Ladybug Mercenaries Indoors

LOL Dizzle Frost, that's awesome. He kinda does have that look haha. What's that other bug?

I plan on getting PMs for my veggie patches, I love the idea of these beneficial predators.

If u still have SM. I would go to Walmart or HomeDepot and grab some Garden Safe product that has Pyrethins in it and start using that. Then go ahead and go 12/12

For sure, I forgot to mention my neem is Neem Py. I has Pyrethrins in it, a small percentage albeit (Pyrethrins: .25%). I'll do some research as to the percentages of Pyrethrins in Garden Safe products, see how that compares.

Sincerest thanks GoldenGanja, you've been such a huge help!!

"word of cautoin tho ....my buddies son caught a mantis and took it home...but it hatched a kazzilion eggs..so there was lil green mantis babys all over the place LOL was funny till his wife got home...then it was a sport ! lmao dont bring a pregnant mantis home"

Praying Mantis spin their eggs into a cocoon which hatches the next year. The DO NOT give live birth.

LOL Yeah I am cautious and I only allow Praying Mantis in my garden for a few days then I let it go and if I see another one and I am bored I let them in, smoke a bowl with him, let him eat a few LB and then see him out~

i found a ladybug and put it in my grow room, i found it 2 days later crippled and dried out on the floor and my temps max at 85

upthearsenal said:

LOL Dizzle Frost, that's awesome. He kinda does have that look haha. What's that other bug?

I plan on getting PMs for my veggie patches, I love the idea of these beneficial predators.

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its a cicada bug

@ snew
he brought it home in one of those clear plastic reptile things...i dunno the details...but that did happen lol...dude there was soo many ...and
@ golden ganja
LMAO thats funny you capture em to chill with

Killer Vanilla said:

i found a ladybug and put it in my grow room, i found it 2 days later crippled and dried out on the floor and my temps max at 85

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You think it was the temps? Maybe it was a lack of food. That would suck if it was the temps that killed it.

upthearsenal said:

It seems like any good miticide is fuckin pricey. Either way, I think I'll bomb the area once these plants are done.

On another note: Ladybugs have been shipped (yesterday, a few hours after ordering, good service so far).

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Yeah, Forbid is several hundreds/qt, but I got like 5ml (IIRC) on epray for less than $20 shipped. It's been over a year and I still have more than 1/2 of it left. You only need 1/8tsp/gallon and a qt of solution will do a bunch of plants. I've never needed a repeat application, never.

Wet

I have just added ladybugs to my grow tent, I found a few bugs on the plants so went to the local park with roses and collected about 6 and have released them, I also added a wet paper towel and sultanas for extra food and water, I had a look thismorning and they are fully patroling the plant, they look so cute and seem happy.
I will most likely always keep a few in there for precaution about any bugs entering, and they will be taken care of before becoming a problem

That's awesome ozgril, thanks for the food and water tip

Smart Ozgril, keeping water near.

Yeah I dont want them to die, and I was looking around for info and discovered they only need a wet paper towel, and non acidic fruit. I just pulled my plant outside for a good watering, it was outside for half hour, and then went back in the tent, and the lady bugs all stayed, I thought for sure they would all fly away, and I would need more.
So obviously they like their new home, and I would recommend these lb's to any grower now.

Happy 4/20 everyone! My ladybugs arrived today, I got a temporary spot setup for them, and will be making it a lot bigger later on. When I do so I also plan on leaving it in the grow room, so that they will have food and water that I leave them in their habitat, and if they want to fly around and munch out on some spidermites, they can. How does that sound? Any suggestions?

Time for some pics :
Drinking some water, they were SO thirsty. If anyone gets some, it's vital to give them water fast. When I first got them I sprayed the top of the container they came in, within minutes they were covering the inside top sucking on little droplets.


Didn't have grapes at the moment, so I did research and found a lot of info. They will die if they eat acidic food, so just find some that isn't. I made sure they could eat apples and carrots. Lots on conflicting info about these foods, yet they are both alkaline and should be fine.


Not the only attempted escape



Their full enclosure:


420 party in the house!!!



Balled up tp soaking up excess water from when I sprayed 'em down(you can use cottons balls, napkins anything that can absorb the water). If you don't watch out they can drown in the water you leave, or spray them down with. Best to leave the water in some kind of media anyways (sponge, tp, etc).

So I placed about a dozen LBs in my flowering room and they instantly started patroling the plants for food. After a while though, you noticed that some just want to sunbathe or burrow themselves a bit and sleep in the soil. It was nice knowing while I was at work the mercenaries were counteracting the pests.

I also had a huge escape, about 70 got out and were all over the room, it was fine though, my gf and I had a lot of fun catching them all, and it only took about an hour, lol....

I'm going to build a better enclosure tonight, and I plan on introducing more tonight before the lights come on.

Oh, and spraying with soda pop water/sugar water is almost essential. It helps a ton if they get out, and prevents them from flying into my air-cooled hood (which I'm going to cover with a screen, my fixture is on a light mover so the holes on the sides are exposed).

Very interesting keep us posted.

upthearsenal said:

So I placed about a dozen LBs in my flowering room and they instantly started patroling the plants for food. After a while though, you noticed that some just want to sunbathe or burrow themselves a bit and sleep in the soil. It was nice knowing while I was at work the mercenaries were counteracting the pests.

I also had a huge escape, about 70 got out and were all over the room, it was fine though, my gf and I had a lot of fun catching them all, and it only took about an hour, lol....

I'm going to build a better enclosure tonight, and I plan on introducing more tonight before the lights come on.

Oh, and spraying with soda pop water/sugar water is almost essential. It helps a ton if they get out, and prevents them from flying into my air-cooled hood (which I'm going to cover with a screen, my fixture is on a light mover so the holes on the sides are exposed).

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Nice i hope you can catch a few photos of them eatting some Spider Mites. Also cant wait to hear how good this works for you

It's really cool watching them munch out, and they are very industrious. Although when the lights come on later, I'm going to apply my first application of Organicide. They are certainly helping out, but I don't know who is winning. I haven't introduced dozens yet, only about 20. I'm building up the courage to add many more but I don't know if it'll be too much to handle. I'm sure if I introduced a couple hundred they would be much more effective because a lot of them just chill, and hang out with each other, or hump... there's a lot of humping going on. I'd say about half chill and hump each other, and the other half patrol, so with that in mind I probably should at least double the population...

Alright I'm just rambling now... My lights come one later tonight, so I'll try and get some shots either then or in the morning.

Oh yeah, if anyone has any suggestions as to a good enclosure, I'd appreciate it. The one I have is good but they seem to be able to burrow under duct tape and escape... little fuckers

Praying mantis's do work!!!! And they look sweet chillin on ur plants