How to Release Ladybugs Into a Garden

Ladybugs may be one of the friendliest-looking insects out there…unless you are an aphid. Ladybugs and their black- and red-striped larvae have a voracious appetite for aphids—tiny, soft-bodied insects that literally suck the life out of plants by feeding on plant sap. Adult ladybugs, or lady beetles as they are also called, eat several hundred aphids per day and the larvae consume up to 300 daily! Aphids love to feed on succulent, tender new growth and often attack roses, nasturtiums and peppers. Many gardeners purchase live lady beetles to help take care of their aphid problems, but it’s important to release the beetles carefully, or they may not stick around in your garden. Here are some suggestions.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Live ladybugs

1. Packages of live lady beetles are commonly available at well-stocked nurseries and by mail order. Typically, the beetles are packed in a mesh or cotton bag filled with wood shavings and they come refrigerated, which slows down their biological processes. The insects can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, but they will suffer lower mortality rates if you release them within a few days of purchase.
2. When you bring your lady beetles home, control the impulse to dump the whole package out into your garden. The beetles have been packed closely together and their first impulse will be to get away from each other. So keep the package in your fridge (be sure to warn your family that there are live insects in there) and plan to release the beetles in stages over four or five days.
3. Increase the probability of the beetles staying put in your garden by releasing about one quarter of the package each day at dusk. Spread the beetles around your garden so they don’t feel the urge to fly away from each other. Make sure to place them near plants suffering from an aphid problem so they do not have to search far for a food source.
4. Create a healthy habitat for the lady beetles that you released, and other beneficial insects that call your yard home, by refraining from spraying pesticides, including organic pesticides that contain pyrethrums or rotenone, because these products are broad spectrum, which means they kill both pests and the beneficial insects that naturally prey on these pests.

Tips & Warnings

• If you release ladybugs and the majority of them fly off, don’t worry. This signals that you have a healthy garden with a balanced ecosystem that takes care of pest problems on its own.