Beneficial Insects

Call 631 277-1177 today, to order your biological controls
arriving MAY 15, 2011

                                             LADYBUGS

USE:Ladybugs prefer to eat aphids and will devour up to 50 a day, but they will also attack scale, mealy bugs, boil worm, leaf hopper, and corn ear worm. They dine only on insects and do not harm vegetation in any way
RECOMMENDATIONS:Ladybugs may be kept in a refrigerator after they are received (35 — 40 degrees F.) and released as needed. Ladybugs received March through May should not be stored more than 2 or 3 days since their body fat has been depleted. From June on, they may be stored 2 or 3 months.
It is normal for there to be several dead Ladybugs in the container, especially those received from March through May. These bugs have reached the end of their life cycle. We have included many extra bugs to compensate for this.

LIFE CYCLE:Ladybugs mate in the Spring and lay yellow eggs in cluster of 10 to 50 on the underside of leaves. About five days later the larvae emerge and will eat about 400 aphids during their 2.5 week cycle. The larvae look like tiny black caterpillars with orange spots but do not eat vegetation.
The larvae then pupate and emerge from their cocoon as adults after about a week. They begin feeding on aphids, other insects, and pollen to build up their body fat. In the Summer and Fall the Ladybugs migrate into the mountains and during the Winter they lie dormant under the snow. In the early Spring they fly back down to the lowlands to resume searching for food in earnest. They begin mating, lay eggs, and die.
These Ladybugs have been pre-fed a special protein diet which indicates to them that they have already reached the lowlands and should continue feeding immediately. This retards their natural instinct to fly when released

Praymantis1

PRAYING MANTIS

USE: Praying Mantis eat a wide variety of garden pests. In their younger stages they eat aphids, thrips, flies & maggots, small caterpillars, leafhoppers, white grubs and other soft-bodied insects. Mature Mantis feed on larger caterpillars, earwigs, chinch bugs, sow bugs, beetles, grasshoppers and other large insects.

RELEASE: Put the egg case in a bush, hedge, limb, or anything more than two feet above the ground. The egg case may be inserted in the fork of a branch or hung with a piece of string or needle and thread run through the outside of the case. Hanging will help keep birds and rodents from eating the eggs in the case. If ants are in the area oiling the string will help keep them away.

LIFE CYCLE: Praying Mantis hatch out of their egg case along the seam that looks like louvered windows with some mud packed on top. They hatch in the Spring when the weather warms, the warmer the temperature, the sooner they hatch. Unlike most insects the Mantis do not hatch as larvae, they emerge as miniature adults, about half an inch long. They will grow through the Spring and Summer until they reach a length of 5 to 6 inches, shedding their skins several times. Although Mantis have wings, they do not use them until the Fall when the females wings develop and she begins flying around looking for males to mate with. After mating, she eats the head off the male, which helps to nourish her eggs. She then attaches the brown foam to a branch, lays her eggs inside, and dies shortly afterward. The eggs are protected from the Winter cold in the foam and the cycle begins again in the Spring.

While most insects are constantly searching for food, Mantis are content to stay in one area and wait for their food to walk by and then grab it with their strong forelegs. This is why they are good to use early in the season, before there are pest problems, and use other insects after pests arrive.

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Beneficial Insects