Ludybugs(do they eat plants)??
- Thread starter turkster
- Start date
WillieNelson
Well-Known Member
I have never seen a lady bug eat a plant. I have seen large holes in leaves caused from an aphid or mildew infestation where there were also lady bugs present, but have never witnessed lady bug larvae eating plant matter.
From ohio University Fact sheet:
Lady Beetle, HYG-2002-98
"Lady beetles, both adults and larvae, are known primarily as predators of aphids (plant lice), but they prey also on many other pests such as soft-scale insects, mealybugs, spider mites and eggs of the Colorado Potato Beetle and European Corn Borer. A few feed on plant and pollen mildews. One larva will eat about 400 medium-size aphids during its development to the pupal stage. An adult will eat about 300 medium-size aphids before it lays eggs. About three to ten aphids are eaten for each egg the beetle lays. More than 5,000 aphids may be eaten by a single adult in its lifetime. The lady beetle's huge appetite and reproductive capacity often allow it to rapidly clean out its prey.
WillieNelson
Well-Known Member
It's odd that a nursery would sell such an odd species. There are very few species of Lady Beatles that eat plants and neither look like a "lady bug" to me. They will either move on to another area or move into the highest crack or space in your growroom if they go hungry. I have been a gardener for years before starting to grow and have never seen a lady bug eat my tomatos or my cannabis(and I run a very clean garden so I know they are not living on aphids). Sorry for being bullheaded, but I can not find a tomato or cannabis eating lady beetle anywhere. Online or in my Entomology Field Guide.
From Uuniversity of Kentucky:
Ladybugs | University of Kentucky Entomology
Plant Feeding Lady Beetles?
There two species of lady beetles in Kentucky that feed on plants rather than insects. They are the Mexican bean beetle and the squash beetle. Both are very easy to recognize. Mexican bean beetle adults, which feed on garden beans and occasionally soybeans, have orange bodies with eight black spots on each wing cover, Squash beetles, which attack squash, pumpkin, and cantaloupe, have only seven spots. The larvae are also very distinctive and shouldn't be mistaken for predaceous larvae, because they have large forked spines across their yellowish orange bodies.
From Uuniversity of Kentucky:
Ladybugs | University of Kentucky Entomology
Plant Feeding Lady Beetles?
shamegame
Well-Known Member
Well please inform the University of Kentucky that OSH harware in California is selling ladybugs that " may eat vegetation if no food source is available." They may have been talking about the larvae. I really don't want to have to go to OSH and buy lady bugs I don't need just to show ya...
WillieNelson
Well-Known Member
I didn't doubt that they list that on their product. The standard "lady bug" of America is the C. septempunctata which does not eat plant matter. The C. septempunctata is the state insect of 6 states and is what is likely in Turksters garden. The "lady bug" that everyone knows and loves only eats mites, mildew, and aphids. There are several types of Lady beetles that eat certain plants. These are not commonly called lady bugs by anyone with an Entomolgy background.
shamegame
Well-Known Member
Fair enough.
shamegame
Well-Known Member
Who said he didn't?
WillieNelson
Well-Known Member
Little aphids and mites can be almost impossible to see. They can even feast on mildew. Shes keeping an eye out for you. She might have stopped an attack you didnt know was coming.