I have the safers on hand so I will give that a shot first. I just panicked because I never had these before. I wasn’t sure how difficult they were to get rid of
Ya, if you do it right after lights out you’ll be fine. I soaked my entire 4x8 top to bottom those plants were dripping. Shut it up and left it overnight , next morning every plant was praying. I sprayed two others that were in a corner by themselves but under 24 hour light, both looked like I nuked em! Thank God they were just males I was holding but I instantly realized what I had done after reading through the thread again . I’m positive it works too
Beware pyrethrin is toxic for cats.
I totally get that, I do the same EVERYTIME I ever find anything I haven’t seen before. I remember thinking springtails were the end of me, Mike laughed at me when I killed everything off and started disinfecting. He’s like “you just killed a couple hundred bucks in beans, wasted two bails and a ton of h2o2 for nothing. Then he explained. Yet I still tend to panick EVERYTIME, even for stupid fungus gnats
Just cats? Or dogs too? I didn’t know this
Dogs are OK, but lethal for cats (I guess depending on the exposition).
Thanks for the info I had no idea
My pleasure, me neither until I stumbled upon the info. Now I’m the pyrethrin watcher reminding it kills cats
Haha it’s a tough job but somebody has to do it.
I just went to check on everything. Most of the ladybugs are dead or not on plants. There are a few hanging around the groups of aphids though. And I see dead aphids so the ladybugs killed some of them.
Wtf already? That’s odd, I mean some will die that is a given but shouldn’t be a bunch yet, at least the living ones are chowing down! I wonder if it’s the residuals?
The ladybugs you can catch with a trap and some food and freeze them for later
Did you spray the ladybugs with sugar water so they can’t fly?
Lol late night snacks
Agenda 2030 steak
Lmmfao true that!
Oh yeah…they’ll eat fungus gnats…the nymphs though…the lady bug nymphs. -look like horrors eat relentlessly…
Good luck on getting the ladybugs to flourish inside to the point where they exit mating diapause and produce eggs.
Things to remember with the ladybugs:
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They get confused and “disoriented” underneath most “artificial” lighting. Thats one of the reasons they become inactive and cluster in lighting crevices around one’s indoor grow spaces. I believe I remember a study that indicated UV lighting plays a role and that perhaps ‘natural” or full spectrum lighting may be beneficial. Read more about ladybugs and light here.
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Ya have to use a lot of them. I read a study that I’ll try to find that said an average rose-bush needs around 300 ladybugs to clear it of an average mite infestation.
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They’re living things that need access to water. It’s also a good idea with any predatory insects or mites to provide a secondary food source since your intent is to kill off their primary source.
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Most store-bought lady bugs are “harvested” seasonally when they gather at high elevations. Think masses of clustered bugs that are literally scooped up in the wild. They’re typically not “farmed” in a conventional sense.
Lots of these harvested bugs are at the ends of their lives and often 1-in-5 (20%) are hosting a parasitic wasp larvae that will turn them into “Zombie bugs”.
- Read up before you release them outside to maximize your chances of them sticking around and settling in. Typically they’ll fly away with 24-48 hours.
But seriously…for fungus gnats - this is what you want
Crush the bits up a bit and don’t put too much in as they can provide a medium for mold growth.
The BT will get rid of those gnats toot-sweet. I also like to gauge the intensity of the infestation with yellow sticky paper.
Mix Coca Cola and water in equal amounts. 1 cup to 1 cup. Use the mix to spray the lady bugs before you release them. This will temporarily glue the wings , so they can’t fly away
I read that ladybugs mostly crawl around. If they fly they are seeking a new environment. Mine flew for the first 2 days, but by the third I could take plants out of the tent with ladybugs on them, and they stay put.
I read that if you create an environment with food, water, light, and heat, they won’t try to escape, and that has been my experience.
I will say that survival rate on 150 ladybugs ended up at about 50% after 2 weeks.
Found the study about quantities to be effective. According to this study actually much higher than “300”. More like 3000