Noob here. Planted a row of 20 string beans. One end of the row (about 4 plants) has a huge aphid colony and the other end clean as a whistle. Ladybugs have started appearing. Should I blast infested side with neem oil? Or leave it to allow ladybugs to thrive? Is this how trap crops work?
by mtgoni
11 Comments
Let the lady bugs work.
There’s more than one kind of bug on there, it’s crazy to me that you haven’t killed them yet
You can also get rid of aphids with a cotton makeup pad and rubbing alcohol. Then rinse the plant off with water. (I do that for my milkweeds so I don’t poison the little monarch caterpillars that might show up later) But in this case just let the ladybugs and their ugly children handle it. Enjoy the show 🙂
Do not use neem oil or it will also kill the ladybugs that will eat the aphids. Let the ladybugs work. Additionally, you can add more ladybugs. I recommend reading this [post](https://www.thegardenstyle.com/outdoor/are-ladybugs-good-for-the-garden/).
And there go the ladybugs! Before you even knew it.
Zoomed in, I’m fairly certain I already see some ladybug larvae on there! As others have already mentioned, let the gals (and guys) do their jobs
Leave it, treat it as a sacrificial plant. If they start to spread to other plants, then reevaluate.
The black and yellow weird looking ones are ladybug larvae. so you are already on your way to having more ladybugs.
I would spray the clean plants and let the ladybugs feast on the rest. If the plants are super-duper bad, maybe just remove those. I guess it depends on your risk tolerance.
I recall reading that the larvae eat even more than the mature ones. So things are looking up for those plants!
Regularly get bad infestations of aphids, usually in early spring. Once the ladybugs appear it becomes a non issue within a week or two.
I would just leave it. And yes if it’s a trap crop you want it to attract all the pests and look like this, the predators then follow.