We have a few that live here. The ladybug is common. Ant lions like
it near our house on the south side where they lie in wait for ants to
tumble in to their large jaws. They then turn into Green Lacewings and
travel about munching insects in time.
I used to gather praying mantis cases at a nearby large field but it
now has houses and a large lawn. Just ordered two cases don't ask how
much (
Bill

--
Bill Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA
http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending
http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/voicesfromafghanistan/Pages/Default.aspx

On 3/18/10 8:57 AM, Bill who putters wrote:
We have a few that live here. The ladybug is common. Ant lions like
it near our house on the south side where they lie in wait for ants to
tumble in to their large jaws. They then turn into Green Lacewings and
travel about munching insects in time.
I used to gather praying mantis cases at a nearby large field but it
now has houses and a large lawn. Just ordered two cases don't ask how
much (
Bill


With one exception, I don't artificially introduce beneficial insects.
After paying for them, too often they fly away to my neighbors. I do
see swarms of lady bugs arrive naturally, often before I even notice
aphids.

The one exception is that I set out carnivorous decollate snails, which
eat the eggs and young of brown snails. These are legal only in certain
areas (fortunately including where I live). See
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r107500111.html.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

Bill who putters wrote:
We have a few that live here. The ladybug is common.

Not all ladybugs are beneficial. Some are carnivores and hunt insects.
Some are herbivores and hunt plants you might want to keep. It pays to know
the species that are found in your area and deal with them accordingly.

David

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

Bill who putters wrote:
We have a few that live here. The ladybug is common.

Not all ladybugs are beneficial. Some are carnivores and hunt insects.
Some are herbivores and hunt plants you might want to keep. It pays to know
the species that are found in your area and deal with them accordingly.

David

I heard something about this some where. Seems some NEW lady bugs are
not desirable .

Id hazard a guess it is the Asian lady bugs.

http://www.google.com/search?client=...s&ie=UTF-8&oe=
UTF-8
Read about your snail killers but wonder why not permitted in some
locals.

All mine are locals that I try to protect. The purchase of Mantis new
to me but the locals seem to have died out due to habitat loss. They
seem to like what I'd call good pheasant cover. Weeds about 2 to 3 foot
high.

--
Bill Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA
http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending
http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/voicesfromafghanistan/Pages/Default.aspx

Bill who putters wrote:
In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

Bill who putters wrote:
We have a few that live here. The ladybug is common.

Not all ladybugs are beneficial. Some are carnivores and hunt
insects. Some are herbivores and hunt plants you might want to keep.
It pays to know the species that are found in your area and deal
with them accordingly.

David

I heard something about this some where. Seems some NEW lady bugs are
not desirable .

Id hazard a guess it is the Asian lady bugs.

http://www.google.com/search?client=...s&ie=UTF-8&oe=
UTF-8
Read about your snail killers but wonder why not permitted in some
locals.

All mine are locals that I try to protect. The purchase of Mantis
new to me but the locals seem to have died out due to habitat loss.
They seem to like what I'd call good pheasant cover. Weeds about 2
to 3 foot high.

The one I was thinking of is the 28 spot ladybird:

http://www.ozanimals.com/Insect/Twen...opunctata.html

Although there are some similar species of the same genus that eat plants.

Possibly it is not found in North America and Europe, one reference suggests
the range is India, Pakistan, China, Japan, SE Asia and Oceania.

David

On Mar 18, 10:57*am, Bill who putters wrote:
* We have a few that live here. *The ladybug is common. Ant lions like
it near our house on the south side where they lie in wait for ants to
tumble in to their large jaws. They then turn into Green Lacewings and
travel about munching insects in time.

It's "aphid lions" that turn into green lacewings. The young eat lots
of aphids, and so do the adults of some species. Ant lions are in
the same order but a different family.

Ant lions: http://bugguide.net/node/view/137

Green lacewings: http://bugguide.net/node/view/140

*I used to gather praying mantis cases at a nearby large field but it
now has houses and a large lawn. *Just ordered two cases don't ask how
much (

I won't, especially because according to Eaton and Kaufman in the
Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America, the benefits of
mantises are questionable, since they eat beneficial insects as well
as destructive ones.

By the way, Eaton and Kaufman say you shouldn't do anything about
aphids unless they're obviously doing damage, since they attract adult
wasps and flies whose larvae parasitize other insects that do more
damage.

I don't spray anything--I don't want the sprays around, and I like
having a varied insect ecology in my yard. Fewer grasshoppers would
be nice, but since I'm next to a big vacant lot, there's not much I
can do.

--
Jerry Friedman