lady bug on my plants...good or bad?

[disABLEme]

What about those stupid Japanese Beetle ladybug knock offs? Ha, I get the feeling they'd be more aggressive than lady bugs when it comes to pests. Would they chow down on your ladies? It seems like they've diminished somewhat over the years but I found 2 in my grow room the other day. I just left them and they were gone the next morning. It would really suck if you bought a box of lady bugs and you got those suckers instead.

[klondike_bar]

worst case scenario youve got some pretty red bugs nibbling at leaves while keeping your buds safe from mite webs. its a good deal.

even so, im pretty sure they dont eat the plant.

[psychocat]

Ladybugs are excellent pest assassins. If you have a mite colony, or aphids, these little creatures will obliterate them before they can infest your crop. You'd definitely need more than one if you were needing to fight an infestation, but just keeping a few around as a preventative measure isn't going to hurt anything.

They will not eat or otherwise harm your leaves. Worst case scenario, they might poop on the leaves...leaving a small red spot here and there. Again, if there's only one or two, this isn't anything to worry about. You should be sure to leave a small dish of water in there for them, or they'll get dehydrated and die.

As for earthworms in your soil, there's nothing wrong with that either. Earthworms will burrow and move around all throughout the soil, making for natural aeration, and they will not harm your roots. Also, earthworms expel waste through their skin, known as 'castings', and this is very good for the plants, as it contains plenty of organic goodies. If you don't want a bunch of squigglies roaming around your soil, adding pre-packaged earthworm castings is a fine alternative.

This gets my vote for post of the day:
Honest and accurate information with no maybes or bullshit guessing.

10 out of 10 man

Ladybirds are the carnivore of the insect world they DO NOT eat leaves

[Mr. Clandestine]

10 out of 10 man

Much appreciated, my friend!

[kyolic]

where the hell do you buy lady bugs at?

[yokinazu]

look in something like mother earth news or do a search on organic gardening/pest control.
also make sure it is a lady bug and is red not them orange looking ones(wich will bite the crap outa you and hurts). the orang ones like to feast on plants. i had a problem with them eating my greenbans a while back. i actually had to break done and use a chemical pesticide.

[GaGrown]

I just rode 150 miles with these 2 mama's and got them in the house to check for damage and pests and such,and came across this lil' beauty! I think I'll keep her! Well my pic file is too large. There was a lady bug on my plant that had been for a ride literally! I'll try to keep my photo's smaller.I zoomed in so it could be seen.Ended up being 2.59 MB.

Ga Grown!:stoned:

[M.B.A.]

I have no idea, Id say remove it because it will prolly eat the leaves.

What about putting earth worms in my soil, for an indoor grow ?

wow...u have never gardened in your life have you...lady bugs eat smaller pests and insects, if no food, may resort to eating vegitation, but for the most part they eat smaller insects

[M.B.A.]

where the hell do you buy lady bugs at?

HOME DEPOT OSH or any other Hardware/Garden Center or even order em off the internet, saw alot of em goin to the midwest when I worked at UPS

[dr4bud]

Here you go beneficial insects
Suppliers of Beneficial Organisms in North America, HTML version