs
four (9B near 9A)
2 years ago
MANY times I have placed a random ladybug at a mass of aphids on a milkweed. Every time the lady bug did one of three things : run through the aphids to plant tip; or detour up an adjacent leaf; or sit then fly off.

Purchased ladybugs: Released, they soon departed, no observable benefit. At least twice I tented maybe 30 around an aphid infested milkweed stem. Next day aphid volume unchanged. Mixed results in days following. My thoughts are that the included food: 1) trains the ladybugs to want that food, not aphids; and/or 2) satiates them, such that they want no food for a long time after release.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
2 years ago
Asian lady beetles ate my butterfly weed and I hear they eat lady bug larvae.

Anyone have success with ladybugs as pest control?

starryrider

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julieyankfan

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