lotsa lovely ladybirds

teapot2

Have noticed more ladybirds than I would have expected at this time of year in the garden. They are very welcome visitors but I was wondering if they will survive a frosty spell if we get another one?

Anyone know?

Kantankrus_Mare

My daughter and her friends found loads when we went to the allotment. Kept them quiet for ages Im pretty new to gardening though, what benefits do they have to the garden?

squiggle37

no idea what they do in garden dont they eat greenfly or summot im still learning about gardening.

i noticed about 8 ladybirds on top of my green wheelie bin today then one of my kittens jumped up and tried to eat them :rolleyes:

pboae

Ladybirds are wonderful, they will eat all your aphids and other nasties for you. I collect them and put them on my fruit trees. While they have food they won't bother flying off, so they just stay there and eat all the whiteflies.

computerwoman

yes I have noticed alot in my garden as well, it most be the year of the ladybird this year, as every year there is always a plague of some insect, so I think it could be the year for them, nice arent they.
but in some parts of england they are getting killed off by something else I heard last year some sort of killer ladybird for abroad was killing our ladybirds, I wonder if nature watch have noticed them this year,
cw

Poppycat

Had a lot of them in my garden mainly on the rockier and on the pavement close to the rockier. Always a welcome sign although just as long as there just enough food about for them dont want a plague of them

olibearhorse

I used to eat them when I was little, apparantly I thought they were sweets and spat out the wings.

I promise not to do the same now and I am not the 'killer ladybird' from abroad!

:rotfl:

troll35

We've got lots too. My only worry is that they will do the same as a couple of years ago. We had a huge ladybird population in spring and early summer which completely got rid of any greenfly. Then they upped sticks and went holidaying somewhere else when the menu got limited in my garden.....and the little critters didn't come home so my roses were deluged with greenfly for the autumn.

susy_2

teapot2 wrote: »

They are very welcome visitors but I was wondering if they will survive a frosty spell if we get another one?

Anyone know?

:eek: :eek: :eek: Not sure I will survive another frosty spell! Can't bear to think of going back there again after all this lovely weather.

Somebody told me that if there were a lot of ladybirds around early in the year, it indicated a good summer? Has anyone else heard that?

Lord_Gardener

They are a hardy lot - adults hibernate over winter! Lot's of aphids (green) around at the moment - check your roses. Spray with soapy solution as a quick fix if you're infested and leave the rest to the Ladybirds!

KatrinaC_2

We're inundated with them too, mainly on the rockier bits of garden so I'm ferrying them about the plants as fast as I can go! So far I haven't seen any aphids (touch wood) but I don't have much soft new growth that the little bleeders would like.

We have had the ladybirds about for MONTHS - the first ones I saw were at the end of Feb and they seemed to live through the cold snap we had a few weeks ago perfectly well.

Kat