Ladybug farming?

[Cheddhead420]

Hey everyone i'm new to the boards here, but have found the posts i've read extremely helpful. Something I have been interested in trying, but have found little talk of, is keeping ladybugs around. I have done a little of my own research but am looking to get a few direct responses from experienced people, as opposed to watching videos. I don't mind the lil guys. They're kinda cute, don't cause any problems. I've only needed to get them twice and each time was happy with the results they turned in with my aphid problems. The problem is I live 2 hours from the nearest place that carries them, and in the event of aphids in the future I think it would be nice to have em on hand. So i guess what i'm asking is, has anyone here tried "farming" ladybugs? If so, Pros/Cons please.
Thanks all

 

[iwltfum]

There are some complex issues/great ideas with what your suggesting. In short- Ladybugs need something to eat in order to stick around, and the reason they have a reputation for being such helpful garden insects is because they eat mainly insects that feed on plants - sucking insects, if you will. Adult lady bugs will only mate if there is a food source for their larvae to feed on. In a closed grow room situation, you couldn't really keep lady bugs around unless you kept on letting in spider mites or aphids or some kind of other plant feeding bug that could potentially harm your plants.

In terms of farming them like you would ants or chickens (separate from the plants and then just using some in the grow room occasionally), i'm not sure how that would work. I'm sure there's someway to do it. I mean, it's not like there are a bunch of people walking around collecting lady bugs from the wild to put in those pouches, ya know?

 

[Radogast]

5 lady bugs wandered into my house last week. I'm trying to keep them alive using honey as a food.

They seemed to ignore the honey when it was in a puddle on a bottle cap.
They definitely eat the honey when I put a drop on top of a popsicle stick or the rim of a pot. I am refreshing the honey drops daily.

Only time will tell if it is a complete enough food for them to thrive.

 

[Eagle ize]

Hello all! This is my first post here.

Any organism that we would like to keep alive will need the proper environment to thrive. This means having the correct temperature, humidity, food sources, etc. That being said, it would mean having a separate place for said food sources to thrive in order to keep the lady- bugs fed.

Or, you can order them from places that do this already.

There are certain plants that attract ladybugs so having these around your yard will keep them around.

Cheers!

 

[Radogast]

Update: My ladybugs are still alive on 4 drops of honey 5 days per week. I only saw 2 last time, but I also moved the veg area twice between rooms.