Gardening with Ladybugs and Children

Lady bugs eat aphids. Release them into your garden at night after you have watered it. They need two things to stay: water to drink and aphids to devour! Otherwise they will depart to find those items in another garden.

Lady bugs eat aphids and other garden pests. Release your Lady Bugs into your garden at night after it has been heavily watered. Your Lady Bugs will arrive thirsty and hungry.

Lady Bugs will arrive thirsty and hungry. Prepare your garden and release them at night. They do not fly in the dark.

Prepare your garden and release the Lady Bugs at night, they do not fly in the dark.

If your Lady Bugs find food and water in the evening they will be happy in their new abode! Otherwise, they will depart to a more hospitable garden.

Gardening with Lady Bugs

The Lady Bug’s huge appetite and reproductive capacity often allow it to rapidly clean out its prey devouring over 5,000 aphids by a single adult in its lifetime. Lady bugs, including adults and their larvae, are known primarily as predators of aphids (plant lice).

Best Practices for Releasing Ladybugs

1. Water Your Garden First
Ladybugs are attracted to moisture. Lightly mist your plants before releasing them—especially the undersides of leaves where aphids usually hide. This gives them a water source and makes the plants more inviting.

2. Release Them at Dusk or Early Morning
If you release ladybugs in the heat of the day, they’ll fly off immediately. Evening or early morning is cooler and gives them time to settle in and find food before flying away.

3. Target Infested Areas
Place ladybugs directly on plants with visible aphid or pest problems. They’ll stay where the food is. Focus on soft-stemmed plants, roses, or vegetable leaves—especially where pests are active.

4. Release in Small Batches
Don’t dump the entire container in one spot. Gently shake or tap them out across multiple plants. Spreading them out improves survival and pest coverage.

5. Provide Shelter and Food
Ladybugs need cover to rest and reproduce. Grow plants like dill, fennel, yarrow, marigolds, and cosmos to provide nectar and pollen, which they’ll eat when prey is scarce.

6. Use a Ladybug House (Optional)
If you’re releasing large numbers or want to observe them, a small ladybug house or insect hotel near infested plants can give them a place to shelter.

Keep Them Alive Longer

Refrigerate before release if you’re not releasing them right away (they go dormant in the cold and stay alive longer).
Avoid pesticides—even organic sprays can harm ladybugs or reduce their food supply.
Don’t overwater—they like humidity but not soggy plants or soil.

Final Tip:

Ladybugs will stay where there’s food, water, and shelter. If they fly off, it’s likely because they didn’t find one of those three. Focus on making your garden pest-friendly (for them!) and you’ll increase your chances of keeping them around.

Ladybugs primarily eat aphids, which are small sap-sucking insects that can damage plants—making ladybugs beneficial for gardens and agriculture. In addition to aphids, they also feed on:

Scale insects
Mites
Mealybugs
Whiteflies
Pollen and nectar (especially when insect prey is scarce)
Fungus (in the case of some species)

Ladybug larvae are just as voracious as adults and are often even more effective at controlling pest populations. So, if you spot ladybugs in your garden, they’re likely hard at work keeping your plants healthy.

Types of Ladybug Food You Can Buy:

Commercial Ladybug Food Powders or Gels
- These are formulated with sugars, proteins, and nutrients to simulate nectar or prey.
- Available from garden supply stores or online retailers.
- Often used in habitat kits or for releasing ladybugs into greenhouses.
Raisin or Honey Water Mixtures (DIY Alternative)
- Soak raisins in water or mix honey with water for a natural substitute.
- Place drops on a cotton ball or paper towel to avoid drowning the ladybugs.
Insect Foods (Live or Dried)
- If you’re raising ladybugs or want them to thrive longer indoors, you can buy dried aphids or other soft-bodied insects they naturally consume.

Important Notes:

If you’re releasing ladybugs into your garden, the best “food” is a supply of live aphids or garden pests.
To keep them around, plant nectar-rich flowers like dill, fennel, or yarrow to provide natural supplemental food.

One Lady Bug larva will eat about 400 medium-size aphids during its development to the pupal stage. An adult will eat about 300 medium-size aphids before it lays eggs. Three to ten aphids are eaten for each egg the beetle lays. Ladybugs are shipped in the adult stage and when released should mate and lay eggs within 8-10 days.

Create Lady Bug Friendly Environment

In addition to insects and aphids, ladybugs also require a source of pollen for food. Leaving aphids and other pests alone will help feed and attract ladybugs. Plants that can be used as aphid attracting decoys include:

Nastusiums are the best!
Marigold
Radish
Coreopsis
Geraniums
Dandelions
Tansy

Sunflowers
Dill
Fennel
Feverfew
Marigold
Statice
Yarrow

Basket of Gold Alyssum
Calendula
Caraway
Chives
Cilantro
Cosmos
Cabbages

Lady Bugs and Children

Lady Bugs are the perfect way to involve children in gardening. Let them help you pick them out and open them up once they arrive. Put out the Lady Bug house, read the Lady Bug stories, prepare the garden and watch the excitement.

Once Your Lady Bugs Arrive

Place your Lady Bugs in your refrigerator until evening. Lady Bugs do not fly at night so releasing them in the evening gives them the opportunity to become acclimated to your garden.

Irrigate your garden where they will be released so they may have a cool drink, they will be thirsty! Gently release the ladybugs on to their favorite plants, they will be hungry as well!

High humidity is more easily maintained by having plants close together. An abundance of nectar and pollen with plants placed closely together will result in higher productivity for your organic garden and retain moisture at a higher rate.

Hilde, Harry and Honey find a new Lady Bug Home!

Honey the Lady Bug Finds a New Home

Know the Difference between Lady Bug Lavae and Pests

Ladybug larvae can be mistaken for pests. Recognizing the different lifecycle stages of ladybugs will facilitate your Lady Bug garden kingdom.

Gardening with Children

Create a Lady Bug habitat with your children. Explain what they eat, when the eat and how they help as nature’s natural pest controller.

Grouchy Lady Bug Board Book by Eric Carle

The Grouchy LadyBug Board book by Eric Carle is the perfect book to prepare children for the arrival and release of their Lady Bugs.

Children’s Tools for Gardening

Purchase inexpensive real tools for children’s gardening. They want to feel like they are really helping and making a contribution. I like the Fiskars gardening tool set with soft handles. Children’s gardening tools are sold. I just do not believe this makes gardening anything but a play activity for children.

I like the nitrile gloves for protection. They are soft and allow you to actually feel the dirt and plant while providing maximum protection. They come in small sizes, too.

Before the Lady Bugs arrive read stories about Lady Bugs. Engage you child in testing the soil. Children love doing that and it is a great way to teach them about soil composition.

Respect your child’s natural curiosity, don’t treat gardening as an inconsequential, temporary activity but as the basis for the love of our planet, our food source and natural beauty!