zxcvbob wrote:

EV wrote:
" wrote:


EV in :


Their children and grandchildren have been controlling the aphids, not
just on the fruit trees and the roses, but in most of the garden as
well.

yes, keep them hungry and they'll eat anything.
but keep them away from those cherries when close to rpiening, or they'll
leave you none.

:-)


Lady beetles are carnivorous. They prefer soft bodied insects such as
aphids, but will also eat other bugs, including their own kind. I've
documented them in the larval stage cannibalizing one another. Ladybugs
don't eat fruit or vegetation of any kind ... and that's a good thing.

EV



You're describing the old European lady beetles we all know and love.
The imported Asian lady beetles certainly eat fruit. I've seen them by
the hundreds in my apples; I don't think they will attack a perfect
apple, but once yellow jackets or birds or something make a little hole
in the apple, the ladybugs go after it. They enlarge the hole, which
then attracts more ladybugs.

Interesting. I hadn't heard of this. But I did find some puzzling evidence on
my plums. The first time I saw them years ago, I thought they were ladybugs
that had somehow died just before becoming fully formed adults. I thought they
were must resting on the fruit to morph and had died. Then, when everyone
brought up plum curculios as a big probelm on plums, I checked some sites to
see what they looked like, and though my bugs don't look like the adult PC, I
thought they might be a pre-adult stage not shown. Now I'm wondering again.

They are a big problem for grape growers because when they get inside
the grapes, they stink up the juice when the grapes are crushed and they
can easily ruin the wine. At least with a ladybug infested apple, you
can see them.

The stupid thing is that the asian ladybugs were imported as beneficials in
vast numbers. Now, thanks to them, native ladybugs have been extirpated almost
everywhere the asian has been introduced.

Good intention, very bad idea. I get the chills whenever I hear about another
insect they want to release to combat some alien that was accidentally imported
and has no natural enemies. Importing alien bugs to battle alien bugs or plants
is a dumb idea at best.

New studies show that the main advantage that alien imports (insects, mollusks
and plants) have is that their usual parasites don't exist here. Whereas they
may be preyed upon by a dozen parasites on their home turf, here there are just
a few at most.


BTW, they also bite people.

This I know! :-D The first few times I transported ladybug larvae to the rose
buffet by hand, the little buggers bit me. I transported them in plastic cups
after that. They're now everywhere so I don't have to move them around. I
didn't introduce them here. They were very well established when I moved here.

EV