In many cultures, ladybugs are considered a symbol of prosperity and good luck. Your image is a healthy environment icon and commitment to caring for nature. Fortunately, they are much more than that. And if you see them on your plants, you should know that their role in your orchard or garden is fundamental and, if you want to maintain balance in your land and your plants in an ecological way, you will do well to leave them alone when you see them. We tell you how to recognize them from when they are small larvae and what to do.

What do ladybugs eat?

Ladybugs are within the group of insects popularly known as beetles. They are beetles belonging to the Coccinellidae family and live between 1 and 3 years.

To identify them, they are recognized by groups depending on the number of rounded dark-colored spots present on their hemispherical, round or oval body.

They insatiably consume herbivorous insectssuch as aphids, mites and mealybugs, carrying out biological control on their colonies.

How to recognize ladybugs from birth

The females They spawn on the stems or the underside of the leaves in places close to the colonies of pest insects, which will be the food for their offspring.

The eggs are laid in groups, contained in yellow capsules from which small bicolor larvae emerge: orange or yellow with black are, in general, the most common combination.

Ladybug larvae have a shape very similar to that of a small lizard. Are very walkers and active. You must recognize them to take care of them and know that they are your allies, and not your enemies in the garden.

Being so voracious, they grow quickly. The first and second larval stages take about 10 days, the third 4 days and the fourth 7 days. You will see that They get darker as the process progresses.. Then they isolate themselves They are attached to the underside of a leaf until complete metamorphosis, from which an adult ladybug will emerge.

how they help you protect your plants and crops

A single ladybug larva can devour between 50 and 200 aphids a day and one adult 1,000 aphids per seasonabout 20 a day.

At home level they are great alliesas they help you protect your plants, but they also have economic importance by controlling pests very effectively without the need to apply toxic chemicals on a larger scale. In many countries, breeding and introduction programs for coccinellids are being developed to be used as biological control of pests in commercial crops.

They are also sold online so you can add them to your garden and garden.

Ladybugs’ favorite menu

These are the insects that ladybugs luckily love to devour:

• Aphids: The aphids that you find on your beans, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflowers and other vegetables, They suck the sap from these plants, weakening them by extracting nutrients, consequently reducing their growth. Through their saliva, aphids They can transmit viruses or introduce toxic substances that cause deformations. A magnifying glass will allow you to see how Ladybugs lay their yellow eggs very close to the colonies of these aphids. and do all the monitoring until the adults emerge. It is a very educational experience in the school gardens and with the children at home.
• White flies: They have a proboscis or “fine needle” in their mouth with which They suck the sap from plantsweakening them. Since they extract a lot of sap, they release the rest that they do not consume on the lower leaves. This excess sap rich in sugars and nutrients is the perfect medium for a black fungus to settle known as bold or sooty mold. This fungus reduces the plant’s ability to successfully carry out photosynthesis. With natural products like neem oil, potassium soap or sticky yellow strips you can control whiteflies, but the most effective natural tool is ladybug larvae
• Red spiders: At the end of summer, if it has been particularly dry, tomatoes are attacked by these mites. You will see the plants with yellowish foliage and you will recognize the web where red spiders circulate and lay their eggs. Ladybug larvae find young spiders and eggs especially tasty.

How to attract ladybugs to the garden?

Provide shelter and food It is an important key for ladybugs to settle in your green spaces.

The hedgerow flowering perennials They will be the winter refuge. From there they will fly to the plants parasitized by their favorite insects.

At the head of the terraces grow plants such as daisies, chrysanthemums and chamomiles. These asteraceae are among his favorites.

when you see two ladybugs together and you want to know their sex, remember that it happens with them like with birds of prey: the female is the largest.

Ladybug «costume»

“Aposematism” is a strategy used by different animals to warn possible predators that they have chemical toxicity.

Particular colors such as yellow, red or a distribution of distinctive dots are a tool to dissuade anyone who wants to hunt them.

ladybugs they can secrete fluid into the joints of their legs that gives them a bad taste. Its colors warn “I have an unpleasant taste.” The “seven point” ladybug It is the most common in Europe.

Protect ladybugs

Throughout the world, numerous species of ladybugs are threatened by the loss or degradation of their habitat, the use of chemical insecticides, environmental pollution, climate change and the introduction of invasive species of other ladybugs that is detrimental to the development of local species.