Bundle · Aphids
The Gateway Bug - Ladybugs + Lacewing Eggs
Everyone's first beneficial, with backup. Ladybugs for the visible colony, lacewing eggs that hatch into larvae that stay on the plant after the ladybugs fly off.
$71.00
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Goes well with
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Aphidius colemani
Aphids that keep coming back.
from $54
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Aphidoletes aphidimyza
Dense or mixed colonies.
from $25
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Stratiolaelaps scimitus
The roots.
from $50
-
Root Network
For the roots: mycorrhizae and microbes that help roots take up water and nutrients. Use at repotting, then a monthly drench.
from $15
How much, and how often
Two questions — how bad it is, and how many plants. You get a size and the dates to put it out.
How bad is it?
Pick the one that sounds like your room. If you are between two, take the higher.
How many plants are in the space?
Six-inch pots. Count a large specimen with a dense canopy as three or four.
Your size and schedule
More about this dose
The three things people ask once they have their size. Open any of them.
Am I light, moderate or heavy?
Light
- One small colony on a growing tip
- No honeydew yet, or one sticky leaf
- Nothing on the plants either side
Moderate
- A big colony you can see from across the room
- Sticky honeydew on the leaves below
- New growth coming in curled
Heavy
- Colonies on several plants
- Sooty mold on the honeydew
- Winged aphids turning up elsewhere
- Ants running the stems
If you are between two levels, take the higher one. Ladybugs do their work in the first day or two, so arriving with enough of them matters more than arriving with a few and adding later. If you are at heavy and it is on several plants, Moving Day is the better kit.
Aphids are built to be underestimated:
- They breed without mating. A colony you judged as light on Monday is a different problem by Friday.
- What you see is the top layer. Leaf undersides and stems usually carry more than the tips you can see.
- Ladybugs don't stay long. Most fly off within a day or two, so the release has to be big enough to do its work in that time.
Why more than one round?
Putting it out
- Keep the ants off first. A ring of sticky tape or a line of diatomaceous earth around each stem base.
- Wait for dusk. Both halves go out in the evening. If the ladybugs have to wait, keep them in the fridge, not the freezer, for no more than a few days.
- Mist the plant lightly. Ladybugs arrive thirsty, and a drink on the leaves keeps them on the plant.
- Ladybugs on the lower stems. Let them out low down or on the soil, never on top. They climb up toward the aphids.
- Sprinkle the lacewing eggs and their carrier across the leaves near the aphids. Spread them out; don't dump them in one spot.
Everything else is optional. Get these four and the release has done what it can.
A cleaner way
On a display plant, tip small piles into bio-boxes or paper cups hung in the branches instead of dusting the foliage. Same dose, nothing visible on the leaf.
The failure is forgetting. Very few programs fail because the mite underperformed. They fail in week five, when the plants look fine, the reorder does not happen, and the population holding the line ages out with nothing behind it.
A schedule is the same decision, made once. A kit when it looks bad, then another when it looks bad again, is already a rhythm — just one you have to remember at the exact moment the plants look fine.
Change the size or the frequency, skip a box, pause or cancel from your account at any time.
Is this the right kit for your problem?
What you have, whether this answers it, what each half does, and whether it will work in your room.
Is this your pest?
The Gateway Bug is built for the most common first experience with aphids: one big colony you can see, and a wish to do something about it without spraying.
Aphids cluster on stems, buds and the undersides of new leaves, soft and pear-shaped, in greens, pinks, yellows and blacks, with two tiny tubes at the back end. They leave sticky honeydew, and new growth comes in curled.
This kit pairs Hippodamia convergens, the convergent lady beetle, for the quick, visible knockdown, with green lacewing eggs that hatch into larvae that can't fly, stay on the plant, and keep eating after the ladybugs have gone.
Then: is the Gateway Bug the right answer to it?
Choose this if
You have one big, visible colony, or you are trying beneficials for the first time. Both halves eat every aphid species, so you don't need to know which one you have. Both go out at the same time, in the evening, and you can watch both of them work. Nothing to mix, nothing to spray.
Choose something else if
The aphids are on several plants and spreading: Moving Day brings three agents for that. If you want something that keeps multiplying on the plant, the Eviction Notice uses wasps that do. And root aphids live below where either of these hunts.
What it treats, and what it won't
Most ladybugs fly off within a day or two of release, even with plenty of aphids left. That's normal and says nothing about your plant. It's the reason this kit sends lacewings too.
How it works
What each half does, and what that leaves you looking at.
The knockdown
Released at dusk on a misted plant, they climb toward the aphids and start eating. Most of the work happens in the first day or two, before most of them leave.
The part that stays
The eggs hatch within a day or two, depending on temperature. The larvae can't fly, so they stay on the plant and work leaf by leaf through what the ladybugs left, for two to three weeks.
Fewer aphids, then small hunters
A visibly smaller colony where the ladybugs fed, then small grey-brown lacewing larvae among the leaves. You may also find spiky black-and-orange ladybug larvae from eggs the adults laid. Leave them: they eat aphids too.
Ants first. Ants farm aphids for their honeydew and drive predators away. A sticky band or a line of diatomaceous earth around each stem base before you release decides whether this works.
Will it work in your room?
One check: ants. If they are running the stems, deal with them first, or they will drive both halves off the plant.
About the Gateway Bug kit
Two products in one box: a tube of ladybugs and a tube of green lacewing eggs.
New to beneficials?
Four things that catch almost everyone the first time.
After you release it
What changes, in what order, and what not to spray.
How you'll know it's working
A smaller colony where the ladybugs fed, then small hunters among the leaves: lacewing larvae, and sometimes ladybug larvae too.
After that, fresh honeydew stops appearing on the leaves below and new growth comes in clean. How long that takes depends on how big the colony was when you started.
Don't spray the spiky ones. Black-and-orange, alligator-shaped larvae are young ladybugs. They eat even more aphids than the adults.
Getting it to you
What is in the box, how it travels, and what happens if it arrives wrong.
What arrives
Two tubes: ladybugs, clustered and dormant from the cold, and green lacewing eggs in a carrier.
The ladybugs wake as they warm up. The lacewing eggs may already be starting to hatch, which is why they go out the day they arrive.
Both at dusk. Mist the plant, ladybugs on the lower stems, lacewing eggs sprinkled across the leaves near the aphids.
When it ships, and when it lands
Shipping
We ship when they're ready to travel. Live orders go out Monday to Thursday. If a colony needs a beat to peak, or we're propagating a fresh batch, yours might hold up to a week. All mites and insects ship 2-day or Overnight depending on what's best for them.
When it lands
Open it that evening. Mist the plant lightly, let the ladybugs out on the lower stems or the soil, and sprinkle the lacewing eggs and carrier across the leaves near the aphids. If the ladybugs must wait, the fridge holds them for a few days; the eggs don't wait.
Why we pack extra
Two days in a van is a long trip for something this small, so we send more than you paid for.
A lacewing egg is smaller than a pinhead, and even a ladybug is only a few millimeters long.
A trip like that is hard on anything this small, so we price it in: the number on the label gets counted out, and then roughly 15% more goes in on top as a cushion.
The ones that don't make it are already paid for.
If you can see them
Ladybugs are big enough to photograph, and a picture tells us a lot.
Cold insects are very good at sitting still. That's normal. Release them as this page says, and watch the aphids instead.
Something look wrong? Photograph them in the container and email the photo to info@fgmnnursery.com.
If you can't see them
Lacewing eggs look the same whether they're viable or not, and no photograph settles that. So we don't ask you to take one.
Email info@fgmnnursery.com and our entomologist takes you through the diagnostic instead — where the box sat, what your room was doing, and then what the aphids are doing about ten days later.
Seventy-two hours from delivery, either way, with your order number. Replacement or store credit, your pick.
What it does not reach
Three gaps this page has already named, and the beneficial that closes each one.
A wasp that multiplies on the plant
Neither ladybugs nor lacewings breed on your plants. Aphidius colemani does: every aphid it parasitizes becomes a mummy that hatches another wasp. Once the colony is down, a small release keeps new ones from taking hold.
Aphidoletes, for the crowded stems
If the aphids are packed on stem after stem, or on several plants, Aphidoletes aphidimyza midges find the colonies by scent at night and their larvae clear them. Over 60 aphid species, no ID needed.
Root aphids are below where these two hunt
White, waxy aphids on the roots are out of reach of anything that hunts on leaves. Stratiolaelaps scimitus lives in the top of the mix and is the one agent with a published field trial against a root aphid. Worth trying, not a cure.
Two small add-ons that make the rest work harder. Blue cards give you the dated count this page keeps asking you to read. Breeder's Blend is pollen and Artemia; it keeps the population fed through the lull when prey gets scarce.
Keep reading
Written by the people who raise and ship them.
- If Ladybugs Are Just Going to Fly Away, Why Use Them?They do fly away, and not because your plant disappointed them. Most are gone inside 48 hours whether or not there are aphids left…Read it
- Four Ways to Ruin an Aphid's DayLadybugs, lacewing larvae, Aphidius wasps and Aphidoletes midges are not four strengths of the same thing. Three of them arrive, work and are finished.…Read it
- Eggs Cost Less. Larvae Are the Ones That Arrive.The same insect is sold at two life stages for two very different prices, and the reason is not packaging. Most of the gap…Read it
Questions
If ladybugs fly away, why use them?
Because they eat a lot of aphids before they go. Released at dusk on a misted plant, they head straight for the colony. Think of them as the knockdown. The lacewing larvae are the part that stays.
Why lacewing eggs rather than larvae?
Eggs let us put far more lacewings into the kit for the price. They hatch within a day or two, depending on temperature, just as the ladybugs are finishing, and the larvae hunt for two to three weeks.
Are these safe around pets and people?
Yes. Ladybugs and lacewing larvae feed on aphids and other small insects, not on plants or people. Safe around people, pets, plants and food crops.
Do I need to know which aphid I have?
No. Ladybugs and lacewing larvae both eat every aphid species, which is part of why this is a good first kit.
What are the spiky black-and-orange bugs afterwards?
Ladybug larvae, hatched from eggs your ladybugs laid before leaving. They eat even more aphids than the adults. Don't spray them.
How often should I repeat it?
Every 2 to 4 weeks while aphids are active, until new growth stays clean two weeks in a row. Once it's clean, Aphidius colemani is the one to keep new colonies from taking hold.