NaturesArt 1500 Live Ladybugs - Good Bugs for Garden - Ladybug Guaranteed Live Delivery* - Plastic Box, Container, Case.

Ladybugs arrived, mostly alive, and took care of all our aphids in the first day. We got so excited watching them crawl around our garden that we set up a ladybug house and water dish for them. Can’t go one pruning session in the garden without ladybugs landing on us. I’d give 6 stars if I could.

I've got a bunch of lilies, and many of them have a serious aphid infestation. I didn't want to spray nasty chemicals, so ... what to do? There is a "soap and water spray" recommendation which is fairly harmless, but why not employ some predators? In other words: ladybugs.So, the miracle that is Amazon sent me 1500 ladybugs. They arrived in a cubicle box, about 6 inches each edge, with a scary notice of "LIVE ANIMALS!" I have to tip my hat to the USPS letter carriers who deliver such things.They come in a little plastic container which has air holes (think fresh salsa container), and there are (of course) air holes punched into the side of the little cubical box. Inside the little plastic container is some kind of weird jumbled up thing that looks like string, and the lady bugs like it. Most of them crawl into the blob of string and hang out there.Rule Number 1. DO NOT OPEN THE PLASTIC CONTAINER INSIDE YOUR HOUSE. As charming as lady bugs are, they are less charming when they are indoors. When you open the lid, about 10-20 of them will immediately take flight, bellowing "Yo Mama So Ugly!" at those they've left behind.Rule Number 2. That weird ball of string is your friend. Think of it as a salt shaker, but instead of salt, you get lady bugs. This was my second batch of lady bugs, and my "salt shaker" approach was wildly superior to what I tried with the first batch. I'm not even going to tell you how I dispersed the first batch. I am blushing about this. PICK UP THE WEIRD BALL OF STRING AND GENTLY SHAKE IT OVER THE PLANTS THAT NEED SOME LADYBUG HELP.Observation: These ladybugs apparently come from some place in Florida, and I live in Washington State. One might reasonably wonder, "okay, so how many of the ladybugs survived the trip?" The answer is ... *all of them*. But: for both deliveries I picked up the package within 10 minutes of delivery, and brought the (sealed) box into my house (much cooler) for a couple hours before "delivering" the ladybugs.We've been having some pretty hot weather here, and I doubt that the ladybugs would have enjoyed 6 hours in 100F. Lesson here: use the "track package" feature that Amazon provides. If you can't pick up the ladybugs right away, find a neighbor who can.

It took much longer to get in the mail than expected and when the ladybugs finally came only 100-200 were actually alive the rest had been dead for a while. My kids were definitely disappointed when we open the container to released them in our garden.

Eat all the aphids in my huge maple tree.

There were tons of them, and it was a lot of fun to release with my students

Make sure you release them inside your greenhouse coz they will fly away in an open space.

Would love if they came in smaller quantities for indoor use

Majority of lady bugs died after opening container and allowed to roam on tomato treesNot sure if heat in Miami is an issue?