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At a Glance
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Loss Is To Be Expected
As natural as the blooms themselves are, so is the inevitable little disappointments and loss. First there were the ungerminated seeds – although a small fraction of the total number sown, there were still noticeable absences in the seed trays.Most recently, however, was an unexpected (and seasonally early!) aphid infestation in the greenhouse. The tender young plant babies proved to be too much of a temptation for the voracious eaters, and they came in droves. We are inclined to think that the aphids arrived in a bag of potting mix that had been stored outside before we bought it. The bag of dirt could have carried aphid eggs and larvae into the greenhouse – much to our chagrin.
Here you can see a bit of the aphid’s destructive prowess:
These butter lettuce babies were MUCH perkier a few days ago!
Image from Wikipedia - Illustrating how overwhelmed a plant can become with aphids
Here’s the quick rundown on aphids – (Thanks Wikipedia!)
Aphids, also known as greenfly, blackfly or plant lice, are minute plant-feeding insects in the superfamily Aphidoidea in the homopterous division of the order Hemiptera. Aphids passively feed on sap of phloem vessels in plants. This sap, being kept under high pressure, once a phloem vessel is punctured, it is forced into the food canal. Aphids actively ‘drink’ (suck) from xylem vessels when thirsty. As they feed, aphids often transmit plant viruses to their food plants. These viruses can sometimes kill the plants.
Simply, they’re annoying little bugs that can lay waste to your best gardening efforts. Since we are not users of commercial pesticides that will end up in the vegetables, and ultimately in us after we eat them, we’ve decided to take another route, and call in the cavalry.
Enter, the ladybug.
A cute little ladybug hanging out on a zucchini seedling
The humble ladybug, cute and sweet seeming, is a voracious eater – capable of eating up to 50 aphids a day! And I unleashed 1,500 ladybugs in the greenhouse! That could be up to 75,000 aphids a day being eaten! Hopefully the ladybugs can eat aphids faster than the aphids can reproduce.
These ladybugs are busy setting up their new homes.
After only a couple of days, I can see marked improvement – a distinct reduction in the number of aphids visible. And today when I checked on them, the ladybugs seemed to be quite content in the greenhouse, digging in, and (HOPEFULLY!) laying eggs around the plants. Once the new ladybugs are born, they start eating aphids themselves, and mercifully leave the plants alone. Yay for carnivorous bugs! (How many times do you say that in your life?)
I hope this means they’re liking their new home.
More ladybug news as it develops.
You can buy live ladybugs through this link here:
Tags:aphid aphids butter lettuce greenfly greenhouse ladybug plant lice plant viruses sap voracious eatersPosted by Les on April 19th, 2007 under Pests, Garden Maintenance, Recommended
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