buying ladybird larvae

[Nickerly]

I was thinking about buying ladybird larvae for my balcony container garden because I am getting a lot of green and black fly.

My question is, will this just be a waste of money? Because surely the larvae can just crawl away and go to someone elses garden?

And is it really worth it for a small balcony?

[WrexTheDragon]

I would use washing up liquid.

After you have done the dished, filter the water into a sprayer.

[ginger ninger]

Buying Ladybird Larvae....

I was thinking about buying ladybird larvae for my balcony container garden because I am getting a lot of green and black fly.

My question is, will this just be a waste of money? Because surely the larvae can just crawl away and go to someone else's garden?

And is it really worth it for a small balcony?

Have you tried squishing them first, much more rewarding, if there's too many then its a good idea..... After all Mother nature dose have the best remedies

[FB.]

As you say; I doubt that a small balcony would be particularly attractive to a large population of ladybirds, since their food source would soon disappear and they'd go somewhere else.
Ladybird larvae are an expensive option. I get plenty of natural predators on my fruit/veg, but you have to be chemical-free for a couple of years, or the friendly insects can't survive the chemical residues or build up populations fast enough.
You may find that hoverfly larvae (small, orange-yellow maggot-like creatures in the aphid colony) will come along to deal with the aphids, or perhaps parasitic wasps (a sign of parasitic wasp activity is if any of your aphids are "ballooning", wandering from the main colony and turning toffee-brown or black).
If you feel the need for action, I'd say that on a balcony, a water pistol would be the best tool. Spray the aphids off every few days to begin with and the aphid populations will soon be reduced, so you can then reduce to as-needed, which won't be too much work.

[teagunn]

We had a huge greenfly infestation this year and we bought some ladybirds. I think it was about £20 for 30 or so. They were amazing. We were literally overrun with aphids and within about 2/3 weeks the ladybirds had them under control. I would absolutely go down this path again and will probably buy them every year.

And it's good to keep up the UK ladybird population, they're being overrun by an import from Asia.