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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] asian lady bugs

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  • From: "road's end farm" <organic101@linkny.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] asian lady bugs
  • Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 11:09:01 -0400


On Thursday, October 9, 2003, at 08:48 AM, Erdman, Jim wrote:

Around here, by the time the Asian lady beetles/bugs show up, the potato beetle larvae are long gone, so I haven't witnessed them eating any larvae. I have seen them eating the flesh out of apples--most apples with any kind of skin damage are getting serious lady beetle damage, once thy get in through the skin they devour the flesh of the apples and other fruit. So, I can imagine that they are eating figs, too. Mostly apples here, because the beetles haven't been very populous the last few years until early fall, and apples are the only thing left that they can damage.

Jim Erdman, Menomonie, WI

In the fall they congregate in swarms and become noticeable. In the summer, when potato beetle are around, they're scattered singly out in the fields, and unless you're looking for them you might not notice them.

Maybe, like many birds, they change diet with the seasons? I have never seen them as a problem in fruit, though I often see them on eggplant and potatoes and peppers, where they are a beneficial, eating other insects (though admittedly a new and invasive beneficial, which may be reducing the numbers of native ladybugs. The natives aren't interested in the potato beetle, though.) They eat other insects in addition to potato beetle, and don't seem to damage the fruit. I have tree fruit, but most of it is ripe and gone long before now, except for one old pear tree; though that doesn't show damage from them either.

Another possibility is that they're behaving differently in WI than in NY (or that we're actually talking about a different insect). We don't seem to have swarms of them this year; maybe they're finally coming into balance in this area.


--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly





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