Farmers Love Ladybugs Because They Save Gardens By Eating Pest Insects. The scientific name for a ladybug
is a coccinellidae, which means ‘little red sphere’, or coleoptera, which means ‘sheath-winged’, but
most people just call them ladybugs, lady beetles, or ladybird beetles. There are different versions of how these beetles
came to be known as ladybugs, but one of the most popular versions is that during the Middle Ages in Europe, the crops were
being taken over by insects and dying. People were beginning to starve so the farmers decided to pray to the Virgin Mary to
help them with their insect problem. The farmers were a little bit upset when even more insects showed up, little red beetles
with black spots on them, because they thought that these new insects were going to eat the crops, too. But the beetles that
came actually ate the bugs that were eating the crops, and so the beetles became known as the “beetles of Our Lady”,
eventually shortened to simply ladybug.
In another case in the 1800’s, and this case is a fact and not a legend, the orange and lemon farmers in California
began having problems with insects destroying whole groves of orange and lemon trees. The insects were Australian scale insects,
so the farmers imported Australian ladybugs and released them into the orchards. Within two years the orchards were free of
the scale bugs and the entire orange and lemon industry was saved by the ladybugs.
Since the 1800’s orange and lemon incident, ladybug farmers have cropped up. Raising ladybugs became a big business
and farmers around the country began buying and using ladybugs to control pests on their farms. Today people buy ladybugs
in smaller amounts to release into their gardens to have healthy plants without having to use pesticides.
Ladybugs can eat a ton of aphids in no time, and they will stick around to protect your garden for a long time,
too. However, only the ones that don’t fly off as soon as you release them will make your garden a home, so be sure
to get more than you think you need to accommodate for the runaway ladybugs.
Because Ladybugs eat lots of aphids and other pest insects, many gardeners and farmers use them for pest control instead
of chemicals.
A Ladybug can lay up to 1000 eggs in its lifetime.
Not all Ladybugs have spots.
Ladybugs will clean themselves after a meal.
Ladybugs come in many colors like pink, yellow, white, orange and black.
Over 300 types of Ladybugs live in North America.
Ladybugs make a chemical that smells and tastes bad so predators won’t eat them.
Ladybugs hibernate in large groups in cold weather.
Many countries consider a ladybug to be a sign of good luck.
Ladybugs are actually beetles, so sometimes are called LadyBeetles.
The bright colors of Ladybugs warn birds that they don’t taste good.
The spots on a Ladybug fade as they get older.
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