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Comment by Selene' Griffith on July 15, 2011 at 11:33am

Charlie, thanks for the tip. It sounds like a great trick to get them to stay around. However here in Hawaii we have to deal with tiny ants and think the lemonade would just give us mare of a problem with the ants that we are already trying to keep under control. Otherwise I would try that tip :)

Matthew, you are totally correct to do it during the coolest part of the day, yet in Hawaii that is not always possible :)

We have seen our ladybugs breeding and they do stay around when we are having a problem with aphids. Our staff here had been out for a walk and happened to walk buy a bush with tons of ladybugs on it. We were very blessed to find them, since we can not buy ladybugs here in Hawaii.

Comment by matthew ferrell on July 15, 2011 at 7:02am

Also it is recommended to release them in the coolest part of the day.  They tend not to want to fly as much as when its cooler.

 

Charlie interesting tip.

Comment by Charlie Price on July 15, 2011 at 1:42am

looks great,

just a quick note to say if you have problems with the ladybirds flying away on release (which they will often do as a stress response, if you dilute down some lemonade 1:3 water an spray a fine mist onto them before release it helps to temporarily stick its wing cases down (for 1-2 days) and allows them to find their feet (and more importantly find their food!!) sounds a little cruel but we've done some trials and there are no long term effects...

anyway a trick i learnt from a canny old soil grower, and wanted to share (but quite possibly you've done this already..)

best wishes

charlie