Carolina Gardening: Anyone tried ladybugs indoors?, 1 by keonikale

keonikale wrote:
I've been thinking ahead to this winter and wanted to ask if anyone's ever tried ladybugs indoors (garage, greenhouse) for the control of both aphids and spider mites?

I don't like using all the sprays in the garage, plus they rarely seem to be very effective for me. I've tried Neem and Soaps, it's just hard to fully cover the plants adequatly bc of their large size. I have a lot of palms I bring in for the winter and the spider mites always seem to feast on them. The aphids always attack my softer tissue plants like the bananas and such. I also have had a lot of problems with mealy bugs lately.

I have been reading and I think I may give the ladybugs a shot. I know they won't eliminate insets, but figured they might keep them in check. Just curious if anyone's tried them. I was thinking of ordering 500-1500 and releasing them about a handful a week at night when the halides were off. Hoping maybe they'll feast on the aphids/mealy bugs/spider mites and finally give my plants some relief.