Ladybirds - Where are they???

walltoall · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:20 pm Post subject: lady beds

Hey Foxroxks
That's a really keen idea. Does the wood need to be ash? or fresh? Or is the holes that matter. How far in did you drill?
SW

Belfast · Ash Tree Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 242 Location: CSA

Lots of Lady birds in my Garden.

Sive · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:18 pm Post subject:

Where is your garden, Belfast ?

Belfast · Ash Tree Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 242 Location: CSA

North Dublin near the phoenix park

INSECT HOUSE
http://www.powen.freeserve.co.uk/Projects/insecthouse/insecthouse.htm

foxroxks · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:46 pm Post subject:

to be honest i didnt really think too much about the wood......its something I've wanted in my garden for a while now ....so i asked my dad about it .....i explained what the idea was & he got the wood i needed.
the holes do matter .....dont drill down or they house will fill with water in bad weather & kill the ladaybirds. I didnt drill all the way through either .

also they can be made by wrapping bamboo canes together ..........lighter option, handy for hanging but do need a back board.

I'm next to the phoenix park too Belfast....guess i'm still not getting it right yet ....I'm sure they'll turn up soon ......hopefully

walltoall · Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:42 am Post subject: lacewings and ladybirds

Thanks for the extra Foxroxks and Thanks Belfast for the lacewing accomodation. Both ideas are totally neat and I will be using both with compliments to both of you. Still have not seen a working ladybird in the garden this year, so I'm spraying all the aphids I can find every couple of days with a mix of washing up liquid. It does seem to be working and I know it will neither poison ladybirds directly or contaminte the aphids as food.

bsneyd · Hazel Tree Joined: 09 Jul 2009 Posts: 1

Hi Guys, This is my first post so hello to all... Smile

I have just rented an allotment at Beechpark, clonsilla. I'm a complete novice so i think i will be on this site allot. I am delighted to say i have lots of ladybirds on my plot and i have now managed to identify what they look like before they turn into the beautiful ladybirds as we know it. (sounds easy but this took me awhile, as does everything when you start off new)

I bought a nest thingy from Mr Middleton when i heard how good they are at eating aphids but i'm not sure if they are using it. They are just the most beautiful little creatures to look at.

walltoall · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 4:09 pm Post subject: welcome Miss Ladybird

bsnedy
You're very welcome, I'm sure. Tell me when or if you see your first Harlequin, won't you? It's delightful you have a garden full of ladybirds and their larvae cause they woolf doown our great enemy the aphid. Do I take it the whole allotment is as lucky as you and is free of aphids?
SW

ps: How do we pronounce bsnedy?

James Kilkelly, was GPI. · Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 11:26 am Post subject:

Seems like they have cracked the secret to ladybird attraction across the water in Somerset.
Lots of stonecrop plants (Sedum) and no pesticides.

10 million ladybirds invade farm

A giant swarm of up to 10 million ladybirds has descended on a farm ''like a cloud".

The insect army has covered ''every possible inch" of the 20-acre site.

The site owners grow thousands of square metres of eco- roofing made of sedum, a cactus-like grass – which is the aphid's favourite food. Ladybirds thrive on greenfly and as the sedum flourishes in summer, the numbers of aphids increase tenfold – attracting even larger numbers of the hungry bug.

Staff at Blackdown Horticultural Consultants say vast numbers of ladybirds arrive at the farm in Combe Saint Nicholas, near Chard in Somerset, every July and August.

''We're used to large numbers of ladybirds here, but this year it's just incredible. We don't use pesticides, so the aphids flourish on the sedum. That, in turn, attracts the ladybirds who arrived like a hungry cloud.
''This is the perfect solution to organic gardening. We love the ladybirds because they eat the pests, and we hope they'll come back again year after year.''

Read more here............ http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/somersetnews/Invasion-10-million-ladybirds-ve-counted/article-1197238-detail/article.html

Sive · Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:09 pm Post subject:

Amazing article GPI, thanks for the link.

walltoall · Last edited by walltoall on Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:11 pm; edited 1 time in total

Being over beyant, I heard the sedum farmer interviewed on BBC R4 yesterday. By total coincidence I'd seen a 7spot ladybird last Saturday in the garden (the first I've seen this year) and another, maybe the same guy, on Monday. This morning I saw a [black ] 2spot on a radish leaf . Then I open my Irish Gardener mail and there's GPI and Sive right on subject.

Presumably every ladybird on John Bull's original island is below in Somerset gobbling for England? Interestingly, I've seen almost no greenfly this year. A few on the roses early on but they got zapped with fairy liquid drench.

There's a mighty infestation of blackfly currently.
I've just treated an ivy on the garage wall.
I wonder did the English aphids hear about the West country sedum and with the recession and all that, decide to take holidays at home this year?

The sedum guy down in Somerset has about 100,000 square metres of sedum which is used for roofing. He did a spot count across his site and found averages of almost 120 ladybirds per tested square metre. He was deadly laid back on the radio. His 'worst' experience was having a ladybird larva fall out of his ear while cleaning up after work. He logged 7spot, 11spot and some 2spots.

It's quite nice that he reported no harlequins.

sal · Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 5:51 pm Post subject:

i found a small beetle, black with red spots on a plant in the uk last week,it was just like a ladybird but with reverse colours,was it a lady bird?

walltoall · Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:03 pm Post subject: black ladybird with red spots

Hi Sal, You probably saw a two-spot ladybird. They ARE black (sometimes very dark purple) and have two red spots on their 'shoulders' near the head. They're only half the size of the seven-spot and really are quite dinky? Watch out for the "Harlequin" it's an introduced species first seen in Essex 2004, I think, but now spreading across the southern half of England and even into Wales.

Harlequins may be recognised by their 'neck' and a creamy head. True lady birds don'r have a neck and [generally] have black faces

Harlequins are usually bigger than the 7spot. Harlequins are voracious feeders; good news they can cut though an aphid population like Attilla in full flight. Bad news they are well able to eat native ladybirds and larvae with gusto as well as aphids caterpillers and all sorts of bug life. I'm not sure if they drink beer and start rows. We're afraid if they establish and spread they will annihalate the native species. They upside is they decimate aphids big time.

foxroxks · Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 8:02 pm Post subject:

The ladybirds have arrived at last well at least one tiny one Very Happy

walltoall · Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 4:30 pm Post subject: whatever about the wee ladybird

That is one helluve sunflower, Foxroxks. But you missed a chance for a little fun here. You should have asked people to find the ladybird. I did but I'm not telling.