Moving Day

larvae attached to the lantana leaves, I removed the whole
leaf rather than try to remove the larvae

This morning before work I carefully harvested ~30  lady bug larvae as well as a few juveniles into a bag to relocate in my vegetable garden.  As I was scanning the lantana bush I noticed several more mating pairs so I should have a supply for a couple weeks.

I placed the cut off leaves with larvae attached on or near the most heavily infested plants in the garden, the plan is that they will begin to hunt the aphids and other soft bodied pests that have been increasing in numbers lately.  I'm also going to get some lantana and flowers in the ground to try and keep the lady bug colony thriving.

a few juveniles and many larvae

Example of some lantana leaves placed on the
red romaine lettuce.