Embrace Your INNER APE - dealing with APHIDS >> got ladybugs

[applestar]

By the way, I noticed heavy aphid infestation on the inner leaves of pak choi I planted outside in the patio windowboxes, so I reached to squish them with my fingers and was frustrated by the narrow leaf rosette interior where my finger wouldn't fit. I was looking closer and wondering if I should get some kind of a tool when I realized many of the aphids are already getting bloated due to Aphid Mummy Maker wasp predation.

Love my GARDEN PATROL !!

[applestar]

I think I'm going to wrap up this thread since the indoor plants are starting their annual migration to the great outdoor vacationland.

Today, I spotted two ladybug larvae and a pupa on the tomato seedlings that are already outside and a seedling that is in the garage V8 Nursery. So some of them have been successfully breeding.

Fortunately, in addition to the protein food that came with the ladybugs, each of the growing areas in the house had some kind of flowers blooming:
1) Mexican mint marigold, tomatoes and peppers, lemon and (orchid and chenille plant but I don't know if that counts)
2) overwintered bolted lettuce and arugula
3) early planting of cumin that bolted, zebra plant flower stalk, peppers, eggplant, Mexican mint marigold
4) geranium
5) peppers, poinsettia, "thanksgiving" cactus that blooms sporadically through winter...
Maybe that helped?

I'm definitely doing this again -- order 1500 or so around mid-late January, keep in fridge and dole them out, try to have beneficial insect attracting flowers and other pollen rich blooms open to encourage mating and egg laying.

[applestar]

I'm resurrecting this thread for the 2014-15 Winter

My Winter Indoor Tomatoes and Overwintered Peppers that were not left in the garage to go dormant but were brought inside to finish maturing their fruits started to be seriously affected by TRM (tomato russet mites)*, possibly two spotted mites, and aphids (on peppers in particular as usual). So I decided to take advantage of a lull in the December weather to order ladybugs and, this time, greenlacewing (GLW) eggs.

First time with GLWs so this will be a learning experience -- atm I'm waiting to see this very small portion start to hatch....

The hibernating Ladybugs were looking dead in their net bag as usual, but the first wave I distributed among the plants woke up and got busy right away.

...can you see the shadows inside the folded pepper leaves where more ladybugs are congregating? That's where the worst infestation of aphids are. Very difficult to hand pick because the new leaves are delicate and easily bruised by rough handling and susceptible to burning from even milder soap solutions.

I'm keeping the rest of them in the cold garage in stasis and bringing them out (well, IN actually) as needed, though my understanding is that it won't be possible to keep the GLW in storage too long.

-------
* Subject: 2014-15 Who's growing Winter Indoor Tomatoes this year?

Now, HERE is a sad photo of the Maglia Rosa in the KFC bucket. It has mostly succumbed to the TRM attack.

[applestar]

Yesterday, I took an inventory of currently blooming and soon/eventually to blossom plants in the indoor garden, one or more of which can hopefully supply pollen needed to sustain the adult stage of these insects.

- tomato
- fuchsia
- orchid
- pepper
- jasmine
- basil
- avocado
- Meyer lemon
- cucumber
- peas
- lettuce (starting to elongate... Hopefully bolting)
- firetail chenille (do they produce pollen?)

...unfortunately none of them are umbelliferous which I always thought of as the beneficial insect attractants/feeders. So in case this might be needed, I scattered some cilantro seeds in some if the pots. If it gets warm enough in some of the plant areas, hopefully, they will bolt. (Hmmm.... I just thought of another area that might tend to be warmer... I think I'll sow some more there )

[digitS']

AppleStar, are you living with these critters, indoors?! I mean, these are your indoor garden plants that you are trying to protect, right?

I can understand why enhanced security may be needed.



Steve
Guard your Garden

[applestar]

LOVE the funny, DigitS -- where did you ever find it?

Well, I don't believe in fumigating my house with poisons, so some bugs do wander in. Nothing horrid like roaches -- I've had my share of those when I lived in apartments in my youth -- but the usual suspects like ants, rarely silverfish, etc. Spiders have their place, and creepy as they are, house centipedes are tolerated when they venture out in the open which might be maybe three times a year. Most of the fruit-fly invasion originate from inadequately inspected supermarket produce. Stinkbugs almost always find their way in to stay warm in the winter... And in the summer time, mosquitoes, flies, and moths sneak in when the doors are opened. We have cats, and, I hate to admit it but, even though they are indoor cats, they still somehow get fleas....

On the other hand, in the summer time, we also BRING IN butterfly caterpillars.., mostly Monarchs but other species, too. If you've been around Helpful Gardener Forums for a while, you've seen me happily describing raising over 100 butterflies.

Plants in the house inevitably means pests like aphids, fungus gnats, scale insects, mites, and occasionally whiteflies. I don't "sanitize" the plants before bringing them in either, so there are any number of soil denizens in the pots, too. But they stay IN the soil for the most part except for the fungus gnats -- oh and occasional crane fly hatchlings (which are greedily hunted down by the kitties ).

So ... Personally, I see nothing wrong or weird in releasing good bugs that help out and are not inclined to bite you, buzz around you or around your bedside lamp at night, or land on your food. Besides, they are a better solution for my sanity's sake, and my time is better spent taking care of other aspects of indoor gardening.

[applestar]

I dug up and potted a nice celery before the freeze and am keeping it on the cooler floor level in the family room along with a rosemary, an overwintering (semi-dormant) Donkey pepper, a citrus, and a few other plants. (a.k.a. "Cool Gang") There's a massive aphid infestation going on in the celery so I poured a good dozen or so ladybugs in the dense foliage and closely standing stalks, and they are hard at work.

I brought a couple of orchids that are starting to bloom from their bloom-coaxing area ("Winter Paradise") to the display area in the family room ("Winter Wonderland"). They tend to get attacked by scale insects in the flowers that are difficult to treat, but I noticed that the ladybugs moved in to patrol the flowers even before I needed to do anything --

[Susan W]

I have to ask why don't you soap/water spray the plants before bringing in? Just a light spray, clean off dead leaves and stuff etc. Cleaning up doesn't get rid of everything, but gets a few things out of the way.
As you have plant areas, I can understand more crawly things finding all-you-can-eat buffet tables (plants) and nice temps. As for me, most of my living, plant start and weaving is stuffed into 1200 sq ft, so not much [extra] space! I have brought chives pots in Feb to get a good start for early spring picking. A couple had aphid hatches from H...L. When I saw I was losing without chemical warfare, just trash baggied the plants/dirt.

Ah, the joys of living with plants!

[applestar]

I spray-wash the foliage with water and brush dirt off the outside of the pots before bringing in, but I want to see if preserving the micro- and some if the macro-organisms on the phytosphere (both phyllo -leaves- and rhizo -roots- ) can actually be beneficial. So far, the main problem I have wondered about is the difficulty in maintaining a sustaining micro-foodweb and circle in a small given space -- much like it's harder to maintain a small aquarium than a larger one. I try to compensate by watering with aerated compost, some fertilizer, but mostly UCG, beverage container and rice/grain/sprouts rinse water, and occasionally a bit of molasses, Epsom salts, and/or alfalfa pellets. ...and of course an earthworm in every container.

One of the reasons I titled this thread like I did is that there are natural "specialists" -- we no longer eat bugs off grass stalks, and there are other predators much better equipped and naturally designed to tackle the pest insects and micro-organisms.

It seems to me that somewhere along time, consumers have been convinced that our houses must be "99.5% germ-free" and any creepy crawlies must be smoke bombed into submission, that merits of certain persons in the house is somehow determined by how "well kept" and "clean" it is. I don't know what else accounts for the reflexive response to mention of "bugs in the house"

Really, these ladybugs are very unassuming. They quietly and incessantly crawl on the plants and along the pot edges, they rest still during the night in the dark -- so still I'm surprised when they wake up and begin their patrol after I turn on the lights. Yes they sometimes wander off into the curtains and window casing and surrounding walls and need to be coaxed back. (But they do not fly into food or are "bite-y" as reported when describing the Asian ladybugs that invade and hibernate in homes.)

I have been checking for the last few days, thinking I might release a few more for the start of the New Year, but every location I looked already had a sentry marching around or claiming a plant as their post.

Also, happily, it does seem like some of the tomatoes that went down due to TRM (tomato russet mites) are recovering and growing fresh new shoots, which hopefully means there ARE some predatory mite population here. Question now is how to make them available to the other areas that are being devastated by TRM. So far, it seems like the plants that I left the dying leaves on to shrivel are the ones that are coming back. Does that mean, in removing the yellowing leaves and disposing them to "keep tidy", I'm also disposing the predatory mites and keeping them from resuscitating the plants?

[imafan26]

Beneficial insects need water too. People don't realize that. The adults actually feed on the nectar and pollen of the plants while the larvae mostly feed on the aphids on the trap plants.

I have blooming plants year nearly round alyssum, cuphea, fennel, marigolds, and lavender multifida. Mexican mint marigold is a seasonal and rare bloomer so it does not provide a lot of nectar. Can you grow buckwheat? It grows fast as a cover crop and flowers in 6 weeks. It was visited regularly by bees and parasitic wasps. Just don't let it go to seed. Lobelia would be a long blooming plant that might work. It doesn't work for me because it is short lived in the heat.

[applestar]

You are right imafan.
On days that I don't get around to giving my plants their daily morning misting, I tend to find the ladybugs swimming in the buckets and other containers of water and have to rescue them.

I wonder if the ladybugs are after the phal pollen? I keep seeing them on the flowers. Didn't you say they produce a lot of pollen?

[applestar]

Ladybug Patrols are on-going

...in the top photo, you can see aphid infestation on the leaves to the top right if you click/tap and see the enlarged photo. This and other peppers that are just unfurling post-hibernation new leaves would have a very hard time if the aphids are not controlled.

[applestar]

Proof is in the photos!
-- I didn't put them there just before the photo shoot. These were all instances of my finding them -sometimes days later- doing their thing and marching their protective detail. LOVE MY LADYBUG INDOOR GARDEN PATROL

[applestar]

Look what I found yesterday!

There were a few more but I think I accidentally brushed against them

I hope there are some other mated couples laying eggs. This is one of the last green fruits on top of a rapidly declining Orange Pixie in Cool Gang -- it's been down to 50's°F here at tabletop level, so on the floor it's probably even colder and stressing the already TRM infested plant. It gave us about half dozen tasty fruits. Since it's a prime spot in front of the vertical double T-12 shop light fixture, I'll probably replace it with one of the overwintered peppers that I'm going to try to revive by bringing inside.

[applestar]

When we went to visit my brother's family the other day, I took some of the hibernating ladybugs out of storage and poured the dead-looking beetles in a small clear deli container I prepared by cutting vent slits in the clear lid. I held the container in my hands during the one hour car ride, and noticed that the ladybugs had awakened and was clustering above my fingers that were holding the container from either side.

So as an experiment, I shifted/turned the container 1/4 counter clockwise, and watched in amusement as the ladybugs sluggishly then quickly scuttled to the new warm spots above my fingers.

I took them to show my three year old nephew and was prepared for my SIL to refuse to use them to protect her plants, but she told me she will keep them in the vegetable drawer of the fridge when I listed several choices of locations where they could be kept in hibernation, including the garage.

[applestar]

This ladybug was patrolling/protecting the emasculated Bolivian Rainbow blossoms for my hot pepper breeding project.

[applestar]

Ladybugs are often patrolling these orchids

[applestar]

Looks like the next generation is at work

[pepperhead212]

Applestar,

How long will ladybugs last in the fridge? I will be getting an order sent soon, but don't need all of them until later, so I was wondering this, and figured that you would have an answer.

[applestar]

I've kept them in reserve in the fridge for a couple of months -- some did die though.

I think you need to put them in a warm part of the fridge, maybe even the door, I put the netted bag they were in Ina veg/produce bag to provide humidity and supplied a moistened cotton ball which I replenished when dry.

I was using the small cube shaped dormitory/apartment fridge.

On second thought, I think it would be best if you can put them in the vegetable drawer

[pepperhead212]

Thanks applestar. I figured the warmer places would be best, and a section on my door with a cover on it is the warmest (originally for wine, but I have a bunch of bottles of oriental ing. in it!), so I'll put it in there.

[applestar]

( sorry about all the cross-posting -- ignore if you've already read this elsewhere )

Subject: 2015-2016 Winter Indoor (Tomatoes, etc.) Garden

Look at the new generation Winter Indoor Garden Patrol I found hanging around -- actually very rapidly roaming all over -- the Hungarian Szentes Feher Paprika (White from Szentes pepper)



Since I harvested the finally solidly turned red (from pale white/ivory/green) single fruit and it's on it's way out to rest up for the winter, I moved the little one to protect the current favorite from a beginning of an aphid infestation:

Subject: Learning • Practicing to Cross Breed Tomato Varieties

WS x FFSlv F2-7


...looks like I need to uppot to a final container

[rainbowgardener]

oh yay!! Looks like your ladybugs have been making whooppee!!