Guidance To Your Perfect Living Space

First, this bug has many names. Some of it’s names are: Lady Bugs, Lady Beetle, Asiatic lady beetle, Asian Lady Beetle, Asian Lady Bugs, Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle.

Worldwide there are nearly 5,000 different kinds of ladybugs of which 400 are found in North America. The Convergent Lady Beetle is the most common beneficial species of Ladybird beetle in North America.

The life cycle of all Lady Bugs are mainly the same. The eggs are laid in the spring. When they hatch the larvae will feed for a couple of weeks and then pupate into adults. During the winter they will hibernate or will have died in the fall. Springtime they awake to feed and lay more eggs again.

As a form of biological pest control Lady Bugs are widely used and are the best known. Besides eating their favorite food aphids they also eat mites, scales, white fly, mealybugs and most other soft insects. They are known to eat cabbage moths, boll worms, tomato horn worms and broccoli worms. These bugs will eat up to 1,000 aphids in it’s lifetime in both their larvae and adult stages.

The most common complaint against the Lady Bug is that when they are released they will fly off and let the aphids have their feast with your roses and tomato plants. But really only a part of your release will venture off, the rest will eat all the aphids they can find and then maybe fly off.

-There are a couple of tricks you can do to keep your Ladybugs-

1. Only release the ladybugs in the evening since they are not known to fly at night when it is cooler.

2. Take a can of soda and mix it with equal amounts of water and spray on the Lady Bugs just before you release them. The sugar will make the wings sticky for just a couple days so they will hang around at least for awhile and eat the pests. Since Lady Beetles claim certain areas home they will stay in your yard and make it their home and the females will start laying eggs in and around your garden.

-What about Lady Beetles in the house-

We are glad to have these beetles hang around and control the pests just like mother nature intended.If they stay at your place over winter they will look for a nice cozy place to stay and that is where your home comes into the picture.

These bugs don’t seem to have any logic to picking a house they just have found yours and they like it there. In the yard and garden they were welcome guests, in your home not so welcome. What we want to do is ask the lady bugs to leave. They don’t speak our language. Read the rest of this entry »

Greenhouses provide a warm, humid atmosphere and are home to a variety of different plants and flowers which is why they are a perfect target for insects. There are numerous types of insects which will want to live in your greenhouse and feed off of the wonderful plants and flowers which you have put so much time and effort into maintaining. The information below will provide you with tips and guidelines to follow in order to ensure you are doing everything in your power to ward off any unwanted pests.

The first step in learning how to prevent and eliminate insects from entering into your greenhouse is to understand and become familiar with the types of insects which are likely to reside there. The following is a list of the most common types of insects which you will likely find in your greenhouse:

Aphids, Fungus Gnats, Flies (many forms), Bloodworms, Thrips, Caterpillars ,Mites,  Slugs and Snail.

Now that you are aware of the different types of bugs and insects which may have taken up residence in your greenhouse, it’s time to learn how to prevent and/or eliminate them from remaining there.

Here are a number of things to keep in mind in order to ensure there are no bugs in your greenhouse:

1. Always keep all doors, screens and windows shut when not being used for specific purposes.

2. Inspect all new plants to ensure there are no bugs on them to begin with. Bugs have the ability to multiply quickly and can potentially cause a huge infestation in your greenhouse.

3. Make sure there is no water lying around whether it is in jugs, cups or in a puddle on the floor. Insects are attracted to wet areas. Read the rest of this entry »