This is the second weekly check of the epic battle between aphids and ladybugs in my hot tub room where I have 9 eggplants and 4 tomato plants growing. It is going the way of the latter, though I do worry that the ladybugs will eat all the aphids and die off, leaving the aphids to come back, but I hope that won't come to pass. The life cycle of the aphids is shorter than that of the ladybugs by at least a couple weeks, and I have seen plenty of aphid adults flying about looking for a place to lay eggs and havoc. No Ranching ants are evident in any number in the hot tub room, so I think the ladybugs have no predators in the hot tub room.
Looking at the leaves of my veggies, I see a myriad of aphid exoskeletons with legs still clinging to leaves and flower petals. It seems that the larvae latch onto an aphid and just suck them dry and move on to do the same to the next hapless victim. I have seen one larvae holding onto an aphid and seemingly just sucking(?). The larvae are like vampire bugs & they are on my side--for now. That makes sense if the inner juice of the aphids is easier to digest than even the soft exoskeletons of the live aphid.
I have seen one grown ladybug eat aphids whole. That was interesting. These sort of things aren't so easy for me to catch and I doubt that I could hold my hand steady enough to shoot video.
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