“How ladybirds solve our aphid problem” says Val
Val Bourne on how ladybirds’ lifecycle is aided by pests
THE mention of aphids sends a shudder through many a gardener, but I am always pleased to see some in my Spring Cottage garden because they’ll soon be sustaining my ladybirds. My 7-spots (Coccinella septempunctata) are out there now and they’ve already mated after their winter sleep, despite a dry spring when night-time temperatures plummeted.
I first saw mating ladybirds some 20 years ago in my old Hook Norton garden. They were performing on Geum ‘Gibson’s Scarlet’ on a late-April day and I rushed off to get my camera and tripod. I had four rolls of film and I took over 120 pictures. However only six were in focus because, every time my camera whirred, it prompted more movement from my amorous pair.
I had never seen ladybird eggs back then, but I knew that pregnant females laid roughly 500 eggs during spring and early summer, in batches of 30. These mustard-yellow ovals are glued neatly to foliage, and they’re arranged on end; if you look at them closely they’re rather like little jelly beans. I
“No aphids means that ladybirds won’t linger”
began to frisk my plants and after three weeks or so I spotted some eggs on an aphid-ridden Mediterranean spurge (Euphorbia characias). They proved to be 7-spot eggs and they hatched a week later.
The female had chosen to lay eggs because there were plenty of aphids on the euphorbia and it shows that wildlife gardening is always a Catch 22 situation. Female 7-spots will only lay their eggs close to aphid colonies. So no aphids means that ladybirds won’t linger in your garden. After all, would you stay in a cafe that didn’t have any food. No you’d be off and so would I!