In article ,
"Katey Didd" wrote:

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

This sounds workable in a small garden but ours are/were large. The ladybugs
my ex-husband bought didn't read the book. In two days we didn't see any
left in the garden. I'm sure there were a few but we had to resort to a
chemical spray.

Chemical spray will deter all kinds of predatory insects. While I do
use sevin when I absolutely have to, (it biodegrades rapidly so seems to
have minimal impact on my spiders, assassin bugs and ladybird beetles),
I try to minimize that as much as possible.

Placing some birdhouse gourd nesting houses for house wrens, keeping
some areas (for reptilian and amphibian predators) damp in the yard,
rocky areas where they can hide, and jealously guarding my spiders does
a lot for me. I'm also getting a healthy population of Anole lizards
and fence lizards. :-)

I don't have a lot of extra geckos right now like I've had in the past,
or I'd offer to mail you some. g It's getting to be a bit hot now
tho' to ship live lizards.

See if you can get your hands on some toad tadpoles. Raise them up in
an outdoor temporary pond. I keep finding the cuties in unexpected
places!

I'm still going to have to use BT tho' for brassicas and my passion
vines, but that won't kill predatory insects. It only works on larval
forms of pests.
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people
until they put their foot down." -- Stephan Rothstein