A couple days ago I noticed a rather large aphid infestation that popped up practically overnight! So to the web I went and ordered a load of aphid assassins better known as ladybugs. The box showed up yesterday and i thought I would show you what 18000 ladybugs looked like as they march off to war with aphids!
Team Aphid vs Team Ladybug
The enemy is the Aphid, a little bug with big destructive power. They attack the plant by sucking sap from the leaves and stems of the plant, causing leaves to wither and die off. Aphids can multiply at an alarming rate, and spread like wildfire. Just like they did in the greenhouse. Lucky for me they seem to prefer the cucumbers and not the tomatoes.
Our hero in this story is the brightly colored Ladybug, also know in some parts as the ladybeetle. These are predatory insects that can devour up to 5000 aphids in it's lifetime, I brought in 18,000 do the math! They also lay eggs that hatch out a wild looking larvae that hunts Aphids as well, so you get an army of hunters after a while. So as the ladybug life cycle continues, we should have plenty of coverage for a while!
Why insects and not pesticides?
We use bees in the greenhouse to pollinate the tomatoes, those bees ain't cheap. If we go around spraying a bunch of toxins to wipe out the aphids we would lose the bees as well. We also try to keep as organic as possible, and keep the chemical sprays down to a very minimum. Our customers want clean, pesticide free produce so that's what we try to give them.
Let slip the ladybugs of war!
So it's time for the unboxing you have all been waiting for.
Live Ladybugs, the box says it all!
They arrived in good shape, they are packed in a cotton bag filled with straw, ready to attack the invaders. they must be hungry after the day trip they made.
The release!
There they go, ready to march on the Aphid hordes! They are all lively and move out of that bag with a purpose! I spread them around on all the cucumbers, even the ones on the opposite side of the greenhouse, in case they aphids decide they can migrate with impunity.
It doesn't take long at all, I watched several of them start devouring aphids as soon as they hit the plants, It was quite a sight to behold. So hopefully they will at least put a dent in the aphid population in several weeks. I will keep you updated on the progress and see if I can get a few pics of the larvae as they begin to emerge.
Got a little video of our heroes!
Also In The News
The Green Zebra Tomatoes have really started to produce this week, lots of ripe ones going out. This is one tasty tomato, if you have a chance to try them I would highly recommend them!
Well that's all for today, I keep you posted on the war of the cucumbers!
So until then, Keep Growing!
Name in peppers made by 
All photos are mine.