Did you know that ladybugs hibernate for winter? Well, the technical
term is "diapause" but it's basically the same thing, only in diapause
the insects aren't just in a deep slumber, they can actually freeze then
thaw out & come back to life in spring.
Ladybugs
are the absolute BEST weapon against aphids. Anyone who's had a problem
with aphids knows that you can see just a couple of aphids on a plant
and 2 days later the plant is so covered in aphids you can't see the
plant anymore. See "The Aphid Triad Part 1: Aphids" for why this is.
AND this is also why it's soooo important to be ultra-careful if you have an indoor garden, most notably if you are trying to grow lettuces or arugula year-round, or get an early start on petunias inside. I made the mistake of bringing a small petunia inside a few years ago in the fall. Despite the fact that it didn't survive, a few moths later, in the dead of winter, I sowed a flat full of Arugula seeds to have on hand to add to Couscous or contribute to my home grown & store-bought spring mix type salads that I love... until the day I walked into my grow room, and there was my arugula ... COVERED in aphids. I almost cried.
If only I could have kept ladybugs in my grow room, but they would have eaten all the aphids then immediately died, unfortunately.
Ladybugs are one of the best controls for aphids, not only to keep it natural, but all those sprays people have spent years spraying everywhere have killed off A LOT of our beneficial insects, like solitary native bees, ladybugs, and I hate to admit it, but also yellow jackets & wasps (they will eat grasshoppers & larger pest bugs, so as much as they can be pretty bad, they are also somewhat helpful). I an not shaming anyone who has to sometimes use sprays, but there are too many people that just kill off EVERYTHING in the yard as a prophylactic measure "Bad bugs can't eat my plants if there are NO BUGS, muahahaha".
That is never a good thing.
On the other hand, I no longer recommend anyone to buy ladybugs from any given garden centre or online store, because MOST of the sources have been selling the invasive Asian Lady Beetles, that are not so beneficial. (They bite, too, unlike our native ladybugs!)
Your best bet is to make your yard a habitat instead of just a yard.
Build "Ladybug Hotels" in the fall! Leave some of your perennials to die off naturally, even maybe putting a few handfuls of fallen tree leaves at the base & put a few small sticks on top to hold them there.
CAVEAT - ensure you are building the hotels on higher ground in your yard... if you have a spot that floods when the snow first melts & that is the location of your little hotels, you will just have lost all those ladybugs to drowning 😖
If you have a coniferous tree, a few dry pine cones in your piles of leaves is also a good hiding spot for the ladybugs. In spring, as the snow melts & the sun warms, the ladybugs will wake up, and climb up into the warmth, then go back down into the hotel when the sun starts to set & it gets chilly again. I have a few large Greek Oregano clumps that are well-loved by several species of beneficial insects - ALL means & manner of bees constantly at work on the flowers, for as long as they are in flower (mason bees, 5-8 types of bumble bees, honey bees, leaf-cutter bees, and mason bees, and even a type of tiny little red-coloured bees that have a nest under my front step!) .... the stems & leaves, as they die off in fall will collect dead leaves as the autumn winds blow them around. I always throw a huge armload of dead leaves under my lilac, too. Day lilies make great places to tuck some dead leaves under the sagging foliage.
Since making my yard friendlier to the ladybugs, I have not had big issues with aphids, even though I have many plants that are aphid favourites, like yarrow. Aphids LOVE yarrow! So those are a fabulous place for a ladybug hotel. I'm often carrying the ladybugs over to those plants if they're crawling up & out of the grass in fall on the last mowing, or leaf sucking (the vibrations get the ladybugs moving)..... I can't stand the thought of just running them over & killing them! I usually try to hand rake a bit to get them going & put them in a paper Bag with some dead leaves, then redistribute them around the yard's hotels.
Well, that's the end of The Aphid Triad .. until there is new research, that is.
I hope you are all having a wonderful gardening season for 2023!
