"Mentalguy2k8" wrote in message
news:%yQdo.35297$Sr7.19103@hurricane...
Been talked into buying a ladybird house and some larvae or adults, but
should I wait until spring?

I can't see how they're not just going to bugger off 5 minutes after I've
put them in the garden, but I've promised now...

Anyone have experience of this kind of setup? Any tips for feeding, etc?

No need to buy. Round here they work in shifts. During the winter the
house fills up with Harlequin ladybirds, and in the spring they have to be
let out by the hundred. Then they swarm outside over everything, mating in
numerous colour and spot variations. They don't seem to help much with the
honeydew which drips off the overhanging sycamore trees though, and turns
the cars black.

Then in the middle of the summer, as recently, there is a huge glut of 7
spot ladybirds, which cover everything in the same way as the Harlequins
before them. These do seem to eat the aphids, and the cars are now all
clean.

Then in the autumn, the Harlequin shift comes back, and often so does the
honeydew. Then they hide everywhere in the house till spring. Have no idea
how they know when it is spring as the central heating and house lights must
mask any signs of the seasons outside.

S