Preview Summer 2025 Lounge Thread

[Heaps of fun]

This is where you can find Gaso's off-topic remarks until March next year.

Anyway, how about the grass? Growing pretty fast at the moment.

 

[giantroo]

Plenty of snakes out and about already.

 

[blackshadow]

Was up at Swan Hill last week and got back on Saturday - was looking very dry up that way and looks like it will be a hot, dry and dusty summer.

 

[Heaps of fun]

Gasometer what's it like out your way?

 

[Gasometer]

Gasometer what's it like out your way?

Fried

 

[Gasometer]

It’s still in the Lounge

My finger cbf moving from Main Board to here

 

[Heaps of fun]

It was sweaty yesterday. Still a bit sweaty today. Might book a shower in soon.

 

[Gasometer]

This is a good read

 

[giantroo]

Anyone else have an influx of the lady bugs in their gardens this year?

 

[ferball]

Anyone else have an influx of the lady bugs in their gardens this year?

View attachment 2181978View attachment 2181979View attachment 2181980

My kids would love that.

Its good and bad. Most ladybugs are great because they prey on other bugs that damage your garden. If there is alot of them then maybe you have a population of pests that can sustain them and that isn't a good thing for the garden.

 

[giantroo]

My kids would love that.

Its good and bad. Most ladybugs are great because they prey on other bugs that damage your garden. If there is alot of them then maybe you have a population of pests that can sustain them and that isn't a good thing for the garden.

Looks like I'm not the only one. I've never had them before and they are mainly covering my silverbeet plants which I've allowed to go to seed this year.

No Cookies | Geelong Advertiser

No Cookies

www.geelongadvertiser.com.au

The abnormally humid weather has created ideal conditions for them to thrive, says Deakin University associator professor of zoology Dr Philip Barton.

“If it’s too cold or too dry they simply don’t survive, but what we’ve seen in the last few months with the weather means they have had a higher survival rate,” he said.

“The recent week or so with weather would’ve helped the larvae emerge and grow as adults.”

“Back in February, there was the white cabbage moth (experiencing a similar increase) and this is the same process. It’s all to do with climate and weather conditions being just right.”

While an increase in insects usually means plague or infestation, this most recent phenomenon is “nothing to be afraid of”.

Ladybugs cover a beachside rock in Torquay this week. Picture: Shaun Viljoen
Ladybugs cover a beachside rock in Torquay this week. Picture: Shaun Viljoen
In fact, the presence of ladybirds often means a positive ecological outcome.

“They are beneficial insects – when you have ladybugs you have fewer pests,” Dr Barton said.


“Farmers love ladybugs, gardeners love ladybugs, so the public should be happy to have them … it’s a really good sign of a healthy ecosystem.”

Ladybirds eat destructive pest species like aphids, which are known to ruin crops and plants, and are so effective in some instances that they have been introduced by horticulturalists to infested environments to restore them.

 

[ferball]

Looks like I'm not the only one. I've never had them before and they are mainly covering my silverbeet plants which I've allowed to go to seed this year.

No Cookies | Geelong Advertiser

No Cookies

www.geelongadvertiser.com.au

The abnormally humid weather has created ideal conditions for them to thrive, says Deakin University associator professor of zoology Dr Philip Barton.

“If it’s too cold or too dry they simply don’t survive, but what we’ve seen in the last few months with the weather means they have had a higher survival rate,” he said.

“The recent week or so with weather would’ve helped the larvae emerge and grow as adults.”

“Back in February, there was the white cabbage moth (experiencing a similar increase) and this is the same process. It’s all to do with climate and weather conditions being just right.”

While an increase in insects usually means plague or infestation, this most recent phenomenon is “nothing to be afraid of”.

Ladybugs cover a beachside rock in Torquay this week. Picture: Shaun Viljoen
Ladybugs cover a beachside rock in Torquay this week. Picture: Shaun Viljoen
In fact, the presence of ladybirds often means a positive ecological outcome.

“They are beneficial insects – when you have ladybugs you have fewer pests,” Dr Barton said.


“Farmers love ladybugs, gardeners love ladybugs, so the public should be happy to have them … it’s a really good sign of a healthy ecosystem.”

Ladybirds eat destructive pest species like aphids, which are known to ruin crops and plants, and are so effective in some instances that they have been introduced by horticulturalists to infested environments to restore them.

Its a win for integrated pest management.

Years ago I lost a couple of entire crops of avocados (off a couple of trees, but they were big and produced thousands of fruit on each of them) because monolepta swarmed in plague proportions when the trees just started flowering and ate nearly every flower on the trees. Nice to see people have a win for once with swarming insects.

 

[Gasometer]

Ladybirds are cool af