THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE LADY BUG

Here at Buy Lady Bugs I try to bring informative posts to you so that you can come to love these beneficial bugs.  This Post is about the life cycle of the ladybug.

The Lady bug goes through four stages in it's lifetime. The first three happen quickly, usually in two to four weeks, before it enters the easily recognizable red/orange adult spotted bug we all know and which can live 1-2 years.

The first stage is the egg stage.  When there is a lot of food available, ladybugs will lay their eggs in close proximity to ensure that the larvae will have food close by to get started when they hatch. They usually will try to lay their eggs on the underside of leaves, to protect and hide them from predators and the weather. A female lady bug will lay as few as 3 and as many as 1000 eggs at a time. Their eggs are usually a yellowish-orange color. Ladybug eggs generally hatch in 5-10 days.

The next stage is the larvae stage.  When they first hatch from their eggs they are often all black and somewhat triangular shaped, and as they molt they have some red/orange on them and will look like little dragons or alligators. They eat the same bugs that the adult lady bugs eat. (aphids, white flies, mealy bugs, spider mites, scale bugs, etc.)  In a very short time, depending on the food supply, they will begin to molt.  Usually in 1-3 days. If you look very closely at the leaves you may be able to see their shed skins.

The next stage of the lady bugs life is the Pupa stage.  Generally if food is available, the larva will continue to grow and shed it's skin for 9-15 days.  Then the larva's looks will begin to change. It will change color and shape. It will start to resemble a small yellowish sack with a black foot holding it to the leaf.  Over the next few days, the sack,which is called a nymph, will change shape and color as it goes through it's metamorphosis, (like the caterpillar becoming the butterfly). 

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Then in approximately 5 days, when it breaks free of the nymph,, it comes out a light shade of pink or orange and will gain pigment and spots. Over the next 24 hours it continues to darken and harden until it becomes the ladybug we all know..bright red or orange and spotted.

  

I hope that you found this interesting and informative.  I hope it inspires you to try ladybugs instead of pesticides in your garden this year.  To get started, simply click on the carousel at the top of this page and

buy  lady bugs now.

WHAT'S SO WONDERFUL WHEN YOU BUY LADYBUGS?

What's so wonderful when you buy ladybugs is that you can order them through the mail. Yes, you can buy ladybugs and have them sent right to your home.  

An entire army of ladybugs to take on the pests (bad bugs) in your garden.   They love soft bodied insects, particularly aphids and scale insects.  So any small, soft bodied insects are what the ladybugs see as a treat and love to munch on.

You want to keep in mind that if you spray pesticides in your garden you will not only kill the "bad" bugs, you will kill the "good" beneficial insects (like honey bees,lace wings, praying mantis') as well.  Also do your really want pesticides on your fruits and veggies??


It is usually when I first see any aphids on my roses, herbs, veggie plants or fruit trees that I buy ladybugs.  They usually arrive in a week.  I place them straight into my refrigerator.  Since I generally release my ladybugs after dark, I  take them out of the refrigerator about an hour before dark and sprinkle them with water.  Then at dusk I go out and leaf water the plants and trees I plan to release them onto. Since the ladybugs have been in 'hibernation' they are usually very thirsty and will find the water drops on the leaves.  This refreshes them and they will be ready at first light to get busy eating all those pesky "bad" bugs.

I have attached a video of a ladybug release, they are releasing them in the daytime, and it doesn't look like they watered the whole garden areas where they are releasing them....this does show that there is no wrong way to do this!  Whether you refrigerate them or not, pre-water your leaves or not, the ladybugs will find their food, and will help to rid your garden of "bad" bugs.


So whether you are a farmer, a home owner, or a container gardener ladybug releases can be fun for the whole family.


To order yours now, click on the carousel at the top of this blog page and get started.

WHEN I BUY LADY BUGS WILL THEY BITE?

I have been using ladybugs to keep my gardens pest free for many years and do not ever remember being bitten by one.  However, it is documented that they do bite. Apparently they love salt and if your skin is salty they will see you as a source.  

When releasing my ladybugs, after I have  rain-watered my plants  I gently let the ladybugs out of the bag or container directly onto the roses, tomatoes, herbs, berries, my fruit trees or whatever plant I see scale or aphids on. I don't usually handle them. I have occasionally had two or three fly up and land on me and have gently moved them off of me and back onto a plant that has their food source.

I do know that when a ladybug feels threatened an alkaloid toxin is secreted through the joints of their legs. This toxin has a noxious odor and apparently also has a nasty taste which discourages predators and will leave stains on cloth.  But as I said I really don't  handle them much.

They hang around until they have depleted their food source, and then fly away in an ever widening circle to clean the gardens of my neighbors.  I have neighbors who have commented to me that its been a few years since they had to use pesticides...but they say they would again because "see how many years it lasts?"  I just smile and watch the ladybugs crawling around on that neighbors prized roses.

The best reason I have to to use and buy ladybugs they is to help protect the environment. They also are a pretty addition to my little garden. I can say that when I harvest my veggies, I grow tomatoes, herbs, potatoes and have fruit trees, that I am glad that I am eating pesticide free produce.

Here is a video of a ladybug release, this gal uses her hands and is releasing them in the daytime but it will give you the idea...also if their bites hurt I doubt  they would be giving them to children.  I also think it shows there is no real wrong way to release them.  I usually just follow whatever instructions come with them.

HERE ARE SOME LADYBUG FACTS

Here at Buy LadyBugs  I will try to bring in some factual information, this is straight out of wiki-pedia with a video from YouTube.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Coleoptera

Suborder: Polyphaga

Family: Coccinellidae

Genus: Coccinella

Species: Coccinella septempunctata

Ladybug (or Ladybird)

Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology | 2001 | Copyright

Ladybug (or Ladybird)

Popular name of the colorful red-spotted beetle of the family Coccinellidae of the order Coleoptera. It is the subject of many folklore superstitions. It brings children, warns of danger, forecasts length of life by the number of its spots, or warns of death. In British and European folklore, the ladybird was captured by a young woman and bidden to fly "north, south, or east, or west" in the direction in which her lover lived. Whichever way the insect flew, there dwelled her future husband. A well-known children's rhyme is: "Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, your house is on fire, and your children all roam."

"Ladybug (or Ladybird)." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 20 Jun. 2011 

BUY LADYBUGS AND BE GLAD TO SEE THEM FLY AWAY

So after you buy your ladybugs and release them...now what?  One of the great things about using ladybugs is that once their food source is gone they will move away to find more. This basically means that when you address your own pest problems you will ultimately be helping out your neighbors and neighborhood. Think of dropping a rock in a pond, how the ripples spread out in ever widening circles.

This is where you doing your part to change the planet comes in.  Because if you have aphids your neighbors probably do or will have them soon.  As soon as your ladybugs have eaten all your aphids and their eggs, they will seek out the next closest food source...probably your neighbor and then their neighbor and their neighbor and so on.

Think of this, you now have taken care of your own infestation and set in motion an ever widening, systematic clearing ripple of pest control in your own corner of the world.  Because you cared enough to buy ladybugs, and opted for a natural solution to your infestation, you also have cleared your neighbors infestation, and their neighbors etc., etc. This means that your neighbor, who may believe in pesticide use, won't have an infestation thereby won't have a need to purchase or use pesticides/poisons. This is why when you see your ladybugs fly away you will be smiling.

Hooray for mother earth!  You did it, you made the choice to buy ladybugs and have now set in motion a small action to prevent the use of  toxins and convert your neighborhood to a more organic approach to gardening.  Make you feel good? Then click on the carousel link at the top of this page and get started now, buy ladybugs and start improving your corner of this world.

WHY BUY LADYBUGS?

Whether you are a veteran gardener or this is your first tomato season, grow veggies or other plants, grow indoors or outdoors, why would you ever want to use poisons/pesticides on your plants? Some good reasons to buy ladybugs are, but not limited to: allergies, children, pets, not wanting poisons on your veggies or on the plants in your home/garden.

As I said in my profile, I like to make choices which are good for our planet. It makes me feel good about myself.  Since the majority of my gardening is veggies in planters, burlap bags and in pots, and many of them  are indoors, I am perhaps more aware of not using pesticides/poisons.

The best solution I have found are believe it or not, is to buy ladybugs.  I  first tried ladybugs about 30 years ago, when my rose garden was being eaten alive by aphids.  My roses were planted in a courtyard outside windows and doors to bedrooms, our living room and our kitchen.  After trying liquid sprays and powders which coincided with foul odors and headaches I came across an ad in the Mother Earth News about buying Ladybugs and decided to try some. Needless to say I became a convert and have been using Ladybugs for pest control ever since.


If you have never used them, or just haven't used them in awhile, try them, they are effective, cute, educational for kids, safe for kids, pets, and won't poison your veggies.