Features:

  • If temperatures are over 85 degrees F. in your area, please choose expedited shipping. A favorite "good bug," ladybugs have been a popular beneficial insects for the past 20 years
  • When released at sundown (because they don't fly at night), ladybugs eat aphids, mealy bugs, scale, leaf hoppers, and other destructive pests
  • They keep on eating until the bad guys are gone
  • Ladybugs prefer to eat aphids and will devour up to 50 a day
  • You will receive approximately 750 live Lady Bugs plus Hirt's Nature Nectar
Virile critters take time to get started, but then wipe out aphids.

I bought these for a 10'x12' attached greenhouse that was being ransacked by aphids just before the temperatures were warm enough for the plants to start growing strongly. Though they didn't make an instant improvement, more like a few months to clean house, these aphids seem to be the ideal aphid control for my aquaponics system (because they are fish safe). My initial observation (and I bought them in very early spring) is that there were some dead ones in the pack, as well as the live ones had very little time left in their existence. From what I could see, they made good use of that remaining time. They roamed around until finding a good herd of aphids, humped, and then didn't seem to eat the aphids. The ones I got seemed to be pretty much past the point of stuffing their faces and were all about reproducing. Because of this, I had to wait for the aphid control to come about. Now that they've freshened and expanded their population, I see ladybugs setting out on a journey to find food and no more aphids. Such are the complexities of trying to grow an ecosystem in a container.

Garden Massacre! Millions slain and eaten! ...and I could not be happier :)

I had a bad infestation of aphids that were pretty much crippling my plants. Chemicals, soaps, aggressive watering, etc were all having pretty negligible outcomes. I wanted to try something a little more off the wall and I ordered the lady bugs to try and get my plants some relief. I got my bugs and they were feisty with little mortality even though they spent 5 days in transit. I followed the instructions and dropped the first wave of them on in the evening and let them get to work. I had to look for them for the next few days but they were hanging around. I dutifully dropped more every week for the next 4 weeks and I cannot find an aphid on my plants. No matter what your views on putting chemicals on your plants, there is something uniquely satisfying knowing that the critters that are making your garden suffer are being eaten alive by a voracious army of attractively dressed monsters. 1. Follow the instructions. I am not a bug expert, but these people are. Follow their instructions and you will be fine. 2. These bugs are WAY tougher than you think they are. Drop 100 at a time and let them chill out in your fridge for a week until the first group needs reinforcements. 3. Cut the bag in a way that you can close it back up again. Just slice a corner and use a chip clip to close it back up again. 4. Be careful when you do your searches to make sure they are hanging out. You need to look under leaves and in dark corners,

Healthy and Hungry...

Good quality bugs. The inclusion of nectar is a nice touch, and seems to have helped in keeping the ladybugs around the release area (a 1,000 sq. ft. greenhouse) for an additional couple of days. Will definitely purchase again in the future, though may order in a higher quantity. I used these as a test run, and they certainly lowered the number of undesirable pests, but should really have ordered 2,000-3,000 for an area that large.

Bye Bye Aphids

One day I walked outside to find that my pepper plants had been invaded by aphids. As any gardener knows, they are terrible because once you think you got them all, the eggs hatch and boom, another invasion. I try to be as "organic" as possible so I use these "good bugs" to take care of the bad. And let me tell you, they work! There was an aphid massacre! I released them in small battalions every 2 or 3 days, spaced them out over 2 weeks. No more aphids. And everyone likes to see a lady bug or 2, always makes people smile. The nectar included seems to help keep a few of them around longer than normal. That helps you space out the releases. I subtract 1 star because a solid 200 were DOA. However I award 1 BONUS STAR because if you hang out and watch them closely, you get to watch them eat the aphids. I know that probably sounds morbid but if you have ever had aphids, or any other bug for that matter, you know that it is fun to see "your team" winning.

A great natural solution for battling aphids in your tomato plants...

WOW! Ladybugs arrived ahead of schedule, alive and perky! They got comfortable quickly in my garden and are making a feast of the aphids. I would definitely order again from this seller, if I need to. Communication is excellent. Very clear instructions were included. Packaging was perfect and appropriately labeled as to its contents.

It's an amazing product!

We have a small garden, most are tomatoes and cucumbers. And not like last year, there are lots of small bugs under the leaf, and we can see the plants are suffering. I tried some chemical from Homedepot, but it did not help much. And my wife suggested me to try this. It's a wonderful experience to release these lovely ladybugs. To my surprise, more than 95% of the ladybugs survived the about three weeks time span in fridge as we released them in batch. My 6 years daughter loved to help in releasing them. Lots of fun! Only the time enjoyed with my daughter in the releasing is worth the buy. One order (750 bugs released in three weeks) is not enough to control the bad guys, but seems contained the pandemic long enough that after one and half months later (in hotter weather), the plant survived well, eventhough there are still some bad bugs around. We are happy that we can avoid using chemical now. Highly recommended!

Great-- can be refrigerated for a few days to keep alive if necessary

These arrived on an ill-timed day, just before we were leaving school for the weekend. I nervously left them in the fridge and was thrilled on Monday when after 30 minutes out of the fridge they were all moving and awake. When we released them outside, they all seemed to be alive! There's some powder to mix with water and spray on your garden before the release, which didn't seem to help most of them stay around, but no harm in trying.

Cute little critters and hungry and ready to go to work upon arrival...

All these little critters were alive and well when received, and yes, they were hungry. I mixed the little nectar provided with some water in a spray bottle and sprayed my small garden area where I planned on releasing them. Per instructions, I released the entire population at dusk and they were certainly active and ready to get going. Some people only release a few hundred at a time and refrigerate the rest until needed, but the 750+ package was just right for the area I wanted to de-aphid. I will definitely re-order again.

They revived, humped, chowed down

So cool! Fun for whole family to watch them. We gently put water sprinkles on the package to wake them up and drink, then let them crawl over the plants. Almost all went to work either humping or chomping down. One if best $10 for that alone 😁

Good deal. Ladies arrived in good shape even though ...

Good deal. Ladies arrived in good shape even though it was fairly hot outside(85+) for several days. I did not get the faster shipping. The cold packs were probably around 60F so they may have gotten warm if they had sat on my porch all day. I was home and got them when they were delivered. They were well packed and I placed them in the fridge right away. This item includes a "pollen" packet that gets mixed up with water. I knew in advance that I wouldn't use them all at once, so I only mixed up a small portion. I have had these for well over a month now and they are still doing well. I have using them for both my indoor garden and my small outdoor patio. I take the package out in the morning, spritz some water on them. Then, before lights out or at dusk, I spray the mixture provided on the plants. Lower level. Wait about 5 minutes and then release your ladies. I guestamate about 20-30 bugs per plant. Tape up the package and back in the fridge. Very happy with this supply of lady bugs. Will continue to use them.

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