On Fri, 16 May 2008 12:33:15 -0500, Katey Didd wrote:

"Sam" wrote in message
news:a8656453-77e6-4ea0-a5d8-
...
I would like some ladybugs for my SMALL garden. 9foot by 5 foot. I
have ants, so I assume aphids. Where is the best place online to by a
small qty of them.

Any tips for keeping them around?

Don't waste your money. They will leave your garden in hours.

Not true. If they have a supply of food, and you mist your plants with
water before releasing them in the evening, they will hang out. Then if
any of them are fertile they will lay eggs. You want them to lay eggs.
After you find some eggs, protect them. When the larvae hatch, move
them, by picking a leaf they are on, and put the leaf on a plant with
problems. The larvae are what I like to have around. They start off
very small, and grow bigger and bigger each day. If you have a plant
like fennel, that is wispy, it makes a great lady bug factory. The
larvae are easy to find, little dark specks on the thin green leaves.
And if you mist it, it holds lots of tiny droplets of water. Once you
discover what the larvae and the eggs look like, and learn to protect
them, you will never be without lady bugs. Oh, one more thing, don't put
any pesticide on your plants or your lady bugs will die. Also let your
factory plant have aphids.

You can also move a leaf with egg clusters, but I find that letting them
hatch first and moving the larvae works better.

I have a very small scale garden, but I think it would work the same, if
you have time and a bigger space.

Now if I could figure out how to make the decollate snails stay.

stonerfish