??? Do you mean ladybugs?

Have you tried just blasting the vine with the hose several times?

@floraluk2 I corrected the text, thanks.

This problem is way beyond what a hose can easily do, and the other problem is the plant is starting to bloom and a hose would damage flowers.

That sounds like a good experiment. I will try to pick some up this weekend.

@Joseph Despins I am going to try Sweet Alyssum to attract hoverflies, and also Marigold to attract ladybugs. I will update this thread in a few months.

@westes Zone 9b California SF Bay good luck! It's such fun when you see the biological controls working.

I think you need a good size patch of plants and flowers for best attractiveness effect. I group a number of Alyssum plants around the base of the subject which gets aphids.

So I prepared for Ladybugs by:

* watering the plant

* getting the soil very damp

* adding a saucer with rocks and adding water to this

* adding a sponge and getting that very moist

I released the Ladybugs into this environment, and they don't eat anything. Many hang out on the sponge, probably rehydrating. Many of them go to the leaves of French Marigolds in this container. I placed one directly onto a stem that is covered with Aphids, and it eats nothing. The Ladybug prunes itself, walks all over the Aphids, and then wanders off to a leaf with no Aphids and just rests.

What am I not understanding about Ladybug behavior here. Do they just need to hang out and rest until night, and then they come out looking for a meal?

I'm late to the party, but this thread showed up for a search I was doing on morning glories. Go figure. As it happens, I know the answer to your question: according to my dad, who used to sell ag chemicals to ranchers and farmers..... then had a customer switch to organic crops, ladybugs will stick around the area where they were hatched. Your best bet would be to purchase some ladybug larvae, spreading them around your garden. Once hatched, they should stay with you forevermore. :)

Fun sidenote: Dad was fascinated by this whole thing. When the farmer couldn't figure out the best way to spread his larvae evenly on his many acres of grapevines, Dad designed and built an RC cropduster. They mixed the larvae with sawdust so things would flow evenly rather than clump, then loaded into the cropduster's hopper. Dad flew that sucker up and down the rows of vines, releasing little larvae as he went. Makes me smile every time I think about it.

@madhabitz Great story about the ladybug crop duster.

Would dad have a recommendation for where to buy ladybug larvae? I guess the idea of imprinting to a birth location makes some sense.

The great ladybug adventure happened at least 40+ years ago, so he's gone now, but he lived a very long & well-lived life. I have no idea where to find the larvae, but as it happens, I am also in a 9b zone in the SF East Bay. :) Try contacting some organic farmers in your area (loads of winegrape growers and farm-to-table operations over here) -- it's possible they'd have a source. Also, try your county's ag office -- they'd likely have an advisor willing to help you out. Then, of course, the old standyby Google search might pan out. Good luck!

I got curious, so did my own google search and now I am laughing like a loon. You can get those suckers on Amazon!

@madhabitz No, the products on Amazon are less than 20 larvae, apparently as a toy for children. I want to buy 500+ from a reliable vendor.

Awwww... that's too bad. I just saw it pop up and started laughing at the idea that they even sell larvae. Oh well, the other ideas might be worth exploring. :)

500 seems an awful lot. Ladybugs show up naturally in my garden when aphids appear and they never occur in such large numbers.

They are for sale in packs of 100 here.

@floraluk2 Believe it or not, I have a study suggesting that to control aphids on a single large rose bush you need 1500 adult ladybugs. That is because of their propensity to fly away. But the counts for larvae could be different.

I assume you mean adult ladybugs, not adult aphids. As I said, they arrived naturally in my garden and there are definitely not that many in the whole garden let alone on a single bush. The larvae are more voracious than the adults. I still believe you could solve your problem with the hose and your hands if you just stick at it.

@floraluk2 There aren't enough hours in the day to hose off the 1000 places the aphids are hiding.

Consider this source:

https://ipm.ucanr.edu/natural-enemies/convergent-lady-beetle/#gsc.tab=0

"Controlling aphids on roses can require about 1,500 beetles per shrub released at 1- to 2-week intervals as long as conditions are suitable for aphids. You may need to plan in advance and purchase the beetles through a shipping service to obtain large numbers of them when needed and for a reasonable price."

That's 1500 ladybugs PER SHRUB and repeated every two weeks!!!! Clearly, that is not cost-effective.

Even ladybugs don’t like to eat aphids that feed on Aponycacous plants. THAT’S the little secret about ladybugs you’re searching for! The aphids are sticky and gluey, discouraging much munching by chewing predators. You’ll need to lead the attack youself by squishing, spraying strong streams of water, insecticidal soap,

Blasting with the hose does not take hours. Done regularly it takes minutes. You don't need to obliterate every last insect. Those not killed are weakened and the burden on the plant is reduced. Several posters have recommended this simple, cost free method but you seem determined to find an expensive and complicated sledgehammer to crack this particular nut.

@rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 I think "Aponycacous" must have been a typo?

I have a study where the ladybugs are consuming 50 or more aphids each, per day. You are saying that a Mandevilla makes them less appealing than other types of plants?

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK Contrary to popular opinion, I have tried the hose technique many times and it did not work. On top of not addressing the issue in this particular situation, it damaged the delicate flowers, which are now covering the vine and are what make it worth owning in the first place. If I had a rose bush that was infected, I would be all over it with a hose.

Plants within the Apocynaceae family, like your Mandevilla. I very badly misspelled it, lol. Yes, these plants, as a group, won’t be as attractive to ladybugs as others that do not have a toxic, gluey sap. The aphids that feed on those plants become sticky, too. Ladybugs soon learn to avoid them and communicate their distasteful quality to others.

Westes, you maybe the only gardener in the northern hemisphere for which a strong water spray does not work with aphids!! It works perfectly well for 99.9% of the rest of the population, which is why it is recommended so frequently. I would surmise that you are either not thorough enough in your efforts or attending to it as often as necessary.

And don't worry about the damn flowers. Get rid of the aphids and the flowers will be back in full force!

The simplest solution is just don't grow this plant.......,

@rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 Wonderful :( I guess ladybug larvae would be captive and might eat them anyway?

Do you have any thoughts on what predator insects would work well for large Oleander aphids on a Mandevilla?

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) There are easiliy 200+ vines on this plant that are hidden by leaf cover. The aphids are hidden from view on many of those. How is a hose supposed to get to all of those locations unless I spend an hour using it? And the flowers are just too nice to give up. It is dense like this for a 6 foot x 4 foot section.

After failing to get the aphids off this plant, I ended up cutting off the vines that were sticking out into the sun that had most of the aphids on them. I figured that would at least make it harder to see them on the rest of the plant.

Two weeks later, I don't find any aphids anywhere. What the heck? Why would that happen?

The more I do gardening the more I realize I am not in control in many situations. Mother nature just does what it wants to do.

I think I would experiment. Select a section or two that is loaded With aphids and mark it in some way so that you can identify it (plastic cover baggie tie ot bread bag clip).

Spay this stem with a solution of cayenne or hot pepper mix. (For my experiment, I would take some very hot chilies, steep in water, then filter and let cool.

Caveat: I am a hack, not an accomplished gardener. For all I know, aphids like hot chili extract or are unphased by it. But I would just move over to mammal saliva…