Our ladybugs are vanishing - but our icky green caterpillars are multiplying

Mish Michaels reports native New England ladybugs are vanishing under the onslaught of Asian and European imported ladybugs.

Jennifer Forman Orth reports we're now in peak season for winter-moth caterpillars, most of which are also imports.

Comments

It's so bad in my yard that

It's so bad in my yard that it sounds as though it's raining, and contrary to what some folks maintain, it's not the sound of them chewing the leaves, it's the sound of their droppings.

Cooperative Efforts

Living next to the fells, we have gone in with our neighbors for spraying of all the trees on the street for a couple of years now. This means that there are a lot of dead worms around, as well as some lacy leaves, and we now have lots of robins and "pippity birds" bopping around with as many worms in their mouths as they can grab. It looks like a combination buffet and "grab as much as you can in five minutes" contest.

Which is why we had the worms killed with biologically-derived stuff that isn't toxic to birds.

New blog on Hx. of the Ladybug

Great story, Importing the Asian Lady beetle is not a good idea, I would look for vendors selling the Convergent Lady beetle they are larger and have fewer black spots. The Asian Lady beetle you can view Youtubes videos showing they like people house to live in. New blog on the Hx. of the Ladybug:
http://historyoftheladybug.blogspot.com/

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.