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Like a tiny armoured tank, making its way through foliage, on the look out for some juicy aphids to snack on. Psyllids and mealybugs are also part of the Harmonia conformis ladybird larva's diet. And I've read that they have also been observed feeding on larvae of other ladybird species.
Harmonia conformis is one of our large, native ladybirds.
Link to adult stage: www.flickr.com/photos/112623317@N03/52354180623/in/photol...
and, showing the variation in colour: www.flickr.com/photos/112623317@N03/53178943556/in/photol...
Around 7 mm length.
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We interrupt the usual line-up of 100 Strangers and their exploits for a candid shot of visitors to the rose garden.
I noticed that voracious aphids had moved into the neighborhood and returned with my soap spray only to discover a few of these little ones busy munching their way up the stems. And if I didn't love them before, I definitely do now.
Oh, and a happy summer Solstice to everyone north of the equator!
It was resting under a Cashew nut leaf. It had an extremely long ovipositor and the whole body was not so tiny.
A female Astata wasp relieves the garden of another stinkbug. Seen here in the crown of a Hellebore.
Home Garden.
Portland, Oregon.
Demonstrating the size difference between the smaller worker and the large queen. Notice she lacks a stinger, possessing an egg-laying ovipositer instead.
Wondercide offers natural pest control, natural flea & tick control, natural soap, natural bed bug killer, organic fertilizer, neem skin tonics, natural mosquito repellent, natural lawn pesticides, and much more!
Performing a stink bug treatment typically involves ladder work. Heres one of our technicians spraying an attic vent, a favorite entry point.
Not very beautiful but apparently another friend to the garden and a natural pest control ......I've never noticed these before. They are sometimes mistaken for bumblebees.
There are over 200 species of ladybird in Australia. I'm no expert but I think this is the Common Spotted Ladybird (Harmonia conformis). Worldwide there are over 5000 species of ladybird.
I have quite a large population of aphids on my roses, but the ladybird population is growing quickly. The larvae of this species will consume up to 50 aphids per day. So, I think I'll leave it to the ladybirds to save my roses.
This cactus appears to emit a sticky substance which traps flies. Perhaps kitchens and chicken coops should have
This year I’m overrun by ground squirrels, but there was a time when they weren’t a problem
(Tip — the video has a surprise ending.)
The number of ground squirrels overrunning The Acre this year is astounding.
I don’t know if the dry winter let more survive, or if my neighbor’s newly constructed pool drove them out, or if all the good squirrel predators have changed their tastes, but I am literally stumbling over these rodents and their burrows everywhere.
I’ve found them wreaking havoc in the vegetable garden, the keyhole garden, and the greenhouse. This morning there was one chowing down on a cherimoya on my back deck. Since March I’ve trapped more than 40, and spent ungodly amounts on baits, poisons and gasses – all to little or no effect as far as I can tell.
It wasn’t always like this though.
Once upon a time we had four Dachshunds. Low slung wienerdogs with shovels for front paws and a single-minded determination to dig as far and fast as they could in pursuit of burrowing animals.
They were a quartet of rescues, all abandoned because they were the undesirable “tweenie” size, weren’t perfectly shaped for the breed, or had health problems like Cushing’s disease, bad backs, etc.
Individually they were plenty of fun, but together they were a pack of baying, barking hyperactive hounds that tore up landscaping and irrigation, and turned significant portions of the yard into a crater-filled moonscape in pursuit of gophers, moles and, most importantly, ground squirrels.
To my best recollection, they never caught more than one or two squirrels, but their sheer determination and persistence at chasing those rodents in their tunnels seemed to be enough to keep all but the most foolish squirrels far away.
The other day I got a comment on a video I posted years ago of three members of the weenie pack (Rommel, Franzi and Monty) working a burrow down on the slope of the dry creek. I had forgotten about the video, so when I clicked through to it, I was surprised to find that it had over a million views!
Three of the four have since passed, so only Hank remains. He’s of the age where prefers a good nap in the sun to a long dig. The other three are now all resting along the slope of the dry creek where the video was shot.
Interestingly, while the hill is riddled with squirrel burrows, there are none where the doxies now lie, which makes me feel as if they’re still doing their job – just without the torn up sprinklers and trenches.
Good dogs in less squirrely times.
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This cactus appears to emit a sticky substance which traps flies. Perhaps kitchens and chicken coops should have
Interior structures from inside of a large yellow jacket nest. A smaller 3rd layer was also present but didn't fit in the picture.
And this guy (or gal) is one of the reasons our aphid population has dropped precipitously. It was awesome watching it snag that huge alata (winged female aphid) when it came too close. I'm pretty sure our aphids are also volunteers (found a couple of alata, which are emigrant and colonize new areas when their initial host is over-crowded), because we literally had NO aphids or other pests by the end of last summer left to overwinter (the lady beetles, syrphid flies, and lacewings saw to that), and each of these little colonies has a single alata at the center. Or did!
Interior comb from a medium sized bald-faced hornet nest. Notice the second comb that's under construction.
A black carpenter ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus) major worker I spotted in a crevice near a home I was treating.
2 years ago I released lady beetles, in hopes of taking care of the aphid problem I have.
well they have come home and they have brought family, and they are all over devouring aphids
yay!!
aphids through the miracle of parthenogenesis and live birth are able to build up their colonies in a relatively short time providing a broad base to the food chain.
music is decisions by Kevin Macleod
i was reading a posting in a gardening blog by someone who was going to great lengths to fight off aphids on her roses and getting poor results, her neighbors had beautiful roses in spite of being lazy and not doing any tending. i think the answer clearly is to ignore the aphids and let nature find is balance. aphids also attract pollinators particularly hoverflies.