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Lady Bugs - Friend or Foe?
Have been noticing a few Lady Bugs on Squash & Cubcumbers plants here lately. Should I get rid of them or let them eat
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These all belong to the ladybird beetle family. When most people say ladybugs, they are thinking of the red seven spot with black dots. It is very beneficial.valley wrote:Are all those ladybugs? Didn't know he made so many.
A lot of the beetles in this family are helpful, as they eat the pests that eat plants we like.
Some can be a problem, though, like the Mexican bean beetle.
- Francis Barnswallow
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I don't know if this would be helpful, but I bought 3 perennial plants from a nursery for my flower beds called "lambs ear". (don't know the fancy legit name) and one day I was checking them over and they were covered with lady bugs. So seems to me that these plants definitely attract lady bugs, if they are ok to plant here and there in a veggie garden.
As several members have told you already, ladybugs are a huge benefit to your garden to rid it of pests. But something else I learned when I was a teacher, is that ladybugs go through a life cycle very similar to butterflies and moths. I posted a link here so you can see and get to know what ladybugs look like in their different stages of life. I wouldn't have known they were baby ladybugs either, if I hadn't done a lesson plan about them and found the books, LOL!
https://willowridge.shs.k12.ny.us/WR_Tea ... %20Ladybug
https://willowridge.shs.k12.ny.us/WR_Tea ... %20Ladybug
Your ladybug larvae eat your plants instead of other bugs? I was reading that there are a few rare varieties that do that. Would you be able to post a picture of the ladybugs you have so we can see them? Or maybe post a link from online? The ones I have are only the 7 spot, convergent, and Oak scale destroying ladybugs, but they all eat other bugs, kind of standard ladybugs really, lol
- Cola82
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My only real experience with ladybugs has been when they infest a home, which they have done twice in my life. Once when my dad was living in this tiny little house in the middle of nowhere (they were so thick he was vacuuming them off the ceiling) and later when I was living in my boyfriend's parents' house. I found one inside my current home this spring and immediately took it outside and put it on my plants, but that's about it.
I so rarely encounter them outside.
I so rarely encounter them outside.