Attack of the Killer Ladybugs!
A Manhattan apartment complex has been overrun by 720,000 ladybugs--on purpose.
By Pamela Mortimer
No, it’s not the latest Sci-Fi thriller. In fact, it’s the latest effort of one company attempting to achieve effective pest control without releasing poisons into the atmosphere. Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex on Manhattan's East Side, one of New York’s largest apartment complexes, has purchased 720,000 ladybugs in order to kill off harmful insects attempting to infest the property. The owners of the complex hope that the little red and black beetles will run off more dangerous insects that are trying to take over the 80 acre property.
Buying the bugs means the complex's owner, Tishman Speyer, can avoid using the standard chemical pesticides.
The ladybugs came from a Bozeman, MT natural gardening company, safely packed in boxes of wood shavings. Upon being released, the little creatures took to the skies. Within the next few days, owners of the complex expect the ladybugs to infiltrate areas that otherwise might be homes to leaf sucking aphids and mites.
"In most cases, we reach for a can of pesticide — and we kill not only the 'bad guys,' but the 'good guys,'" said Eric Vinje, owner of Planet Natural, which supplied the ladybugs for the Manhattan apartment complex.
"All we're doing here is putting more of the 'good guys' to tip the scale," he said.
This particular species of ladybug — Hippodamia convergens — will converge in the wilderness, where they are harvested.
Vinje buys them from ladybug collectors working the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Oregon, California and Montana. Then he keeps them alive in large refrigerators where the temperature is kept at approximately 35 degrees.
The bugs will go "dormant" at that temperature, using up their fat stores without eating anything, and staying alive for about five months, Vinje said. In transit, the ladybugs woke up and returned to their natural state. By the time they reached Manhattan, "they were lively and ready to eat anything that was not too quick for them," Vinje said.
According to Vinje, 720,000 ladybugs is about the right number to take care of the 80 acre property. On average, a ladybug can cover a 19" x 19" parcel of land and eat up to 50 insects a day, including insect eggs. The ladybugs are expected to consume billions of insects before moving on.
Although there will be almost a million ladybugs converging on the area, apartment residents need not worry. "This one is not prone to entering homes," Vinje said.
No, it’s not the latest Sci-Fi thriller. In fact, it’s the latest effort of one company attempting to achieve effective pest control without releasing poisons into the atmosphere. Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex on Manhattan's East Side, one of New York’s largest apartment complexes, has purchased 720,000 ladybugs in order to kill off harmful insects attempting to infest the property. The owners of the complex hope that the little red and black beetles will run off more dangerous insects that are trying to take over the 80 acre property.
Buying the bugs means the complex's owner, Tishman Speyer, can avoid using the standard chemical pesticides.
The ladybugs came from a Bozeman, MT natural gardening company, safely packed in boxes of wood shavings. Upon being released, the little creatures took to the skies. Within the next few days, owners of the complex expect the ladybugs to infiltrate areas that otherwise might be homes to leaf sucking aphids and mites.
"In most cases, we reach for a can of pesticide — and we kill not only the 'bad guys,' but the 'good guys,'" said Eric Vinje, owner of Planet Natural, which supplied the ladybugs for the Manhattan apartment complex.
"All we're doing here is putting more of the 'good guys' to tip the scale," he said.
This particular species of ladybug — Hippodamia convergens — will converge in the wilderness, where they are harvested.
Vinje buys them from ladybug collectors working the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Oregon, California and Montana. Then he keeps them alive in large refrigerators where the temperature is kept at approximately 35 degrees.
The bugs will go "dormant" at that temperature, using up their fat stores without eating anything, and staying alive for about five months, Vinje said. In transit, the ladybugs woke up and returned to their natural state. By the time they reached Manhattan, "they were lively and ready to eat anything that was not too quick for them," Vinje said.
According to Vinje, 720,000 ladybugs is about the right number to take care of the 80 acre property. On average, a ladybug can cover a 19" x 19" parcel of land and eat up to 50 insects a day, including insect eggs. The ladybugs are expected to consume billions of insects before moving on.
Although there will be almost a million ladybugs converging on the area, apartment residents need not worry. "This one is not prone to entering homes," Vinje said.
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