In the winter, I am blessed (literally) with ladybugs all coming inside to get out of the cold. I don't buy them or remove them from the environment which is a big no, but they come in naturally. We have had them cover the walls like horror movie style some years. Naturally, they huddle together in a warm cool space for the winter and they hibernate together. Last year when they came in, I was like "hello ladies! I have this jungle for you!!" and I was able to scoop em off the wall and deliver them to my plants and they were active all winter in my plants and then come spring they vanished (went back outside since I haven't found any bodies). I do NOT want winter to come, but I am excited to see if they come back again this winter... I didn't break their hibernation as they were marching on in... There were some that I guess didn't have a job and they went back to their spots to hibernate. I left them bc I didn't wanna kill the lady bug population.

Facebook group beneficial bug ordering is so niche, I’m here for it. 😂 I love our planty community ❤

As always, such a well researched and informative video! I’m glad to know that there’s a good outcome when using these mites because I have ordered some myself. Thanks!

A really helpful video with loads of good advice. Thanks for doing all that research and taking the time to organise the info so clearly 😊

Your videos are so so good. I think ill always come back to this video for live pest prevention and treatment info. Thank you so much for taking the time to make such a thorough and informative video. 😊

This video was incredible! So informative! Thank you for making it! I'm definitely thinking about beneficials but the cost is why I've not done it yet. 💚

WOw Saving this video to refer back to. Great presentation . Thanks for all your effort on this.

I’ve noticed a small amount of webbing on my Ponytail Palm the past couple of days. I assumed spider mites so started looking for suppliers for predatory mites. Nice to hear you’ve had a good experience with Natures Good Guys.

Great video and thank you for a very specific video on these pests. There are a lot of videos about this, but I would say your video goes All in and personal about those specific issues.. Keep up the great work Aloha Plant Life, and again Thank you...

Thank you for this information packed video. Well done. 💚

This was great information. I’ve been looking for a good explanation about beneficial bugs… and was having trouble finding anything that was detailed and that I could understand. Thanks for this video.

Thank you very much for this great well researched & organised video. I like that you kept it well balanced. Your videos are definitely among the most informative and useful videos I found on KZfaq. It helped me a lot. When I have occasional lady bugs come in, they walk among the pots, never go on plants and after the trip happily walk away and out 😀 Cute, but not really helpful :-) I will carry on my pesticide treatments and preventive measures, and once I gather bigger collection of plants, I will try it out.

Tremendous informtional video, thank you Drea !! Happy 4th.

Thank you for the awesome information!🌿

I have watched several other videos on this topic. I've also read lots of different things about beneficial bugs as well. I have to say, I'm two minutes into your video and I'm already convinced that you have some your homework! Active infestation vs preventative! Not one other video I watched mentioned this!! They just bought the sachets (which are actually for preventative measures) and dumped them out. I guess it can work, but I like to do what's best and recommended by the company. Thank you for sharing this information! Very good video.. so far. 😊

Thank you for this video - super helpful! I've always used pesticides/miticides, but I just recently found spider mites on a couple of my plants literally a week before I'm leaving on a two week vacation. So, since I'm not going to be home to do repeated sprays, I ordered and just released 22,000 mites (p. persimilis and n. californicus) throughout my entire collection and I'm hoping they keep things under control while I'm gone. Super helpful to hear you saw an increase in webbing shortly after release - some people had some theories floating around on reddit that sachets contained actual spider mites, or that web spinning grain mites were included in sachets to provide food for predatory mites, as an explanation for sudden increase in webbing, and it all sounded bogus, so it's nice to hear a likely more accurate explanation.

Great video! Very informative. Thanks very much! 🌿💜🤗

Thanks so much for you informative videos.

This is an incredibly helpful video and I appreciate it so very much. I have used natures good guys beneficial nematodes for years for fungus gnats but never any other kind and I have an insane spider mite issues basically year round. Because I keep a lot of aroids and boy do mites love them. Shew. I'm going to try these and we shall see! Thank you !

Thanks, your personality helps to make this an enjoyable and informative video, take care from Australia. My issue is bamboo spider mites, and they are very difficult to be rid of. They are tiny as usual and live on the underside of the leaf in a very close woven web that seems water repellant. They are very destructive in as much as their presence is very noticeable with increased leaf drop and badly damaged, anyway I had thought of this method but have not yet followed thu'

Thank you for this!! Natures Good Guys are the best i have been using beneficial bugs as preventive for over a year and been so happy. i emailed NGG and let them know what my plant concerns were and they told me exactly what i would need for my concerns. Rove beetles are fantastic if you get Fungus Gnats. the place i get turned around is fertilizing, i always worry the fertilizer will kill my bugs. SF Nematodes are a must in our house, i have plants that like to stay in moist soil and they keep us Gnat free. NGG is the absolute best, today is actually Nematode day - know that Nematodes need Distilled water and they can be stored area for a bit (its on the package) so you can do your release of the live bugs and nematode on your next watering.

You have NO clue how helpful this is!! I'm not the most squeamish when it comes to regular bugs in our environment, but LET ME TELL YOU, I freak out when it comes to bugs on my plants 😢 I believe it is just the fear of losing something that I love and have invested soooo much time, money, energy, care, etc in. That being said, I get it - if you want plants, you must accept that you will have pests along the way. Anywho, recently came down with some spider mites, so I cant thank you enough for posting this! ❤

This was an outstanding video!

Hello’s from Puerto Rico!! Very informative video…thank you!!😊

I'm having back anxiety so I'm rewatching and your description of lady bugs is so accurate! Yes I'm blessed that they purposely come in my home in the fall/winter and while they do fly around they are mostly just cool around my plants, I'm assuming BC they are still "resting" a bit. I personally am against buying the lady bugs as they often are taken from outside. Like I said in my last comment on them though, they leave my home in the spring, I assume the same way they come in! It was a rare occasion when my dog would show me one walking on the floor and then I would pick it up and return it to a plant so it didn't get the squish. In my lady bug research in the fall I believe it said they will not breed indoors (I assume you need exact perfect for them conditions but don't know why for sure). I got a few cute pictures of them in the late winter early spring (Canadian seasons) hanging out on my plants. Knock on wood my only pests so far have been fungus gnats but they're not at a point where I feel I need to spray, a sticky here and there tells me if I need more and occasionally I catch a dog and then I know he's not as innocent as he appears 🤣 I love the "mom I got this heckin yellow butterfly stuck to my neck by no fault of my own" look 🤣

Nice healthy beautiful plants.

After 45 years of growing plants, Ive had spider mites once on one plant. Same with mealies. It just hasn’t been an issue for me in south Florida. Since starting my new indoor collection, I had fungus gnats flying everywhere! If anybody walking by looked in they would’ve thought I’d lost my mind! I mixed 2 tablespoons of mosquito bits in a liter of water & let it soak for a day or so, then watered the plants. Ive done it twice & they’re gone! I firmly believe in that method & it’s cheap af.

Thnx lady!!! I appreciate this vid! Have you used the nematoads

Good video with lots of good information. I am not a big believer in importing non-native bugs, however. Too many times they can cause issues with the native species. Thanks for the video, though! I learned a lot. 🙂

I’ve found a few of them on Amazon, so no shipping if you have a membership.

I have found that some of these beneficials only climb upwards. So you'll want to put them on the lower branches.

Great content, where to get that booklet you’re referencing?

Amazon does have ladybug larvae

2:02 I am TOO STUNNED TO SPEAK! I just recently got an infestation of spider mites and it was those EXACT TWO PLANTS 🤯🤯🤯🤯

Great video. Just discovered your channel and you have been l super helpful! I just made and applied a batch of your natural pesticide recipe (tea tree and peppermint Castile soaps, rubbing alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide) to fight an outbreak of spider mites. My thoughts would be to apply that treatment for about 2-3 weeks; then on the last week, install predatory mite larvae sachets so they hatch 2-4 weeks later to eat the remaining spider mites that I may have missed when the natural pesticide strength has weakened. What are your thoughts on that plan? Will I just kill my predatory mites? Thanks!

I just bought the mix of different predatory mite species for spider mites. Shipping was TWENTY SEVEN dollars. I did also get some predatory mite food so they can last longer though instead of buying multiple vials of them throughout the month. Fingers crossed that they work!!!

Amazing information! Do you know if the swirskii mites also feed on the plant to survive in periods where it doesn't have food? I can't see any spider mites on my plant but see some of the spider mite damage so I'm not sure if the predatory mites can also cause any kind of damage in large numbers? Is there a way to differentiate the actual spider mites from the swirskii mites when you see them on the leaves? Thanks!

Hello ma'am I don't currently have any bugs that know of and I don't want any so I was thinking preventative. I currently use neem oil every 2 months to keep bugs away. I only have like 30 plants and don't plan on many more. Oh and I live in hot Texas. What are your thoughts?

Question about my rattlesnake calathea. It is not spreading as fast as i expected it too and now that i have groomed out some old sheaths and dried leaves it looks a bit leggy, but it doesn't really want to be closer or further from where it is or it doesn't pray right (i assume lighting is right when it moved the way it should). I lifted it out of the pot carefully and it did have a lot of roots and what looked like a corm on the bottom but I don't think they make corms? I put a layer of new soil on the bottom because it was poking through and had some missing soil. The roots were all over throughout the pot but otherwise not root bound bc like i said i had room to add fresh soil. Do you think there could be a mesh plug around it slowly the actual leaves from coming out when the roots are so dense or should I just say F it and move it up a pot size? I feel like it might be doing that pushing up out of the soil thing you mentioned one of your plants does in a previous video, but I am only thinking that because I noticed yesterday there are some roots that are actually growing out of the top of the soil LOL. The roots didn't suggest a mesh plug but the growth staying tight has me wondering. I don't think I would be able to remove it with all the roots. Those jiffy pot plant plugs with the mesh are clearly evil as every plant I've found them on were the plants that were suffering... I donno why the heck they use them on indoor plants where there are no earthworms and other bugs helping to eat the decaying material... GRRR

Alocasia and Fiddle leaf figs get a bad rap like calathea white fusion as well :( I haven't seen a white fusion at the same time I had money or I would have one LOL I don't fear a plant bc of what other ppl say or don't say... I know I have light, I have humidity and since I am in Canada there are only about 2 weeks in the year where its "too cold" inside for some plants bc it's not quite time for the furnace as it's comfortable enough to just toss on a sweater. Last year I did lose both of the calathea I had during that period and they didn't come back, BUT now that I know I am simply planning to put a space heater by my plants which will all be moved away from the window etc bc the daylight will already be much less and that will keep the chill out of the air.

I keep live lady bugs in a container in my garage and feed them as pets. Would they lay eggs in the container so I can use their babies?

Spider mites should have their own food like yeast or pollen if they cannot find any other bugs to eat while on the plants. In that way, this will prevent them to eat the plants.

How did i miss this video?

Just wondering how you have all this knowledge!? Did you go to school for botanicals??

One thing important to mention is mosquito dunks (bacillius thuringiensis) will kill nematodes. I didn't know this when I tried using nematodes for fungus gnats and ended up wasting money.

I'm irritated bc I got some lacewings but I dont think they survived or hatched etc whatever there process is they didn't work

I bought sachets and a bunch of other mites from this company and it did not help and they were very few mite in the bags and jar that I bought.

There use to be an abundance of lady bugs in this country. where dis they go?

I wish you had pictures

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I’m not sure how I feel about bringing bugs into my house to kill other bugs though. 😬

My family would flip 😅

Can you use them in semi hydro?? I use mostly PON. I do have some plants still in chunky mix.