Time to bring in the Ladybug Hit Squad

   I went out a few evenings ago to harvest some Tatsoi greens from the hydroponic garden.  They were covered in aphids.  I should have known, since we had ants all over the towers, and that's not a common occurrence for us.  Ants love to eat the sugary secretions the aphids leave behind, and will swarm an aphid colony and actually try to protect them.  Since we try to use only organic methods in our garden, I need to order some ladybugs from http://www.gardensalive.com/ to combat the problem.  Ladybugs are voracious aphid-eaters.  Tammy asked me why I don't get them from the local big-box home improvement store, but the few times I've seen them there, all the ladybugs were dead in the bags.  I've had great success with the ones I've gotten from Gardens Alive.  Maybe since Tammy lives in California where the ladybugs are grown, they have a fighting chance to stay alive at those stores.
   Another way we combat aphids is to plant 'sacrificial' plants.  We find plants that the aphids like better than our crops or other ornamentals like our daylilies and hibiscus.  One of those is the Guara (commonly known as "Whirling Butterfly".)  We buy a few of those and plant them near the plants we want to protect.  Some of the aphids, not all, will flock to the Guara, leaving the other plants alone... this gives them a chance to fight the aphids on their own.  The Ladybug Hit Squad will take care of the rest.

   To keep ladybugs alive over several weeks, we put them in a little screened-in wooden box, with some wood shavings and a paper towel soaked in sugar water.  The picture above is the box, but in this photo, it's housing a parsley plant with a bunch of Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars on it.  I don't recommend using a little kids' Critter Keeper for the ladybugs.  Trust me.  The ladybugs are crafty and get out through the vents on the lid.  It takes quite a while to wrangle 2000 of them loose in your living room. Anyhow..... the ladybugs will glom all over the paper towel to eat the sugar water.  At night, right before sundown, I take out the paper towel (and any ladybugs that happen to be eating at the time) and put the paper towel on or near the aphid infested plant.  Ladybugs won't fly at night, so they'll settle in.  Come morning, the paper towel will be abandoned for their favorite food:  aphids.  I release some every few days, and can make a pint last a month.  The directions say you can put them in the refrigerator, but I can't bring myself to do that to them.  I just order more if I need more.