Green Lacewing Eggs
Eggs make you wait.
(And you might miss the hatch entirely.)
With eggs, you're watching and waiting for a hatch that happens fast — and if you blink, you might miss it. If you'd rather not guess at the timing, the Green Lacewing Larvae are the same insect with the incubating already done — they hatch a day or two after they arrive, on the plant, instead of on a schedule you have to watch for. Same appetite, less waiting.
Biological control is a programme, not a single release. A subscription puts the next one on its way before the last one runs out.
Skip a box, change how often it comes, or stop it — all from your account.
Heads up—this is just an estimate. We only ship when the bugs are happy and ready to travel (Mon–Thurs). If a colony needs a beat to peak, or we're propagating a fresh batch, your order might hold up to a week. Treatment bottles jump the line when you've got an active infestation.
Sizing guide
How our sizes work
Sizes are set by how many plants you are treating — not by how much material is in the container.
Every size on every product page names its own coverage right there in the dropdown, so you never have to come here to find a number. Medium — Up to 25 Plants (2,500 Mites) tells you the tier and the count in one line. This page is for the part the dropdown cannot tell you: how to pick between two of them.
These are rough middles. The ladder runs smallest to largest within each product, so a Medium of one species covers more ground than a Medium of another — a nematode drench and a beetle release are not the same job. The count on the size you are looking at is always the real answer.
Pest pressure moves you up the ladder
Plant count is only half the sum. The other half is how much pest is already there. A closed tent holding fifteen plants with thrips on every growing tip needs a larger release than a bright room holding forty plants with a few gnats — the population you are outnumbering is bigger, and the enclosed space lets it rebound faster.
Coverage figures assume a typical active infestation. Adjust from there:
Under heavy pressure, two releases beat one large one. Take the larger size and plan a second release 7–14 days later, which catches the eggs that had not yet hatched the first time.
A few things work differently
A few products read in square feet rather than plants, because that is how they are applied — the outdoor and area-scale releases. Those are Sc and Hb nematodes, and the aphid specialists Ervi, Matricariae, and Aphidoletes. Same ladder, different unit.
Sf nematodes and Triple Blend size by plants and pots, like everything else. They are soil drenches for potted plants, so count your pots rather than your floor.
Slow-release sachets have no size. They are sold by the sachet, and you place one per plant or one per few plants depending on pressure. Sachets are a prevention tool — they hold a population in place before a problem starts. If something is already established, a bottle is the correct answer.
Sizing up is cheaper than sizing twice. Predators need enough prey to establish and enough of themselves to find it. Underdosing is the most common reason a release underperforms, and it usually costs more in the end than the larger size would have. When you are between two sizes, take the larger one.
Still not sure? Tell us what you are growing and what you are seeing, and we will size it for you.
Green Lacewing Eggs
At A Glance
Chrysoperla carnea (Green Lacewing) eggs are the economical way to get lacewing larvae onto a plant. You are buying the stage before the predator and paying accordingly: the eggs hatch on the foliage over a few days, and the larvae — the "aphid lions" — hunt from there. The adults eat pollen and nectar and take no pests at all.
Aphids are the job. The field work behind that got real reduction on small, open plants at rate, and none on large plants under cover or on citrus trees — so on a big established specimen, expect help rather than a clearance. The larvae will take other soft-bodied pests on encounter, but that is not a reason to buy them.
One thing to weigh before choosing eggs over larvae: where the two have been compared directly, released eggs underperformed released larvae. The eggs hatch — that part works, and it has been checked under a microscope — but many of the neonates never reach a pest, because they emerge hungry among their own siblings and eat each other. Spread them thin and wide, use them when pressure is low or you are getting ahead of it, and reach for the incubated Larvae product when there is an active outbreak to clear.
Field Notes
Green Lacewing Eggs
The animal
What it eats
What arrives
Where it works
Running it
Target Pests
Environmental Needs
Selection Guide
How to Use
How They're Shipped
Sprinkle, then watch them hatch.
How to deploy your lacewing eggs, and what to expect over the weeks that follow. Eggs hatch into voracious aphid-eating larvae once conditions are right — the routine is built around that.
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01
Open the box right away
Bring the package indoors as soon as it arrives. Don't leave it on a hot porch, in a cold mailbox, or in direct sun. Lacewing eggs are dormant in transit and tolerate normal handling well — there's no rush to deploy the moment they arrive.
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02
Hold or deploy within a few days
For best results, deploy within two to three days of arrival. If you need a little more time, store the unopened container in a cool spot (55–65°F is ideal) — this slows hatch development without harming the eggs. Don't refrigerate below 50°F and don't freeze.
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03
Sprinkle near pest activity
Eggs ship mixed into buckwheat hulls — you won't usually see the eggs themselves, you'll see the hulls. Sprinkle small pinches across affected plants, into leaf axils, along stems, and into the inner canopy where aphids cluster. Spread thinly across as many plants as possible. Newly hatched larvae are cannibals, so concentrating the mix in one spot means they hatch into competition with each other instead of food. Wide and thin is the rule.
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04
Give them time to hatch and feed
Eggs typically hatch within a week or two at room temperature, slower if it's cooler — exact timing varies with conditions, so don't worry if hatch runs long. Newly hatched larvae are tiny (about 1mm), pale brown, and alligator-shaped. They'll feed on aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and other soft-bodied pests for two to three weeks before pupating. If you're not seeing any drop in pest pressure several weeks after release, that's when to bring in our bug pros.
Something not quite right?
Reach out to our entomologist by filing a report within 72 hours of delivery, with your order number and a photo. Candidly, without a photo the team can't approve a live beneficial claim.
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FAQ
What is your Live Delivery Guarantee?
We guarantee that your beneficial insects arrive healthy and ready to work. They're living things, so we pack for the season and ship expedited to give them the best trip we can.
If something looks wrong when the box opens, take a photo and file a report within 72 hours of delivery, with your order number. Photos matter: candidly, without them the team can't approve a live beneficial claim.
Will the eggs stay on the leaves?
How soon will I see results after releasing the eggs?
Can I use Lacewings alongside other beneficial insects?
Will the adult Lacewings stay in my garden and keep hunting?
What should I do if I can't release them immediately?
How many eggs do I need per 6" plant?
Help! I'm overwhelmed
Yeah, it's a lot the first time you're using green lacewings. File a report and our bug pros will walk you through it!
I don’t see anything moving in my bottle or sachet. Does that mean they’re dead?
Not at all! In fact, go ahead and deploy them.
Predatory mites are microscopic (often less than 0.5mm) and naturally blend into their carrier medium (bran or vermiculite).
- For Bottles: The mites often huddle in the center of the bottle for insulation during transit.
- For Sachets: These are "slow-release" nurseries. The mites stay tucked deep inside the breeding media and emerge one by one over 2–4 weeks. Seeing an "empty-looking" sachet or bottle is not proof of a loss; it is simply how they are packaged for maximum survival.
Mite Matters
Thrips Have Six Stages. Cucumeris Reaches One.
A thrips passes through six life stages and cucumeris can kill one of them. Second instars do not just survive the attack — they fight it off, and they destroy the predator's eggs on the way past. That single fact explains the lag, the reservoir, and most of the disappointment.
Four Predatory Mites, Compared. Two of the Columns Are Guesses.
Every supplier prints the same four-column comparison table. We went and read the papers behind each cell. One column rests on unpublished company data, one species has never been trialled against thrips at all, and the humidity row is backwards. Here is that table with the guesses marked.
Your Cucumeris Are Alive. Your Thrips Are Winning.
Your mites are alive. Your thrips are also alive. That combination has twelve documented causes, and what the mites are doing — where they are, what they are sitting next to — narrows it to one or two in about five minutes.