Whenever someone goes gardening or go for homesteading, they, first of all, seek space. Then they choose the plants or the other homesteading activities according to space and according to the resources available.
It is because whenever you will go for any of the gardenings or go for the homesteading activity you would see that it is relatively easy to start. You just knew that you have space. Then you started learning about the plants or the homesteading activity to choose from.
Once you learned about it, you went for it. You got plants and other required materials from the stores and gardening shops. You planted them. And finally, it started growing and prospering. You just have to go for the watering, applying fertilizers, and some other little care.
But when it comes to the care, and finally to the fruiting there comes to nature’s play. Because nature has a great role in the growth and yield of plants. No matter how much you strive, and fulfill the required setting for the plants if it is not according to the ecosystem of nature it cannot get to the final stage of fruiting.
Then how this ecosystem works and how we can get benefit from it? Actually, nature’s ecosystem is such an amazing blessing of nature to humanity. All the things, living or nonliving are set in such a way, in this ecosystem, that these always complement each other in one way or another.
Take this ecosystem like a room or like a building. Each and every specie or every living and nonliving thing on earth is a brick or the building block of this building or the room. Once any brick/building block is not there, there is a problem.
The same goes for gardening. There is the soil where plants grow. Sunlight, rain and air presence complement the plant’s growth with help of the soil. The other companion plants also play a good role in this growth.
The same goes for a lot of insects and birds. Some of them can be very destructive for your plants but some of these are very important. They work for pollination. They also help a lot in eradicating of many other pests and diseases without harming the plants in the garden.
It’s because it’s the way nature works. You would be happy to see that you can also use some of these. One of these insects is the ladybug. Ladybugs in the garden, provide a lot of benefits. That’s why we are going to discuss how to attract thousands of ladybugs to your garden.
Why Attract Ladybugs In The Garden?
As mentioned earlier the ecosystem of nature works in a way that helps in nourishment as well as the destruction of all the items. It’s just a life cycle of everything present on this face of the earth. The same goes for the ladybugs.
Actually, whenever we go for the use of pesticides, or herbicides we really aim to remove the pests and weeds which are not suitable for the plants and the crops that we are going to opt for. but insecticides don’t check whether a particular insect is suitable for the plants or not.
They simply remove all of the insects considering them harmful to the plants. Which is actually not the case. The same goes for the ladybugs. Ladybugs are great insect killers. They keep the aphids, mites, and other harmful insects away from the plants.
Ladybugs can eat around 5000 insects in their lifetime. Also as they are able to control very harmful insects like aphids, mites, etc. that’s why they are important. Also, they help the plants in the pollination of flowers so that they can finally turn into fruit.
That is the reason that you should be attracting thousands of ladybugs to your garden. In this way, you would be able to keep your garden safe from insects and diseases.
Also, you would be able to learn about the ecosystem of nature. This will help you in future endeavors as you would be going for more gardening and upgrading to the process of homesteading.
Methods To Attract The Ladybugs To Your Garden
There are many methods available in the market to attract ladybugs to the garden. But here we are going to discuss some of the important and tested ones so that you can be able to attract them successfully.
- Avoiding The Pesticides
As technology and knowledge evolved over time, humans paid special attention to agriculture. It is because it is the important and only source of fulfilling the need for food. Most of the food products available are the direct or indirect products of agricultural lands.
When the concentration on agriculture increased, humans always tried to increase the yield from the land, using less amount of land. They developed special seeds, chemical fertilizers, and as well as insecticides/pesticides to keep harmful insects and pests away.
But as insecticides are used, they cannot tell the difference between useful and destructive insects. The same can go for the ladybugs. By using pesticides, you might be going for the removal of harmful insects but you might end up in the removal of ladybugs as well.
In this way, you would be able to keep the ladybugs in your garden safely. If still, other pests are there you can use an alternative method by consulting with the nearby horticulturist.
- Go For The Plants And Flowers That Attract The Ladybugs
To attract the ladybugs, you can go for the plants and flowers which can attract the ladybugs. These plants will help in retaining the ladybugs in your garden. These ladybugs also eat nectar, pollen, and fungus as well. In this way, they will add to the pollination as they would fly from one flower to the other.
Although ladybugs are colorful in nature, most of the species of ladybugs are colorblind. They can only see the white and black colors in nature. So it will be good if you plant light-colored plants and flowers like yellow, orange, pink, etc.
Also, make sure you don’t plant plants that can repel the ladybugs. Plants like basil, rosemary, etc. can repel them. You can add roses, cosmos, tansy, yarrow, cornflowers, and others. Also, you can add herbs like mint, chives, parsley, cilantro, dill, and other herbs to attract the ladybugs.
Moreover, you can also go for the decoy plants. You can add the plants which attract or which are prone to the attacks of aphids etc. The presence of these pests will attract the ladybugs to your garden.
Keep Reading
- What Flowers To Plant In Raised Beds?
- What Flowers To Plant In The Fall And Winter?
- 20 Shade-Loving Flowering Plants
- Have Some Sleeping Space For The Ladybugs
If you are looking to attract ladybugs to your garden, you should have some space for them to have some rest. There these ladybugs will be safe and sound. It is because the ladybugs have some predators that can eat them like frogs, birds, ants, wasps, spiders, and others.
When attacked or alarmed ladybugs do enter several defense mechanisms. Like they can pretend to be dead and also release very bad-smelling blood. Also, their bright colors keep the predators away.
They don’t sleep like humans as they don’t have specific eyelids. But they do go into the resting phase where they rest and relax. You will find them resting on the flowers, plants, leaves, and on other spaces.
You can add a ladybug’s house with a lot of holes for movement, or you can grow plants that provide lower coverage. They like to go under the barks, leaves, and spaces.
- Have Something Drinkable For The Ladybugs
Usually, most insects don’t go for the fulfillment of their thirst needs. But they fulfill their need for water by eating the other insects. The same goes for the ladybugs. But they also like water to drink and to swim.
Ladybugs do eat nectar and pollen, so they fulfill their hydration needs from there as well. But they also drink water. They have been observed swimming for an hour. They don’t breathe from the mouth, rather they have air ducts that they can close during swimming in the water.
To address this need for water for them, you can go for plenty of options. You can add a mist of water to the plants. They would be able to fulfill their thirst need from there.
Also, you can have a small water pond, but it may provide space for mosquitoes as well. You have to change the water regularly. Also, you can place wet tissue, a paper towel, or a sponge to address the need for water for the ladybugs.
In short, ladybugs are such a gift of nature that these are the dream of gardeners. You can attract these insects with the above-mentioned techniques and you can have control over the pests in the gardens. Also, you don’t have to go for special treatment for them, as they can go well in normal settings.