Thousands of ladybugs were released in Victoria Park on Thursday morning, to help fight aphids.
At the event organized by the City of Regina, families were invited to help release the 250,000 ladybugs into the park. The bugs are spread around, to eat aphids. Aphids put stress on the trees and also create a sticky sap called aphid honey dew that sticks to vehicles and attracts ants and wasps.
The event was meant to be a fun, but also educational time for kids and their parents.
“There’s lots of things that are out there that are good in nature. Not all insects are bad, not all insects are good. So it’s just one of those things to learn a little bit that nature has its own control mechanisms in place,” said Russell Eirich, the manager of forestry, pest control and horticulture for the city of Regina.
But the friendly insects are not exclusive to just city plants. They can also be bought at garden stores, like Dutch Growers, to keep home gardens safe from aphids.
“If you just have a few aphids ladybugs are the best way to go. And they’ll just sort of keep things under control, and it never really becomes a problem in your yard,” said Tim Van Duyvendyk, the owner of Dutch Growers Home and Garden.
Ladybugs are a more environmentally friendly way to protect plants from aphids. Adult ladybugs can eat around 100 aphids per day, while ladybug larvae eat around 1000.
