The state of California has been at the mercy of mother nature this Summer. Unfortunately she’s not feeling very merciful. The result is California is getting slammed with hot, dry weather. And to you and us this means the ladybugs (Hippodamia convergens) we rely on for general aphid control are extremely difficult to locate in their normal mass aggregation sites in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The licensed collectors have been reporting that the normal aggregation sites where ladybugs are normally collected by the bucketful are either inaccessible due to the state’s forested area access limitations — to cut the risk of human-caused fires — or they are devoid of the insects. This last part isn’t entirely true, the ladybugs are still there, but they can’t be collected because they are dug down deep and cannot be scooped up. The ladybugs are exhibiting this behavior in order to stay cool.
This situation should reverse itself rather quickly if the weather on the left coast breaks, but until then, the summer of 2007 is going to be the first summer (in our 15-year history) that the industry will not be able to supply ladybugs. It’s a shame because ladybugs can be stored, are effective, and reasonably priced. If you want to order ladybugs you have two choices: Contact us us and check, things could change at anytime if a collector comes in after hitting pay dirt, or set up a delayed shipment so as soon as they are available, you will be at the top of the backlog and not the bottom.
