Ladybugs for my wee greenhouses

Last year I encountered aphids all over my chilli plants and while Neem oil does a great job, it is messy and it is a pain to take all the plants out, spray and return. So I've ordered ladybugs (along with loads of 1020 trays) and I would appreciate suggestions on how to encourage the Ladies to stick around a little to get any early invaders.

Many thanks for your help.
Lori

 

Spray.

 

What?

 

A suitable aphid killer. I've found even something like 'Roseclear' works, but others are available.

 

Nemind. Guess it was a silly question. I had tried to emphasize that I did not want to spray, had already ordered the ladybugs but somehow asked a stupid question..

My bad

 

If you have a good colony of aphids already established, , I would just expect the ladybugs to stay and feast. The correct conditions for the plants should also keep your little red workers happy too!

 

Any biological control requires a supply of food to sustain them; so the ladybirds will leave if there are insufficient aphids etc around for them when they first arrive. Also they will only reduce the population of aphids not remove all of them.
Commercially biological controls are introduced every year and then regularly refreshed through the season.

 

Should I mist the leaves with water before releasing the ladybirds? I dimly recall reading years ago that once they start "waking" up they look for something to drink.

 

My apologies, and no, it wasn't a stupid question. It's just that I think you're going to struggle to control the aphids. Please report back on how it goes as I'd like to know if it a viable alternative

 

I was under the impression that it was ladybird, (ladybug) larvae that actually eat aphids, well more that the adults do anyway, if so, but the time they have mated, layed eggs, the eggs hatch, there wont be much in the way of plant life left.

So as Freddy said, spray.

 

I used to buy predators to control Red spider, they take a couple of weeks to work and then drop off as the Red spider die out.
Then the red spider come back so you need to reintroduce more, its a never ending circle, which costs.
Might not be quite as bad with aphids as they tend to be an early summer problem.