City of Regina releases 300k ladybugs to fight aphids

The City of Regina released 300,000 ladybugs Thursday morning in an effort to tackle its pesky aphid problem.

Aphids are a destructive insect that feed on sap and cause stress on trees.

Morgan said the cost for the ladybugs was minimal but massively effective. The ladybugs were shipped from a farm in California with a price tag of $1,200.

“Ladybugs in their adult stage can devour 50 aphids in a day, so if we got 300 thousand lady bugs… they’re devouring 15 million aphids a day and they can live up to 12 weeks,” Morgan said.

The city said the ladybugs were a unique and innovative way to be more environmentally friendly.

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“We have an environmental tool that we have in our toolbox is ladybugs… they’ll crawl up into the tree and start devouring the aphids, and it’s a very effective environmental control,” Morgan said.

The family-friendly event drew hundreds of families to Victoria Park.

The city planned to release half of the ladybug lot at the park. The other 150,000 ladybugs were released at other parks around the city.