Aphid control
This has been a great year for aphids, round here at least. In the nesting season that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as any small insect is potentially a useful source of protein for chicks, but sometimes the birds need some help. The larvae of the green lacewing apparently have such an appetite for aphids that you can buy them from garden suppliers (I didn’t – this is a wild lacewing!)
Meanwhile, there are other aphid predators, notably ladybirds (ladybugs) both as adults and as larvae: here’s an indigenous 7-spot:
Trouble is, they are in danger of being replaced by the grey squirrel of ladybirds, the Harlequin:
a.k.a. Multicoloured Asian Ladybird (more info at Harlequin Ladybird Survey), so if you see the larvae of these, I recommend you squish them (maybe take a photo first!) – here’s what they look like:
15 June 2009 at 10:44
I’d love to get lacewings in our garden. There is a real aphid plague right now, yesterday in fact, while I was gardening I got covered in the winged sort which bodes ill for our beans. We do get ladybirds, but sadly the ants do an efficient job of turfing them off the plants to protect the honey dew secreting aphids. It’s an amazing thing to watch, they just team up, pick up the ladybird and chuck it.
Haven’t seen a harlequin yet thank goodness but I have heard that they’ve been found nearby…ack!
29 June 2009 at 13:48
PS:- gutted to report that our garden is riddled with harlequins, their larvae and pupae. Sigh. But apparently my neightbourhood has been full of them for years