- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
I don't know how long they'd been in the container, but they were anxious to leave. If you're a ladybug, a house is not a home without aphids.
Members of the California State Grange distributed these tiny containers of ladybugs at the California Agriculture Day on Wednesday on the State Capitol grounds. Grateful little kids excitedly exclaimed "Ladybugs! Ladybugs!" Their parents murmured "Yes! Yes! Great for the garden."
And that's exactly what we did with ours.
We had a red rose bush just waiting for them.
We removed the lid, tipped the container, and the two ladybugs raced out, right to an all-you-can-eat buffet of juicy aphids.
If you're yearning for your very own ladybugs, be sure to attend the 98th annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 21. The statewide UC Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) traditionally gives away ladybugs at the entrance to Briggs Hall.
The UC Davis Department of Entomology, housed in Briggs Hall, will be hosting cockroach races, termite trails, maggot art and honey tasting and scores of other activities. This year, due to popular demand, Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen will be doubling the amount of honey. (Check out last year's entomological photos at Briggs Hall and at the Bohart Museum of Entomology.)
Meanwhile, the good folks planning the campuswide Picnic Day invite all to attend. They wrote on their website: "This family friendly event is free for all to come and experience the richness of diversity and achievement at UC Davis and the surrounding community in the areas of research, teaching, service and campus life."
And experience the wonderful world of ladybugs!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The first day of spring--Tuesday, March 20--yielded a diversity of insects in the fava beans planted in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden adjacent to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, University of California,Davis.
A flurry of insects joined the honey bees: ladybugs, a blow fly, a stink bug, an alfalfa butterfly, European paper wasp and scores of aphids.
Fava beans (Vicia faba), one of the world's oldest cultivated crops and native to the Mediterranean region, are also known as broad beans, horse beans, pigeon beans, and the like.
"In North America, Canada is perhaps the largest producer of fava beans since they produce best in cool summer areas," write San Joaquin County Farm Advisors Gary Hickman and Mick Canevari in a Family Farm Series publication of the UC Davis Small Farm Center. "Minnesota and the lake states produce small acreages. In California, fava beans are grown as seed crops along the coast from Lompoc to Salinas and in the Northern Sacramento Valley, but in other areas of the state they are grown mostly as a cover crop or for green manure."
You can learn more about fava beans in the UC Davis Small Farm Center publication. Meanwhile, the insects hanging out in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven are definitely favoring the fava beans.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The tender shoots of fava bean blossoms are attracting scores of aphids, which suits the ladybugs just fine.
Nothing like an all-you-can-eat aphid buffet.
The site: the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis.
The aphid population is growing rapidly. And the ladybugs, aka lady beetles or ladybird beetles, are trying to keep up by (1) increasing the population and (2) increasing their voracious appetites.
Good thing, too!
The ones we saw in the haven today were the seven-spotted ladybugs. Of the more than 5000 described species in the Coccinellidae family, more than 450 are native to North America.
Gary Zamzow of Davis, one of the volunteers at the haven who keeps the site looking beautiful, says he sees the seven-spotted ladybug and the 12-spotted ladybug a lot in Davis. He hopes that the Harlequin ladybug doesn't take over.
He shared these links:
Ladybug Decline Driven by 'Invading' Harlequin (BBC Report from the UK)
The Harlequin Ladybug (Wikipedia)
So, the next time you see a ladybug, see what it is.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It was lovely day today, in more ways than one.
During the lunch hour, we stopped by the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis, and discovered more than just blossoms in the planter box filled with fava beans.
Ladybugs, aka lady beetles! Coccinellids!
We spotted five of them, and two were...ahem...in the process of providing the garden with more ladybugs. That's quite nice of them. We need more ladybugs to eat those pesky aphids and other soft-bodied insects.
Meanwhile, as the sun warmed the garden (60 degrees!), honey bees foraged among the blossoms and assorted ants and aphids crawled up and down the leaves.
The half-acre Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, is living up to its name as a place for pollinators.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Photographers never tire of capturing images of ladybugs, aka lady beetles.
First of all, they're beneficial insects. You know when you photograph them that they're about to scoot, crawl or fly off to grab a tasty lunch--an all-you-can-eat aphid buffet.
Second, they're colorful. They brighten a garden, standing out like red Corvettes on a freeway.
Third, they're among the most recognizable of insects. Halloween costume companies relish in creating polka-dotted attire for the 5-and-under set. Nobody will ask "What are you supposed to be?"
Fourth, they're quite common. California alone has some 125 species of Coccinellids.
Worldwide, there are some 5000 described species.
Not too many people know, however, that many species in the family Coccinellidae secrete a nasty fluid. As UC Berkeley retired entomologist Jerry Powell writes in his book, California Insects, "...when disturbed, many species secrete a bitter, amber-colored fluid that is believed to have poisonous effects on vertebrates..."
Indeed, their red and black coloring warns "Leave me alone!"