Ladybug Luck

I have two lovely mock orange shrubs in my garden. One is in the front yard, and the other is in the back. They produce gorgeous cream-coloured flowers that smell slightly sweet. A couple of weekends ago, my boyfriend pointed out that the top of the mock orange shrub in the backyard was covered with pin-sized bugs. I then noticed some of the leaves on the ends of the branches were curling and starting to shrivel. Ugh, I’d seen that before. About 10 years ago, I planted a summer container garden on the balcony of the apartment I rented at the time. I went on a European vacation for a couple of weeks and when I returned, aphids had devastated the once-thriving garden. It never fully recovered.

I checked the mock orange in the front yard and lo and behold, the aphids had taken over the tips of its uppermost branches too. There were so many of them that some branches looked almost completely black. I bought some Safer’s insecticidal soap and sprayed the mock orange in the backyard, hitting the pesky aphids directly. It didn’t seem to help and I ended up getting a soapy shower. So, I decided to take a “harmony in nature” approach: I was going to use ladybugs. When I was little, my Mom always told me ladybugs were good luck. I was hoping that would be the case here with the aphid infestation.

While surfing on local gardening shop websites, I learned that the Natural Gardener on Vancouver’s westside carries them. I phoned to ensure they had some in stock and went over after work to pick some up. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would they be live ladybugs? Eggs that would hatch? Would they come in a container?

Bob, the owner of the Natural Gardener, was very helpful. He grabbed a small, brown paper bag out of the back and told me the ladybugs were sleeping since they’d been in the fridge. I looked inside the bag through its small, clear window. There they were, cute little round red beetles with black spots, nestled on some fine wood shavings.

Then he explained the procedure. What I needed to do was keep the bag in the fridge until I was ready to release the ladybugs, and the time to release them was at dusk. First I should spray the shrubs with a hose to moisten the leaves, although rain was predicted that evening so could possibly skip this step. Then I was to open the bag and release the ladybugs directly onto the shrub. I asked if I needed two bags since I had two shrubs. Bob said no, because there are 250 ladybugs in the bag, so I could just divide them evenly between the two mock oranges. So homeward I went.

By the time I reached the house 20 minutes later, the ladybugs seemed livelier and some of them appeared to be getting frisky with each other. I put them in the fridge right away. I noticed on the bag the ladybugs come from The Bug Lady, a supplier of good bugs that eat bad bugs in the garden, and the expiry date for this batch was June 17!

I waited until dusk. It had started to rain and was getting dark rapidly. When I peeked outside, I discovered it was raining heavily. So I donned a Gore-Tex jacket and headed over to the mock orange in the backyard. I opened the bag and grabbed the wood shavings, expecting the ladybugs to come with it. When I looked back in the bag, there was still a ladybug colony left. So, I quickly grabbed a portion of the shavings from a branch and put them back in the bag, feebly attempting to get more ladybugs to cling to it. I wasn’t sure if I should place them all on one spot or not. The shrub is about eight feet high and five or six feet in diameter—would they spread themselves out instinctively? I decided to release them on two sides just in case

It was pouring and the paper bag was quickly becoming soggy. I ran to the front yard and it was easier to reach the infested area on this mock orange because it’s smaller and the yard is stepped with the shrub on the lowest level. By now, the clump of wood shavings was reduced to single strands, so I just stuck my hand in the bag hoping the ladybugs would climb on so I could place them on the leaves directly. Slowly the numbers in the bottom of the waterlogged bag diminished until there none.

I hurried inside with drenched hair and Gore-Tex jacket dripping. I went into the bathroom to dry off and felt a tickle on my back. I shook my shirt and out came a ladybug! I looked down and there was another one on the floor. Like me, they seemed to prefer a roof overhead.

I waited four days and checked for eggs and nymphs (larvae). The nymphs are what you want to see because they’re hungry and they’ll eat plenty of aphids. I looked at both trees. I didn’t see any eggs or nymphs. I did notice a couple of ladybugs hanging out on the leaves. I also saw a couple on my peonies and irises below the mock oranges. Maybe they fled for cover in the deluge too?

I waited a week, and after seeing no results, I went back to the Natural Gardener. Bob said to give it until the after weekend and see. So I did. It’s now Tuesday. Last night the weather was crazy with hail and lightening, so I wasn’t going out to investigate. I went out this evening and, at first glance, the mock orange in the backyard looked a bit less “sooty” on top. Maybe the hail blasted the aphids off? As I got closer, I saw what appeared to be a little nymph (they look a bit like teeny black alligators)! The more I looked, the more of them I saw! I’m curious to discover how hungry they are in the next few days.