Hunting for Thai basil plants last week, I came across a cool organic pest control solution at Ginkgo Gardens (as well as the basil). They sell cottage cheese-sized containers of ladybugs to release into your yard to eat any soft-bodied pests like spider mites and aphids. Watching the horde of bugs scuttle about on the wire mesh lid was pretty disturbing, I'll be honest, but I guess it's no different than purchasing live bait. If you're the kind of person who needs to do that.
I took home my little teeming impulse buy and released the ladybugs that night. They instantly seemed content to crawl around the passiflora vines and the tomato plants. Two mornings later, I realized that I essentially had wheeled out dim sum carts for the neighborhood finches. Those ladybugs who survived the great bird massacre I drowned in their cup with the garden hose accidentally.
Clearly, I should have released the ladybugs a few at a time as to not attract the avian onslaught, or force some to fly away. The container would have supported them for awhile. The good news is that there has already been a reduction in spider mites, perhaps thanks to my previous regimen of aggressive spraying.
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