About this product
The ladybirds we supply are Adalia bipunctata, the native red two-spotted ladybird. Both the adults and the larvae are voracious feeders on aphids, greenfly and blackfly alike, and they work under glass and outdoors.
Worth knowing before you buy: ladybirds eat aphids and nothing else. They will not touch thrips or spider mite, so if that is what you are dealing with this is the wrong control. Within their range they are one of the most effective and most popular biological treatments there is.
The larvae are the more reliable of the two, for a simple reason: they cannot fly away. Released adults will often disperse before they have eaten much, particularly outdoors on a warm day. The larvae stay where you put them and feed continuously until they pupate. If you are treating a serious infestation rather than topping up an existing population, choose the larvae.
For a large area, or for aphids in several places at once, lacewing larvae usually work out better value and cover more ground. Aphid midge is the other alternative, and is particularly good in a greenhouse.
This is a live product. Some pack sizes are only available from March, and some only from March to September. Orders placed by 10am on Monday are despatched later the same week.