THE BENEFICIAL INSECT PAGE

Insect Alert Page Beneficial Insects Page Insect Links
	This page lists some of the beneficial insects that we carry at our store. There are many beneficial insects that are not listed here. We hope the information that is provided will be useful in learning about these beneficial insects. Before placing beneficial insects in your garden, be sure that your garden is pesticide free or at least no pesticides have been used recently. Many pesticides will kill beneficial insects as well as the unwanted insects. On this page, you will find information about: Ladybugs Praying Mantids Beneficial Nematodes LADYBUGS (Hippodamia convergens) What do they eat? Ladybugs prefer to eat aphids and will devour up to 50 a day, but they will also attack scale, mealy bugs, boil worm, leaf hopper, and corn ear worm. They dine only on insects and do not harm vegetation in any way. When are they available? We carry ladybugs in our store generally from March through the first part of May each year. Since they are alive, and will not live for long periods in their containers, we order small quantities on regular intervals during the Spring. You can put your name on a list to be notified in the Spring by calling the nursery. How and When to Release Ladybugs: Ladybugs should always be released after sundown since they only fly in the daytime. During the night, they will search the area for food and stay as long as there is food for them to eat. The more they eat, the more eggs they lay and the more insect-eating larvae you will have. It is best if the area has been recently watered. Ladybugs tend to crawl up and toward light. So release them in small groups at the base of plants and shrubs that have aphids or other insects, and in the lower parts of trees. The Lady Bug Life Cycle: Ladybugs mate in the Spring and lay yellow eggs in cluster of 10 to 50 on the underside of leaves. About five days later the larvae emerge and will eat about 400 aphids during their 2.5 week cycle. The larvae look like tiny black caterpillars with orange spots but do not eat vegetation. The larvae then pupate and emerge from their cocoon as adults after about a week. They begin feeding on aphids, other insects, and pollen to build up their body fat. In the Summer and Fall the Ladybugs migrate into the mountains and during the Winter they lie dormant under the snow. In the early Spring they fly back down to the lowlands to resume searching for food in earnest. They begin mating, lay eggs, and die. PRAYING MANTIDS What do they eat? These ferocious looking creatures eat a wide variety of insects: beetles, caterpillars, grubs, aphids, grass-hoppers, almost anything that moves. But they are so much fun that many people buy them for pets. And since they don't fly, they stay right in the area where they are released. Like ladybugs, praying mantids are completely harmless to people, pets, and the environment. Praying Mantids, in their younger stages, eat aphids, thrips, flies & maggots, small caterpillars, leafhoppers, white grubs and other soft-bodied insects. Mature Mantids feed on larger caterpillars, earwigs, chinch bugs, sow bugs, beetles, grasshoppers and other large insects. When are they available? Praying Mantids are available during the same period as are the Ladybugs, March through early May. They, however, are in egg cases and take usually 2 or more weeks to hatch. How and When to Release Praying Mantids: Put the egg case in a bush, hedge, limb, or anything more than two feet above the ground. The egg case may be inserted in the fork of a branch or hung with a piece of string or needle and thread run through the outside of the case. Hanging will help keep birds and rodents from eating the eggs in the case. If ants are in the area oiling the string will help keep them away. When the eggs hatch the egg case does not change in appearance except for what looks like a little sawdust hanging from the seam. Since the Mantids do not move much and blend easily with their surroundings, it is easy to miss the hatching. While most insects are constantly searching for food, Mantids are content to stay in one area and wait for their food to walk by and then grab it with their strong forelegs. This is why they are good to use early in the season, before there are pest problems, and use other insects after pests arrive. The Praying Mantid Life Cycle: Praying Mantids hatch out of their egg case along the seam that looks like louvered windows with some mud packed on top. They hatch in the Spring when the weather warms, the warmer the temperature, the sooner they hatch. Unlike most insects the Mantids do not hatch as larvae, they emerge as miniature adults, about half an inch long. They will grow through the Spring and Summer until they reach a length of 5 to 6 inches, shedding their skins several times. Although Mantids have wings, they do not use them until the Fall when the females wings develop and she begins flying around looking for males to mate with. After mating, she eats the head off the male, which helps to nourish her eggs. She then attaches the brown foam to a branch, lays her eggs inside, and dies shortly afterward. The eggs are protected from the Winter cold in the foam and the cycle begins again in the Spring. BENEFICIAL NEMATODES What do they eat? These microscopic insects will seek out and destroy over 200 kinds of soil dwelling and wood boring insects, including cutworms, armyworms, rootworms, weevils, grubs, fungus gnat larvae, and many more. They are completely safe for people, pets, and the environment, and are compatible with other beneficial insects. Beneficial nematodes are shipped live in the box and may be mixed directly into the soil and are applied with a sprayer. When are they available? They are available in our nursery during the Spring months. It is recommended that you put yourself on our list by calling the nursery, so that we can call you when they are in stock.

Mid City Nursery, Inc
3635 Broadway
Napa-Vallejo Highway
American Canyon, CA 94503
(707) 642-4167