seriousley .... were are all the ladybirds gone ??

[Riz]

I have not even seen one in my garden yet.. the lupin plant is covered with aphids, i have been taking them of by hand......... really weird i thought there would be hundreds in the garden by now !!!

[edibles]

i saw one yesterday, but you are right they are definitely in decline

[tahir_phoenix]

yes i am a big fan of the ladybirdm, mainly becoz of its appearance :p rather than its pest control skills! But i haven't seen a single one yet :tumbleweed:

I had a quick look on the net and there's many reasons, mainly predators of ladybirds have increased and kept there numbers down.

Also I think becoz of the poor summer weather we've had last 3 years they have not been able to reproduce as much as they can when the temperatures are warmer.

Let's hope they come back and very quickly :animal0019:

[Kirsten]

We call them ladybugs over here :)

We are definitely missing them on this side of the Atlantic too! I had a huge aphid infestation problem last year and no ladybugs to help out at all. (Well, one showed up, but later I found it dead in a patch of aphids. I think it ate too many and stuffed itself to death). Fortunately we have a huge number of bumblebees though, which has really helped with pollination!

[~Obsidian~]

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/article.aspx?cp-documentid=149049475

Found them Riz! :p

[dhakiyya]

I thought of this thread when I read about the ladybird swarms!! Wish I was in the UK to see them.... you don't get them here in Saudi, just humungous ants and gigantic cockroaches :(

[Foz]

SubhanAllah theres loads!! Had the car window open today and a couple were in the car!

[Riz]

^ wow really..

i have not seen more than a handful in my garden....

[~Obsidian~]

I haven't seen that many:tumbleweed:

[Foz]

i dunno if you can see but black bits are the ladybirds over the rabbits hutch...even he was looking a bit bemused!

they are all over the plants and grass..

[Foz]

that was only a few...there were about 3 times that many on the roof of the hutch

[Riz]

^ too be honest with i have not seen more than half a dozen in my garden... usually see lots on the sunflowers and lupins, but this season really huge drop in seeing them.........

[~Obsidian~]

I haven't seen many either.

[Foz]

you want me to send some from my garden?? lol

theres not as many now though...

[~Obsidian~]

Post me a bug, lady :p

Honestly, I've seen various larvae about but only a couple of adults. I suppose I should do more to encourage them to stay in my garden though.