Do you see anything unusual about this photo?



How about this one?



How about this one?



Now you're getting the picture, eh? I was in Forest Falls this morning for an estimate to build a waterfall for this woman. On my walk through the garden I stumbled upon this amazing little colony of lady bugs. Come to find out they visit her garden each year to breed! I didn't get any particulars on the breeding, rearing of young or what not but I was sure jumping to get my camera so I could share it with everyone. She certainly didn't have any aphids!



There was literally THOUSANDS of lady bugs on, in, above, and around this planter. Notice the Horsetail. The homeowner told me that on occasion she will come out there and it will look like a red squirmy carpet in her garden!



Enjoy,

The Pond Digger

Wow!

damn, i need some of those in my yard. i'm finding alot of aphids on my plants.

btw, does anybody know the name of those little red bugs that you often see on stones or cement. when you touch them or 'smush' them they smear like a blood stain? They are almost always out when it is sunny and in the spring as well. I'm thinking they could be aphids before migrating to plants to eat. Not sure.

did any of them attack you?

Last time I saw a swarm of them like that, they would bite me when they landed on me. It hurts!

yeah, I thought of red bugs too. Don't know though with all of the different bugs around the country. Does anyone have a history with blister beetles? They love my walking stick willow and was wondering if they would pollute my pond? They will cause a blister on your skin.....if you are alergic......and could they pollute my pond?

I know lady bugs are known for biting on occasion. They were too busy being romantic to even worry about me. I wonder what the lady bug larvae look like?

The Pond Digger

Just happened to have a picture in my collection...

Thanks DMUR! That's great!

What do they eat? Do they prey upon other insects at this stage in the game?

PD

Yes! They have voracious appetites in the larvae state. I've had them in my garden over the years, and love to see them because they don't fly away, they just keep eating and crawling from plant to plant. I could use a few of those on my tomato plants right now. I'm starting to see some red spider mites, which are so hard to control, and those little buggers just love them.

You can order them online!!!! I ordered some mature lady bugs and they were great!!!! untill they flew away to greener gardens! You can over populate and then they seek food else were. I didn't think the larva would do as well but now I see what you are talking about...they can't fly away...but you could still over populate and then I supose they would not survive. But if you could split with a neighbor? I do see a greater population since I bought the adults. I also ordered a wasp that goes for the fly...we have horses...so we released them in the barn. Did pretty well but...not as well as the lady bugs. Just didn't seem to stick around the next year.
Did love the pix of the larva!