Lady bugs

[momol]

Hi grapes,

I have bring in a pot of celery and a pot of spring onions for overwintering .
I noticed some aphid has been coming in along with the plant but to my surprise is, I got some 6 or 7 lady bugs coming in with the plant too.
Now (needles to say), the aphid has breed like no tomorrow... colonizing the plants (no worries, they are isolated !) and what makes me excited is the lady bugs has been eating them and laying eggs. Today, I saw the first group of lady bug larvae hutching....
Has anyone seen lady bugs (and their larvae) too ?

[Nicos]

No I've not!!!!...how fantastic!!!!

[kentvegplot]

I have some hibernating in my house - I noticed when I disturbed some while putting up the Xmas decorations. Hope they get through and then zoom out to the garden to deal with the pahids.

[gardenplot]

oh i want some lady bugs, they are a fantastic way of helping get rid of aphid

[Flummery]

They often come indoors to hibernate. However, many of our local hibernating ladybirds are the 'foreign' harlequin ladybirds. Still eat aphids but not very good for our own indigenous ladybirds. The larvae are great, they look bigger than the adults and quite fearsome. Google images will show you some.

[momol]

Lady bug foto

Grapes,

Here is a very usefull photo of Lady bugs: eggs, larva, cocoon/pupae (?) and the lady bugs.

If you see any of them in your garden means you got them .

Enjoy...

[gardenplot]

Oh i will look after them if i see any, every gardeners friend
Thanks for pics

[Headfry]

I once spent an afternoon watching ladybirds hatch form cocoons. I found them (100's) on the front of my house in france! They start off a yellowy/green colour then slowly turn orange. fantastic.

[momol]

Me too Headfry, sounds silly but I think they are lovely.
The larvae looks so fiersome but infact pretty clumsy for a predator. I saw 2 more lady bugs eggs batches hatching on my Ishikura spring onions . I love them so much that I am willing to trade the plant for their well being... .

[Shortie]

I found one lone ladybird hiding in my lavendar the other day. I was chuffed to bits!

[rustylady]

Found my first active ladybird for this year on 9th February, crawling over the violets which are flowering near the apple tree.