Anybody here use beneficial bugs?

[evol]

I always have a lot of ladybugs in my house and put them into my grow room.

 

[gradolabs]

I always have a lot of ladybugs in my house and put them into my grow room.

Same. They munch on mites and thrips. If I find any creepin around I always grab a piece of paper, shuffle them onto the cannabis express and drop em off on my leaves. One flew into my LEDs fan once and got knocked the f out. You could hear him get wacked.

 

[Captain Howdy]

Haha, that made me chuckle.

Thanks for the info Evol and Gradolabs, I presumed it would be fine to use ladybirds inside but just the novelty factor of having a mantis guarding my plants would have been awesome.
No matter though, a box of Ladybirds in the fridge it is, I refuse to suffer the pain of a spider mite infestation again.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[gradolabs]

Yeah, you can get praying mantis eggs cheap online. Dunno how I'd feel about having those get out of my cab... tiny lady bugs are one thing, but if a three inch mantis found its way to my bedroom and woke me up... that's a lot of bug, ya know? And have you ever looked at their eyes? They follow yours no matter what. It's a heartless assassin bug with no remorse. Just dead, like a gulls eye. I like em though... just... outside.

 

[Captain Howdy]

 

[lr2jd]

Praying mantis feeds on fruit flies (and thing larger than that) for about 2-4 weeks. After that they die or need bigger prey, like meatflies, bees, moths or butterflies. I've been keeping a few species of mantis myself, and wouldn't use them in my cabinet. The chance of them actually catching any bug is about 1/20. Also they tend to climb as high as possible, but the harmful insects stay in the canopy and below. So they won't help as much as ladybugs, who actively hunt down aphids, mites and thrips. Also don't forget about compost worms, which are beneficial too! I buy a bag of worms every time I set up a new grow.
Also check out some real predatious bugs which could help out even more than ladybugs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoseiulus