Should You Buy Ladybugs as Natural Pest Control?

Ladybugs are one of the most popular and renowned garden predators. An adult ladybug can consume over 50 aphids per day, and larval lady beetles eat hundreds of pests daily.

Many garden stores and online shops sell ladybugs as a biocontrol agent to release into your garden, but must you buy these beneficial insects in order to reap their benefits? And could introducing store-bought predators actually do more harm than good?

Let’s dig into everything you need to know about buying ladybugs as natural pest control.

The Long Answer

If you’re facing a crazy outbreak of pests like aphids, spider mites, mealybugs, or ear worms, you may be tempted to buy ladybugs to rapidly deal with the problem. This is a form of biological control that is more eco-friendly than spraying pesticides.

The biocontrol agent (a predator insect) is used to cut back on pest populations by feeding on the smaller insects. Lady Beetles are excellent predators, especially because they only dine on insects and won’t harm your crops. They can eat hundreds of pests per day and proliferate in the garden for long-term control. 

However, there are many drawbacks to buying and importing predator insects into your garden. Larval ladybugs are much more voracious predators of aphids, and adult beetles may quickly fly away if released in an open area without many resources. Moreover, there are some types of invasive beetles that can harm the local ecosystem. 

If you want to save money and create more sustainable, long-lasting pest control, here are the key reasons why you should plant a beneficial insectary to attract native predators rather than buying and releasing insects. 

Are Ladybugs Natural Pest Control?

Ladybugs are natural pest controllers and voracious predators of garden pests like aphids, scales, midges, spider mites, leafhoppers, corn earworms, and mealybugs. These beneficial insects are found all over the world in native ecosystems.

They can help gardeners eliminate pesticide use, but it is best to avoid introducing them from an external location. Buying ladybugs for pest control is no longer considered eco-friendly. Instead, attract native ladybugs by planting beneficial flowers like white alyssum, dill, and yarrow.

The Basics of Biological Pest Control

Biological pest control, or biocontrol, is a form of pest management that uses the natural predators of a pest to control populations. Instead of eradicating a pest with chemical or manual means, biocontrol aims to create ecological “checks and balances’ ‘ that prevent populations from getting out-of-hand. 

Predator vs. Pest Species

Generally, predator species are larger and slower to reproduce than “pest” species. Pest species expand their populations very rapidly and can cycle through many generations in a single season. 

For example, mountain lions and coyotes can naturally keep rabbits in check because a single large feline or canine may eat several rabbits in a week. But if all the predators are eliminated from an ecosystem, the rabbits will run rampant like they do in suburbia. There won’t be any natural predators to balance the population.

The exact same mechanisms are at play in your garden. For example, a single female aphid can give birth to 60-100 live nymphs in her lifetime. Each aphid completes its life cycle in 5-10 days, and the next generation begins laying eggs. You can see how pest populations can blow up so quickly! You may spot a few aphids, and then, all of a sudden, your vegetable leaves are completely infested.

If you don’t have any local predator insects living in the garden, the aphids will run wild like the rabbits in suburbia. But if you maintain a beneficial insectary habitat, resident predators like lady beetles, lacewings, hoverflies, and parasitoid wasps can keep pests under control. 

Pesticides vs. Biocontrol

Ecological balance is the key to successful biocontrol, but many people are so focused on eradicating a pest immediately that they neglect to look at the larger picture. If you spray pesticides to knock out the pest, you can also kill beneficial predators that would’ve been helpful for controlling future problems. Unfortunately, pests return more quickly and develop pesticide resistance much more quickly than their predators. 

This creates an ecological disaster where gardens and farms get stuck on a “pesticide treadmill” where they must continuously spray stronger chemicals to keep unwanted bugs away. If you want to grow organically and avoid the harsh chemicals, conservation biocontrol offers a much more promising and sustainable solution.

Conservation vs. Classical Biocontrol

You are likely reading this article because you don’t want to spray pesticides and instead wish to use ladybugs as pest control. First, it helps to understand how biocontrol really works in the garden. There are three main types of biocontrol used by gardeners and farmers:

Notice how the first type of biological control makes use of the insects already living in the area. This involves planting flowers and creating a habitat for predators to take up residency in your garden, which means they can provide pest control services for many seasons to come.

The latter two types of biocontrol are focused on buying predators and releasing them. Of course, anyone can buy ladybugs and let them fly into their garden or greenhouse, but how many of them will stay around to eat the pests in your landscape? 

Many studies indicate that the bulk of purchased and released ladybugs actually fly away without providing any long-lasting pest control in the desired crop. In fact, about 95% of released beetles fly away within just a few hours. This is because lab-reared ladybugs are often refrigerated during hibernation and naturally wish to migrate away once they come out of their dormant state.

The Ultimate Goal

Don’t get me wrong: Ladybugs are beneficial predators that eat lots of pests! The predicament here is based on where the ladybugs come from and how they arrive in your garden. 

Conservation biocontrol is the ultimate goal— plant beneficial insectary plants and magnetize the predator insects to live in your garden for generations to come. Every year, the ladybug populations will get stronger, and they will live like locals, perpetually keeping aphids and other pests under control. Luckily, most flower seeds favored by ladybugs are far cheaper than buying lab-reared beetles for release. 

Releasing Ladybugs: Pros and Cons

Natural predator release has some notable benefits and drawbacks, which you should consider before buying a package of insects and letting them fly into your garden. For many, the cons outweigh the potential benefits.

Pros

Buying and releasing ladybugs may seem like a short-term quick fix for a pest issue, but this isn’t often the case. More than 95% of purchased ladybugs can fly away within the first few days of release, often not even putting a dent in pest populations.

Greenhouses are the only places where ladybird beetle release is proven effective. Because greenhouses are a mostly closed ecosystem, you can let the predators fly into the crop, and they will do their work without flying away. Studies show that greenhouse aphid populations were reduced by over 50% when ladybugs were released. 

Cons

Why Native Ladybugs Are Better

Entomologists (people who study bugs) are widely recommending ditching the store-bought ladybugs and instead attracting native predators to your garden. Ladybug beetles belong to the Coccinellidae family of insects, which includes over 5,000 species of ladybird beetles. The most commonly known North American ladybug is the 7-spotted ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata), with the iconic shiny red body, black head, and black spots. Attracting this predatory beetle is easy using the tactics described below.

However, their cousins, Asian lady beetles (Harmonia axyridis pallas) are invasive but often used as classical biocontrol. These beetles are often solid orange or orange with black spots and are equally voracious predators of aphids and mites. However, they can become a huge nuisance if they overwinter in buildings or homes and are highly problematic compared to their native cousins.

Commercially sold ladybugs are often captured from the wild or “farm-reared” in insectaries. Species can vary, but they are most often the 12-spotted ladybug (Coleomegilla maculata). This species is native to the U.S., but the farmed beetles may be fed alternative food sources that make them poor garden predators. In other words, they are a bit like zoo-raised wolves; they don’t have the natural prey drive that a wild-born wolf has.

Overall, lady beetles are a positive thing in the garden regardless of the species. However, there is no need to release more into the environment when native lady beetles are already abundant. All you need to do is lure them into your garden. 

How to Attract Native Ladybugs 

No need to buy any more insects! These steps are sure to attract an abundance of native lady beetles to your garden to help naturally control pests:

1. Don’t Spray Pesticides

Pesticides kill more than just pests. Most insect-killing chemicals also kill beneficial insects. It’s very important to avoid synthetic pesticide sprays on all parts of your garden, especially floral areas and vegetables that are prone to pest infections.

If you spray the crop with pesticides, lady beetles will suffer and won’t be able to help control future pests. Fortunately, organic options like neem oil and horticultural soap do not harm lady beetles. However, it may harm their food sources, leading to an imbalance in the garden. Use even organic pesticides sparingly.

Plant Beneficial Flowers

Beneficial insectaries aren’t only for butterflies and bees! Flowers provide vital nectar resources for adult ladybugs, luring them to lay their eggs near pest-infested plants. When the eggs hatch, the larval lady beetles can devour nearby pests. Ladybugs need both nectar (floral sugary carbs) and pollen to give them the energy to hunt their main protein source— pests!

You can intersperse these blooms throughout your vegetable garden as companion plants or grow them in strips along the borders to create an undisturbed area for ladybug habitation. 

3. Create Beetle Habitat

It’s important that the floral resources remain a bit wild— no need to excessively trim or manicure the area. The beetles need places to hide and shelter. “Beetle banks” are easy to create by mounding piles of wood chips or small twigs in the borders of your garden to provide nesting spaces as well as habitat for other predators like ground beetles. 

A small buried dish of water or a garden water feature will provide a space for ladybugs to stay hydrated. This is also beneficial for bees and butterflies. A bird bath can also do the trick! Regularly change the water or add an aerator to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs in the water source. 

4. Do Not Expect 100% Eradication

While lady beetles are excellent predators, it is unrealistic to expect them to eliminate every aphid or thrip in your garden. After all, 100% eradication would mean no more food left for future ladybug populations. An ecological balance is necessary for a biocontrolled garden, so complete pest elimination is not our goal. Instead, we want to maintain pests at a much lower level to prevent damage to our plants.

You may not see immediate results in the first season, but several consecutive years of predator-friendly gardening will build up enough populations of beneficial insects to prevent major pest infestations.