Just put ladybugs on my plants. How long till they eradicate the mites and will they eat the mite eggs as well?
Months and yes. Then you need mantis to eat they lady bugs, then remove the mantis. Make sure you only use female mantis' as they'll eat males, cunts..
[quote name='"Kesey"'] Months and yes. Then you need mantis to eat they lady bugs, then remove the mantis. Make sure you only use female mantis' as they'll eat males, cunts..[/quote] I hope this response was a joke. Lady bugs help keep down mite populations, and are mostly useful as a preventative. They WILL NOT be able to get rid of a mite infestation. Secondly, you don't buy mantis to get rid of lady bugs. That's like the old lady who swallowed a fly story, lol. Mantis are good too, but again, they won't put a dent in an established mite colony. Your best bets would be predatory mites (little red ones that eat the bad ones) or organic sprays like neem or pyrethrin.
praying mantis works better....ladybugs main diet is aphids....but they will eat mites...but the mantis eats anything alive...including ladybuds...sold at most nurserys...
neem, azitrol, pyrithrin, ive got this new stuff called SNS 217.. works upto harvest. completely natural. works just like pyrithrin. except made with rosemary instead of mums. lady bugs work, but i was just watching a show called infested.. this place had a HUGE infestation of brown recluse spiders because of a large lady bug population.
That's the problem. Most of the predatory buds aren't enough and we end up going to sprays, which then kill the predators we brought it.
What I'm told about ladybugs though is that they basically do 2 things in life. Eat and fuck. The problem with getting Lady Bugs that are grow is that they've already done most of their eating, and now they're busy fucking. Once their babies come those babies have ferocious appetites and will do a number on the mites. Problem is that takes awhile. Depending on Mite to Lady Bug ratio the babies can take care of mites. If you have a separate grow though that was a place other than your house, might be worth keeping lady bugs around full time though. Probably wouldn't want it at your house. lol. Have Lady Bugs everywhere.
this is why you buy ladybugs from a reputible source. they keep then in a box and starve them before they ship them to you. then suck them off with a shop vac. neem oil has worked great for a few friends of mine too