Ladybugs wanted

[EddieF]

Looks like spider mites are killing my banana leaves & eating avocados.
I read ladybugs should be from your part of world or they'll finish off what mites didn't.
Any recommendations where to buy a bag for south FL?
Ed

ps spraying/trying Neem today, will be a while before i have ladybugs.

[brian]

You can order ladybugs on amazon, but in my experience they are useless.  i tried a few different times to fight scale.  They arrive alive but after a day or two are all dead or missing.  Even when I placed them directly onto scale infested leaves they didn’t eat any

[Daintree]

Yeah, mine all buggered off to eat the aphids on my neighbor's roses...

Carolyn

[savemejebus]

Most predator bugs you order are generally useless as they dont stick around. Of all of them, green lacewings and praying mantis are probably the best, but then you run into the issue of not wanting to spray for fear of killing them.

[brian]

Even in my sealed greenhouse the ladybugs all disappeared.  I think they crawled into corners and soil and died.  I didnt see any flying out the vents.  I heard they are collected en masse during mating season and arent hungry.

For spider mites ladybugs arent recommended anyway, predatory mites are.  I tried these twice... the first time I saw no improvement.  The second time I saw improvement but it was nearly winter then, could have been natural decline in spider mite population

[pineislander]

You are on a residential lot and without a good population base with prey and habitat the things that work against mites won't flourish. Spider mites love the dry weather but are vulnerable to water and enjoy plants under stress. Banana can grow out of anything if they are happy fed and watered. Beyond the neem you should try a regular hard jet water spray on the leaves, maybe every day for a week and you'll probably cut their populations down. Using water won't hurt anything that might help you, it weakens the mites and will kill them with less effort than mixing & pumping a spray. New ones hatch every week so spraying weekly will help.

[nullzero]

Look into Cryptolaemus montrouzieri they stick around. I have already 3 generations living inside my grow tents. I tried the lady bugs released into the grow tents they clustered in corners and went toward the light all were dead within 3 weeks. It has been 3 months and still spotting Cryptolaemus montrouzieri showing up and keeping the bug pressure down.

[SeaWalnut]

Instead of neem oil wich kills all insects ,you could have tryed dishwashimg detergent and water spray.
It works great by removing the protective layer of the aphids and they dry afterwards and die.
Cheap and effective solution that doesnt kill the ladybugs or the beneficial insects .
To make a stronger solution to kill any insect pest you can add 2 spoons of cooking oil to the dishwashing detergent first.But test the oil solutiin first on just a branch ,becauseuse in somme cases the trees dont like it and their leaves fall depending on the specie of plant( ex mimosa trees dont like oil on their leaves but almonds do just fine with it).

[EddieF]

Ladybugs are a no go it sounds, thanks.  Crypto bugs look freaky.
Neem i didn't know kills insects, thought it was just a layer of armor.  Learning.
Plain Dawn dish soap i shall try for now on.  I did mix it in Neem, 1oz Dawn 4oz Neem.  Sprayed Mango too.
Thanks.

[Kevin Jones]

Not sure of your exact situation... but for me... a nice hard blast of water with a garden hose has excellent results against Spider Mites. Keep up the hose-job on a regular basis and you should have them beat back.
Think how your neighborhood would react to a category 5 hurricane every couple of days.
No poison needed!

Kevin

[shot]

I have seen these eating mites at my grove Stethorus punctillum

[SF]

Overheard an UCANR IPM specialist comment about spraying the purchased ladybugs with diluted sugar water before releasing them on the affected plant/tree. Looks like the sugar solution keeps the wings/legs sticky and in about 24 hours when they are ready to fly, the ladybugs find the aphids or other food on the released tree. When they find food source, supposedly they don't fly away in search of food.

I have not tried the sugar water technique, but have found some success growing random flowering seedlings, peas/fava beans, cilantro/coriander and allowing them to bloom. Ladybugs also seem to be attracted to flowering mustard and legumes in general.

[Pan Dulce]

Ladybug's are mostly aphid feeders. I use Phytoseiulus persimilis for spider mite control in the greenhouses where I work. You can purchase them through https://greenmethods.com/persimilis/. The 2000 population bottle should be plenty for a homeowner.  If you want to learn more about beneficials visit https://www.insectary.com/about-us/

[brian]

I tried spider mite predators twice in my sealed greenhouse.  I wasnt convinced that they worked at all, but it is hard to tell because come winter the spider mites mostly subsided

[Pan Dulce]

I placed the Persimilis in some 72 count trays of Cordyline sp. 'Red Sensation.' Later that day we put some plants under the microscope and watched them mow through the two-spotted spider mites.
Works well, but we resupply every other week and use banker plants so the Persimilis have flower pollen for supplemental food and a place to lay there offspring.

[EddieF]

Banana trees didn't like neem or the silica i added cause i had it.
Turned them yellow overnight., almost killed them.  My guess is the silica super high ph was a nono.
I hosed leaves & dirt with vitamin c & they turned for the better.
For now on, strong water hose & nothing else to remove pests for me.
Just had to post this so nobody hurts their b trees.  Thank you for responses.

[SeaWalnut]

Banana trees didn't like neem or the silica i added cause i had it.
Turned them yellow overnight., almost killed them.  My guess is the silica super high ph was a nono.
I hosed leaves & dirt with vitamin c & they turned for the better.
For now on, strong water hose & nothing else to remove pests for me.
Just had to post this so nobody hurts their b trees.  Thank you for responses.

You sprayed silica ( water glass )?
I told you to use only soap water for soft bodyed insects.
Even the neem oil or any otther oil used as horticultural oil can kill somme plants while otthers do well.
Soap water its quite safe.They say tomatoes are sensitive to soap water but i sprayed my tomatoes a lot ,killed all the aphids ( 3 different species) and the tomatoes didint had any harm.