Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys, i just went to get some vegies but it seems to be infested with aphids.

Where can i buy lady bugs? Also with vegies can i wash them off and still eat them?

It seems like lacewings are probably my best bet. They will take care of the aphids/mites and a few others.

Seems reasonable for 500 eggs at $25. Hopefully they will stick around and be happy in my AP system

Just ordered the lacewings.

Kinda sucks that they will only eat the bad bugs during the larvee stage. Once they can fly they may fly away as they will eat necter.

$25 + $8-9 postage plus $5.5 handling fee which i thought was a bit rich

Hey Zman,

Did you settle on lacewings, or did the IPM company recommend them?... They do attack a range of pests, but not at all stages, and if conditions change or the food starts to run short, they will shoot through for sure!

Whereas the Persimillis mite will hang around as long as you have plenty of foliage and warm humid areas in your garden. Like I told you, I put them in my veg garden about 3 years ago and haven't had any mites since, not even on the beans, which used to get hammered. They will even live in compost heaps and leaf litter etc. Plus, I wasn't sure the other day, but have since been informed that they eat both the Two spotted mite and the Red mite.

The aphids can be managed by repeatedly washing the bulk of them off with a squirt from your hose or a pressure sprayer, and planting plenty of small flowers around your GB's and yard, like Allysum, to attract the small parasitic wasps, they are also attracted by Fennel I think it was. The ladybugs always seem to find the aphids on their own eventually, and a few sunflowers will attract them and the ladybug larvae.

Anyhow, let us know how they go.

Cheers.

Persimillis are certainly the right bug for mites... but the lacewings are good for so many other things, including aphids..... get them both...

Oh... and buy the release boxes.... you just hang them, with the eggs in them... in amongst the plants...

Bear in mind... as Yabbies alluded to... these controls work best, and were designed for greenhouse conditions primarily...

To keep the bugs around you will need to plant some of the "attractor" plants that Yabbies indicated...