Lady Bugs? No Problem!

For the past month, as spring moves in, I have started to see more and more lady bugs in my home and in my grow cab. I had a daily ritual of picking them out and flicking them outdoors because i was worried they were ah-munchin' on my plants. I recently discovered that they are no such problem at all!
Take a look at this article!

"There are more than 450 species of ladybugs in North America. Some are native and some have been introduced from other countries. Most North American species are beneficial, with both adults and larvae feeding primarily on aphids. They also feed on mites, small insects, and insect eggs. (There are two pest species in the group: the Mexican bean beetle and the squash beetle. Both adults and larvae of those species feed on plants.)
Most ladybugs found in gardens are aphid predators. Some species prefer only certain aphids while others will seek out and dine on most any kind of aphid. Some prefer mite or scale species. If aphids are scarce, they'll feed on the eggs of moths, beetles, mites, thrips, and other small insects, as well as pollen and nectar. Not as delicate and refined as they seem, they'll also feed on their own young."

So, in point- Lady bugs dont ah-munch on plants! They actually feed on the pests that eat your plants. Many of you probably knew this, but I didnt so i wanted to share this with the community.

I have a shed that I grow in, and the 2nd day I had plants in there, I found an upwards of 10 ladybugs in there. I love the little buggers. (pun intended)

If you are doing an outdoor grow organically and have a problem with weeds growing in your plot there are certain beetles that feed on problematic weed seeds. Many you can order off the internet also. It would save you a bit of time yanking weeds out. Not sure when exactly you'd want to release them into your garden and how often. Probably early spring to get all the seeds from the previous season. A little more research would have to be done to know for sure. Then of course there are other seed predators like mice, birds, worms, etc. Maybe someone doing an outside grow could try rotating beetles, lady bugs, and praying mantes, or maintain a diverse array of insects constantly to take care of pest/weed problems throughout the grow season.

Here's a question I'd like to know. When doing an inside grow and you get an infestation of spider mites could lady bugs take care of the problem? Would you need to wipe away as many and as much webbing as you could before releasing them? I've always been lucky. Only had them once on a single plant. Caught them when there were maybe a dozen. I wiped them off with a wet paper towel and sprayed an insecticide which almost killed the plant, but I didn't have spider mites after that. If it happened again I would rather try releasing a batch of lady bugs than use chemical sprays.

i had a friend get rid of his infestation using ladybugs and a net over the plant