Google Search: ladybugs eat aphids
New livestock here on the farm: they cost me $.006 a head.
We noticed some aphids on the roses and after last year’s onslaught — gallons on honeydew on everything, rosebuds that seemed to move, they were so infested — we’re taking action early. Ladybugs love to eat aphids, so I bought 1,500 of ’em today (no, I didn’t count them) and turned them loose this evening. Within two weeks, I’ll have freshly hatched, ravenous pest controllers on the job.
I may also get some lacewings, since they eat a wider variety of enemies: sounds good to me.
I prefer organic solutions to these problems, for a variety of reasons. First of all, with young kids, spraying noxious chemicals over everything doesn’t make a lot of sense. Also, on that note, I’d like them to learn that there’s almost always more than one solution to a problem: pick the best, not necessarily the easiest or more expedient. In this case, will the aphid population be zeroed out? No, but it will be brought back in line by introducing their natural predator. Third, there’s something appealing about using the power of nature — in this case, the breeding cycle of ladybugs — to manage some aspect of nature.
In a few days, the walls where I scattered my new friends will be encrusted with larval cases: a sweet sight.