Ladybug, Ladybug...Fly Away Home!

This post won't provide any profound or witty spiritual, political or cultural insights...not that I'm all that witty and profound.   This post is about one of the more simple joys in life.  Sometimes that's just what we need.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a beautiful, bright red Mandevilla.   I'm on a limited income, so $20.00 is a lot of money for me to spend on one plant.   However, I figured it would be one of my summer splurges.

Things went well for about a week, but then I noticed that the ends of my beautiful Mandevilla were dying and falling off just as they were forming buds.  I was alarmed to say the very least.  In truth, I must admit that I couldn't tell if I was more concerned about the life of my plant or the loss of my $20.00.   Either way, the war was on.

I spent the next week in a watchful vigil to discover who the invaders might be.   I didn't have to wait long.  On the third morning of my watch I found the ends of my plant covered with little yellow bugs.  "Aha!  I found you, you little buggers!"  I thought.  And the battle began.

I tried wiping them off with a tissue, that was marginally successful, but there were too many of them for me to do hand to hand combat with.   I noticed that the bugs disappeared after a strong rain storm, so I tired spritzing my plant.   I only succeeded in giving the critters a watering trough.   After taking a close look at them, I concluded they were aphids.   I know alcohol will kill aphids so I added that to my arsenal.   It did kill them, but it injured the plant.

In desperation, I trucked off to the nearby garden store to find out which pesticide would get rid of the little invaders.   I really don't like using poisons, and I really didn't want to be responsible for putting more toxins into the environment.   However, this was WAR!  I was willing to forsake my green, environmental  ideals to get rid of the encroaching aphids.

After explaining the problem to the clerk at the garden center she told me that I did indeed have aphids and like many intrepid enemies, they had armed themselves and were resistant to just about everything.   Everything, that is, except ladybugs!  "Ladybugs?"  I exclaimed in surprise.  Could it be as simple as that?  Would I really be able to win the war of the aphids with my environmental ideals intact?  Would I truly be able to save the life of my Mandevilla...and my $20.00 with lowly little ladybugs?   I was overjoyed.  I could use nature to combat nature.  Victory would me mine!  Yay!  

So I now have an army of aphid eating ladybugs billeted in my cooler.  I was told to keep them very cool during the day.  That will make them sleep.   Then, in the dead of night, the battle will begin.  I will steal outside to spritz my plant with copious amounts of water because my aphid eating soldiers will not only be hungry, they will be thirsty.  After that, when it is good and dark, I am to station them in their barracks at the base of my plant where they will continue to sleep until the first golden rays of the sun peak over the eastern horizon.

At this point, my little red friends will wake up to the most joyous sight they've seen in the short little lives...a plant covered in aphids.  They will feast to their hearts delight.  They will sink their ravenous little choppers into every aphid, larvae and egg that they can find. They will slurp up every drop of the water I have so lovingly sprayed on my plant the night before.  They will stay until the war is over and they have gorged themselves on aphids. Then they will move on to the save the life of the next aphid laden plant.   So now...in anticipation of this exhilarating victory, I declare tomorrow, Sunday, June 5 to be the Feast Day of the Ladybugs!