Ladybird Breeding Kit - This kit contains everything you need to breed your own ladybirds (Adalia Bipunctata), which can then be released into your garden. Ladybirds are one of the best known beneficial insects and are a welcome sight in the garden helping to control a range of pests including aphids, so why not have a go and breed your own. Ideal for children, schools or a unique gift. Our Ladybird kits come with either LIVE Larvae and food or a VOUCHER (so the recepient can requested the ladybird larvae and food when they are ready). Ladybird Kit Refills i.e. Ladybird Larve and Food are available NOW!

Ladybird Breeding Kit - Study all the stages of ladybird development - see the larvae feed, then pupate and the ladybirds develop before releasing them into your garden to tackle your pest problems. The kit is easy and fun for green gardeners of all ages. The Ladybird Breeding Kit comes complete with a pop-up mesh breeding chamber (10cm high and 15cm in diameter), an educational poster and 25+ LIVE larvae and food or a VOUCHER.

How does it work? Transfer the larvae to the breeding chamber and add the food. If you have a VOUCHER, send it off and within 7-10 days you will receive 25 ladybird larvae, food & instructions. It takes 3-4 weeks to raise adult ladybirds from larvae. The larvae will feed, grow and shed their skins 3 times before pupating. After a further 6 to 8 days, the adults emerge. At first the adults are yellow, but within a few hours their rear wings harden and turn red. The adult ladybirds can be studied for a few days before releasing them into your garden to tackle your insect pests.

N.B. The ladybird kit is designed to be re-useable. You can re-order ladybird larvae anytime between March and September and reuse the kit.

Controlling aphids in conifers, trees and hedges - Conifers often develop unsightly brown patches and the R.H.S. confirms that Cypress Aphid (a type of Greenfly) is the cause in over half the cases. Aphids (Greenfly and blackfly) attacking trees is another BIG problem - the first visible symptom of attack is large amounts of sticky honeydew (produced by the aphids as they suck sap from the tree), which drips down on to lower branches, your car, your garden furniture or your patio! Spraying chemicals into large plants and trees is just not practical and harms beneficial insects such as ladybirds, so release Ladybird Larvae instead. Available NOW.

Controlling aphids in conifers, trees and hedges - Ladybird larvae are predators of aphids, able to eat over 100 aphids a dayeach, so by introducing ladybird larvae into the tree in May / June, the aphids can be controlled naturally BEFORE they become a problem. Being mobile, the larvae will quickly spread out into the canopy to search out and devour aphids - they arrive very hungry and will quickly hunt out aphids wherever they are hiding. Introducing the larvae is easy with our NEW quick release system of 100 larvae with a cotton release bag.

Easy to use - Place the larvae in the bag, hang it up and the larvae will crawl out to search for greenfly.

How many do I need? This depends on the truck diameter :-

1. Less than 20cm, use 100 larvae and 1 release bag.
2. Between 20cm and 50cm, use 200 larvae split between 2 release bags.
3. Over 50cm, use 500 larvae split between 3 release bags.
4. For hedges introduce 10 larvae per m run of hedge and use 1 gag per 100 larvae.

Apply Barrier Glue / Glue Bands to stop ants from protecting the aphids - Ants will "milk" the aphids for the honeydew they produce and you will often find a trail of ants running up and down the tree trunk. Ants will protect the aphids from the lacewing larvae, so stop the ants by applying barrier glue or glue bands around the tree trunk and this will help the lacewing larvae to control the aphids.

Barrier Glue - Use it to form a non- drying , non -toxic barrier the ants cannot cross and they should be re-applied as necessary. Supplied as a Twin Pack with handy dispensers.

Glue Bands - Most insects will not try to cross this glue band and those that do will be caught. Supplied in a 3.5m roll with string, simply cut off the required length, place the band around the trunk, below the lowest branch. Protects apples and other fruit trees against winter moth and protects plants from ants, vine weevil and earwigs.