Ladybugs not only bring good luck, they are also useful. For example, they declare war on aphids and spider mites. That's why it makes sense to lure ladybugs into the garden.
Ladybugs can also bring good luck in the garden. After all, the small, spotted beetle is a beneficial creature from nature that can be used for pest control without the use of chemicals. While there are around 4,500 different ladybird species worldwide, only 70 of them are native to Germany. However, nothing more is needed to protect the local flora from aphids and spider mites. After all, this is a found food for ladybugs, which many hobby gardeners appreciate very much. Because where ladybugs declare war on these pests, your own garden plants are spared unsightly damage. So how do you attract the little beetles so that they can do their useful work in your own garden?
These Plants Attract Ladybugs
Ladybugs are one of the most useful garden helpers. After all, this beetle is the natural enemy of every aphid. A single beetle can consume up to 150 aphids a day. The larvae are the most voracious and have the greatest appetite for pests. In a ladybird's lifetime, up to 6,000 aphids per beetle can be destroyed.
The use of ladybirds for pest control is not only inexpensive, but also protects the plants. Above all, those who want to harvest vegetables and fruit from their own garden appreciate the fact that they do not use chemical pesticides in the interests of their own he alth. The following list reveals which plants the beetles particularly love:
- Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis)
- Cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus)
- Silverwort (Lobularia)
- Mint (Mentha)
- Garden Hibiscus
- Gransbills/Geranium
- Coriander (Coriandrum sativum)
- Rainfarm (Tanacetum vulgare)
- Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
- Greater cartilaginous cartilage (Ammi majus)
- Dandelions (Taraxacum)
- Coreopsis
- Garlic
- Cucumber/Dill (Anethum graveolens)
- Cosmos bipinnatus
- Tuber milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
- Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
If ladybugs have not spread by themselves in your own garden, you can also attract the beneficial insects in a targeted manner. In addition to aphids, selected plant pollen is on the ladybug's menu. If you want to attract the dotted pest controllers, you would do well to integrate as many of the plants just mentioned into your own garden landscape.
These plants can be placed strategically in your garden not only for consumption but also for decorative purposes. Coriander, for example, looks good in your own herb garden, while cornflowers or marigolds can beautify the flower bed.
Buy ladybugs for pest control
If you haven't been able to attract ladybugs yet, you can buy the little beetles. Various shops offer the hungry beneficial insect as larvae. As already mentioned, this has the advantage that the beetles eat a particularly large number of pests in this phase of life. However, before the ladybug larvae can move into your own garden, it certainly makes sense to ensure a ladybug-friendly garden. Because only then will the ladybugs stay with you instead of migrating to surrounding areas that may appeal to them more. Therefore, it makes sense to integrate an insect hotel in the garden. Here are instructions on how to build an insect hotel yourself.
Attracting ladybugs with a special potion
If you don't have much space in your garden to plant the plants mentioned, which ladybugs particularly love, you can also try a special trunk.
- Mix 100 grams of elderflowers with one liter of water and heat.
- The mixture should then rest overnight.
- You can strain the flowers the next morning.
- Dilute the mixture with two more parts of water and spray in the garden.
Alternatively, the mixture can be boiled up with 1.5 kilograms of sugar and later diluted with water in a 1 to 5 mixing ratio. Such a syrup can be kept for up to a year and is good food for ladybugs. However, the ladybugs will not only stay in their own garden if they do not find any of the plants mentioned there as food. The little beetle can't feed on syrup alone in the long run.
Natural enemies of ladybugs
Ants:
With thatIn order for the little ladybugs to be able to do their work in their own garden in the best possible way, it is important to protect them from their natural enemies. Because otherwise the days of the ladybug colony in your own garden are probably numbered. Ants, for example, are one of the beetles' enemies, which must therefore be combated. Here are a few home remedies against ants.
Asian Ladybugs:
Asian ladybugs, which are not actually native to this country but are still spreading, make life difficult for the native ladybugs as well. If you want to buy ladybugs as beneficial insects for your garden, you should therefore use a local variety.
Braconid Ladybug:
The ladybird braconid should also be fought. Because otherwise she might lay her eggs in the ladybugs, which will then be hollowed out from the inside and thus die. But the braconid wasp also has a natural enemy, namely the parasitic wasp, which should therefore be seen in the garden. Reading tip: Natural pest control with parasitic wasps.
If you want to create a ladybug-friendly garden, you should be familiar with the types of insects mentioned in order to know which beetles and co. are useful and which crawling animals are among the declared enemies of ladybugs. When fighting the natural enemies of ladybugs, it is of course best to ensure that no chemical mace is used.
the gardener himself:
Even the hobby gardener himself can become an enemy of the ladybug. This is the case, for example, when there is not enough knowledge about the various stages of development of the small beetles. Therefore, it makes sense to familiarize yourself with what the offspring of ladybugs look like so that they are not mistaken for a pest and killed.
Fully fed with aphids, the larvae attach themselves to the leaves with their hindquarters and begin to pupate. After 6 - 9 days the finished beetle hatches.
