In lectured all this winter the Ladybug question has been the #1 one. I have put a webpage together on the "pest" lady bird beetle
"The Multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis. This species has become quite a nuisance in the United States even though it is a voracious predator. History: This Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle was intentionally imported from Russia, Japan, Korea, and elsewhere in the Orient and for releases in the United States as part of a Federal effort to naturally control insect pests in
trees. With the first releases (1916 and 1960) the beetle did not establish. The in the 1970s and the early 1980s, tens of thousands of these beetles were intentionally released by the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) in an effort to control insect pests that injure
trees. All did not go as planned, as many home owners found out."
You can read the rest on my website
http://www.bugladyconsulting.com/Multicolored%20Asian%20lady%20beetle.htm Also I do not support buying ANY species of wild harvest ladybugs. Next time you go to buy your ladybugs ask where they came from and what species they are. They are usually convergent lady beetles, Hippodamia convergens and wild harvested
Lady bugs are harvested from the wild in Sierra Nevada
foothills where the migrate in
spring as the Sacramento and San Joaquin
valleys warm up. There they rest and breed. Lady bugs gather in large
groups on the floor of pine forests and are easily scooped up with a bucket.
Collecting areas are a jealously guarded secret, although some companies
Have been known to advertise for Lady bug collectors in the local papers.
Once collected they are stored in coolers until orders are placed. Then once released into a nursery or landscape they usually migrate before feeding or laying eggs, providing little or no control for your target pest. Another concern is harvested ladybugs may be parasitized by a small wasp, Perilitus coccinellae. It develops as an internal parasite of lady beetles and kills them. Harvesting from the wild is also not environmentally sustainable.
If you want ladybugs the best thing to do is attract them in naturally with planting things like, dill, yarrow and other assorted flowering
plants. If you want to do a release of a beneficial insects release lab reared lacewing. They will do an excellent job of feeding on
plant pests such as aphids, mealybugs, scale and others.
Hope this helps!!