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How to Catch Lady Bugs

Ladybugs are beneficial insects. They are predators who eat plant-eating insects such as aphids, scales and mites, so gardeners and farmers welcome them onto their property. Ladybugs will stay where there is food, so they can be caught and brought to your garden for release. If there are enough pest insects in your garden to keep the ladybugs well fed, they will stay and devour the insects for you, saving you from having to apply costly and harmful pesticides. Ladybugs can be found generally between May and October in and near fresh foliage which has not been treated with pesticides̵2;especially if there are aphids present.

Things You'll Need

Pill bottles
Net
Vacuum cleaner
Nylon stocking
Rubber band

Instructions

- 1
  Collect ladybugs from plants. Hold a pill bottle or small container under the ladybug, then tap the plant to dislodge the ladybug to fall into the bottle.
- 2
  Sweep a net over the plant to catch the ladybug as it flies away. Sweep the net in the air to catch ladybugs in flight.
- 3
  Collect a large concentration of ladybugs with a vacuum cleaner. Remove the vacuum head, then insert the leg of a nylon stocking into the nozzle toe first. Secure the top of the stocking around the end of the nozzle with a rubber band. Vacuum up the ladybugs. Remove the rubber band, then pull the stocking out of the nozzle. The ladybugs are trapped in the stocking leg.
- 4
  Trap ladybugs in commercial beetle traps that do not contain pesticides. The trap contains a substance that attracts the ladybugs. When the ladybug enters the trap, it falls into the cone-shaped funnel that empties into a collection bag. The top of the bag is small and so it is difficult for the ladybugs to get out. Check the trap routinely to collect the ladybugs before they get out of the bag.

Insects & Science