Ladybugs, or lady beetles as they are sometimes called, are helpful in vegetable and flower gardens mainly because they love to eat aphids and other garden pests. Aphids are one of the worst pests gardeners deal with. When aphids begin to show up on leaves, flowers and buds, they ring the dinner bell for ladybugs.
Once the eggs hatch, they become long black bugs with six legs and red or yellow markings. Sometimes they have spikes on their backs. The larvae can look a bit frightening if you don’t know what it is. And because there are many types of ladybugs, the larvae varies. Do a search for “ladybug larvae” and see the variety before you kill those strange looking bugs. You could be ruining your chances to have ladybugs in the garden.
