1 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
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Yes, very thankful that ladybugs are predators for more than just aphids given my current set of garden pests. However, I've had zero signs of Monarchs in 3 years unfortunately, so I don't think the ladybugs are hurting that chance as I work to build up my native plants to help attract. I also check daily for signs of them, and would protect any eggs, larvae or caterpillars I see.
I also understand that the bees being kept aren't native, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to give them food too? It seems my desire to make a bee buffet joke has made it seem I haven't done any reading about bees. They aren't my bees, so I'm not actively promoting them over other native bees, but they will certainly still pollinate the garden so I'm happy to have them stop by. I'm working on adding more insect homes that encourage different species, but can't do much about what already lives in the neighborhood.
Comment by gymell at 05/06/2019 at 12:44 UTC*
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Depending on how many predators there are, you might not see too many later instar caterpillars. However if you are vigilant you might be able rescue any eggs (I don't know what your level of familiarity with that is.) I raise monarchs from any eggs or caterpillars I find in my garden so I've done that quite a bit. I still haven't seen any adult monarchs around here yet (others have) but I did find 7 eggs in my garden last week. So they can be around even if you aren't seeing them. The point I was making is that if you are gardening for wildlife, then it's really important to think about any action taken in the garden, such as releasing large, concentrated quantities of predators, and how it will affect the wildlife you're inviting to your yard.
As a wildlife gardener, I personally wouldn't go out of my way to provide food for a domesticated species, but obviously if your neighbor is keeping bees then anything you provide for wild bees would potentially be used by the non native bees. Like you said, that's not under your control. There are a lot of people that don't understand the distinction so that's where I was going with that, since you hadn't mentioned anything about native bees.