Ladybugs for controlling pests in your garden are the most popular and widely used beneficial insects for commercial and home use. Ladybugs can consume up to 50 to 60 aphids. An aphid is a minute bug that feeds by sacking sap from plants that reproduces rapidly, often producing live young without mating. Ladybugs can consume this amount per day and will also eat a variety of other insects and larvae including scales, mealy bugs, leaf hoppers, mites, and various types of soft-bodied insects. They are also called lady beetles or ladybird beetles, are a very beneficial group of insects. Ladybugs are natural enemies of many insect pests and it has been demonstrated that a single ladybug may consume as many as 5,000 aphids in its lifetime.

Within a year, there can be as many as 5-6 generations of ladybugs as the average time from egg to adult only takes about 3-4 weeks. In the spring, adults find food and then the females lay anywhere from 50-300 eggs. The tiny eggs are yellow & oval shaped and are usually found in clusters of 10-50, near aphid colonies. The eggs take 3-5 days to hatch and the larvae voraciously feed on aphids for 2-3 weeks before they pupate into adults.

Apart from aphids, they also require a source of pollen for food and are attracted to specific types of plants. The most popular ones have umbrella shaped flowers such as fennel, dill, cilantro, caraway, angelica, tansy, wild carrot & yarrow. Other plants that also attract ladybugs include cosmos (especially the white ones), coreopsis, and scented geraniums, dandelions.

You can buy ladybugs. It is best to order fresh healthy ladybugs and have them delivered directly to you from a reliable source.

We at Southern Pest Control hope you enjoyed reading this information. Unlike Ladybugs you will encounter many unwanted pests in the Spring. We at Southern Pest Control can eliminate unwanted pest problems at an affordable rate. We have been serving the Gulf Coast Region for over 37 years. Please visit our website at www.southernpestcontrol.biz to learn more about us and meet our team of trained professionals.