Red admiral caterpillars prefer to eat nettle leaves adults eat overripe fruit, tree sap, and the nectar of many types of flowers, such as aster, blazing star, spotted Joe-Pye weed and red clover. (They also live in Europe, Asia and North Africa, and have been introduced in other parts of the world.) They prefer moist areas such as fields, meadows, open woodlands, gardens and yards. Red admirals range from near the Arctic Circle to as far south as Guatemala. The mottled underwings are marked with a pink bar and white spotting in the forewings. Even though I washed the milkweed with water from the garden hose daily, the plants were disfigured and messy. Last summer, during a heavy infestation of aphids, my milkweed plants were dripping with honeydew and covered with ants, which are attracted to the sweet liquid. Aphids also secrete a sticky, sweet liquid called honeydew. When aphids suck a plant’s sap, it causes curling, yellowing and browning of the leaves. I’ve seen green, black, red, and I have orange ones on some of my milkweed plants. (Environmental conditions sometimes cause females to produce both female and male offspring, which are genetically identical to the mother, except that males lack one sex chromosome.) They come in many different colors. The newborns are clones of their mother, so they, too, are female. They also give birth instead of laying eggs. There are more than 300 species of aphids in Minnesota and they are found on all types of plants. Most aphids on a plant are females that reproduce asexually, without having to mate. However, the native ladybugs are better suited to our gardens and plant species.Īphids, that favorite food of ladybugs, are tiny, often wingless, and very plentiful. I let them be when I find them because they destroy so many aphids and other pests. Asian ladybugs were imported in the 1970s to help destroy predators in agricultural operations. Our native ladybugs don’t bite, so if you feel a pinch and find it’s from a ladybug, it is likely to be an Asian ladybug, which do nip - mainly because they seek moisture and salt, or they feel threatened. Mom taught us never to harm ladybugs because they eat aphids, a major garden pest. More than 500 species of ladybugs have been identified in the United States. Unlike the Japanese beetle, ladybugs, or ladybird beetles, especially those native to North America, are beneficial to gardens. The tiny esteemed ladybug ( Hyperaspis proba) is black with yellow spots. I don’t use an insecticide because so many beneficial insects would die from the chemicals. Now I pick them off by hand and drop them in a small pail of soapy water, which kills them quickly without releasing their pheromones. Yesterday I picked 46 beetles off of my royal standard hostas. I used to squish them, but that releases their pheromones, which attract more beetles. They have no natural predators, although some birds, such as starlings, robins, bluejays and sparrows will sometimes eat the adult beetles and the grubs, which live in lawns. According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the beetles are native to northern Japan and probably arrived in a shipment of iris bulbs in 1916. Now, they are shredding my hosta and anise hyssop blossoms. A few weeks ago they favored apple and crabapple trees, but I’ve also pulled them off of my rose, asters, day lilies and purple coneflowers. The biggest pest in our yard is the Japanese beetle, which skeletonizes the flowers and leaves of many plants. Japanese beetles ( Popillia japonica), an invasive species, are a type of scarab beetle that destroy many plant species in North America.
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