Releasing LadyBugs into the Garden

My Tomato Plants & Pepper Plants are covered in what I believe to be whiteflies and I cannot seem to get them under control! I thought I’d try my hand at releasing ladybugs onto my plants. They’re probably the most natural pest control a garden can have and as a gardener, I would be lucky to have them around. They prey on several pests, and I read, on whiteflies.

I bought a pack of 1500 live bugs from Amazon- about $11 with shipping, although I just checked and noticed the price increased to $16 plus shipping.

1500 sounded like way too much, and I was leaning toward buying the 300 pack, but the larger bag was actually cheaper!

This tag was on a carboard box- this must be them!

I wasn’t ready to release them yet, so I put them in the refrigerator for 2 days. The informational page that came with it said they can be in there for up to 2 weeks.

I had read about things to do to prepare your garden for a ladybug release, so I did a couple things. I only have a few plants in various containers, spread around two sides of the house and I was worried that wouldn’t be enough to keep them around. So, I planted a few flowers as well hoping they would provide some food and shelter.

I drizzled water on my plants that I wanted to release ladybugs to provide a source of water.

And just as the sun was setting…

I cut a slit into the top of the bag and here’s the first one crawling out!

Lots of Ladybugs released into the Tomato Box!

Lots of Ladybugs on the Patio Container Tomato Plant

My Parsley is infested with some pest that is slowly killing it…I was hoping the ladybugs would prey on whatever it is!

I noticed many of the Ladybugs congregating around the water droplets!

Well it was fun watching them spread around, and I saw a few fly away almost immediately, and was glad I got the 1500 pack.

I took a quick glance in the early morning to see how many ladybugs had stuck around….and it had appeared that most had left the garden already. I thought, well, if they at least ate the bugs that were infesting my plants and then flew away, I could call that a success.

When I got home from work later that day, I was able to get a better look…and only a few were left, and I don’t believe the whitefly population had decreased. Oh well. Maybe my small garden didn’t provide enough food/shelter, or for some other reason they were not interested in staying, but it was worth a shot.

So, if anyone has had any luck with controlling whiteflies, let me know your secrets! Anyone had luck with releasing ladybugs into the garden?

Thanks for reading!

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