- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Decisions, decisions...
Where's the best spot for the new residents of my garden?
I acquired two ladybugs last Saturday during the 99th annual UC Davis Picnic Day. Background: as part of the campuswide celebration, the Department of Entomology annually hosts an all-out bugfest at the Bohart Museum of Entomology and at Briggs Hall. And keeping with the Briggs Hall tradition, the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program gifted picnickers with the treasured ladybugs.
Now ladybugs aren't really "bugs"; they're beetles. Neither are they all "ladies"; some have manly qualities. (Gender issues may confuse us, but not the lady and gentlemen beetles.)
A ladybug is a good beneficial insect. It can devour an estimated 5000 aphids in its lifetime (three to six weeks).
So, every year for the past several years, I've adopted two ladybugs, chauffered them home, and tucked them in our garden. "Please eat the aphids," I tell them.
And they do.
They're good at following instructions.
Last year they took up residence in a bed of red roses. This year, they're coming up in the world--a high rise. A tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii) is "home sweet home."
Life doesn't get any better than this if you're a ladybug (and any worse if you're an aphid).
Answer from Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis: "This time of year (October 2013) ladybugs are flying to places where they can overwinter in groups. They normally go to natural sites but will also aggregate on or in homes or other buildings both near ground level and higher. They would remain in place until spring when they warm up enough to fly and return to the regions they came from to feed on aphids and produce the next generation."
As an aside, no information on where the reader lives. "Because what they might be seeing are Asian lady bugs as opposed to our native ones," Kimsey says. "The Asian species was introduced to control walnut aphid but like to aggregate in and on homes and other buildings."
Lynn