August 21, 2010 | 1068 Views | 3 Comments

I've been thinking ahead to this winter and am strongly considering the use of ladybugs for the control of both aphids and spider mites in my garage this winter.

I don't like using all the sprays in the garage, plus they rarely seem to be very effective for me. I've tried Neem and Soaps, it's just hard to fully cover the plants adequately because of their large size. I have a lot of palms I bring in for the winter and the spider mites always seem to feast on them. The aphids always attack my softer tissue plants like the bananas and such. I also have had a lot of problems with mealy bugs lately.

I have been reading and I think I may give the ladybugs a shot. I know they won't eliminate insets, but figured they might keep them in check. Has anyone ever tried them? I was thinking of ordering 500-1500 and releasing them about a handful a week at night when the halides were off. Hoping maybe they'll feast on the aphids/mealy bugs/spider mites and finally give my plants some relief.

I'll report back this winter on how this has worked, but I'm hoping this will prove quite effective if I release them in proper intervals.