lady bugs

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Springfield mo
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So I know lady bugs are great for pest control in our garden. At my work there is an outdoor break table that is constantly covered in these little bugs. After some reaserch I have found out they are lady bug larva. Id like to take some home for my garden and i was wondering how difficult it would be to transfer some larva to my garden. What do the larva need to survive?
 
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Colima, Mexico
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Hello MWN...that's great that you researched the lady beetle larvae, because many people assume they are bad bugs and squish them. It's a great idea to look through photos of all the different kinds of lady beetle larvae...some look alarmingly like mealy bugs for example. The larvae eat an incredible amount of aphids. About transporting them to your garden, a lot depends on how long a trip it is from work to home. I would first check in my garden to see if there are aphids or similar for them to eat. If you transport adult lady beetles and there are no aphids, they will fly away. If you transport lady beetle larvae and there is nothing to eat, they will scurry around until they find something and could end up in your neighbors' yards. I would transport them in a small box with a ventilated lid and some fresh vegetation preferably with some aphids on it and when home, put them on a plant or plants where there is a good food source of aphids or other sap suckers, insect eggs, etc. They won't eat the vegetation but they will run around looking for things on the vegetation to eat.
 

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