Northport-East Northport Girl Scouts To Help Loose 100K Ladybugs

FARMINGDALE, NY — Roughly 100,000 ladybugs are set to be released into the environment at Pinelawn Memorial Park and Arboretum in Farmingdale on Sunday.

Suffolk County Girl Scouts and their parents were invited to help release the ladybugs at the 4th Annual Ladybug Release event. The release of ladybugs into the park's flowering gardens, botanicals, plants and arboreta will help protect its plant life as a much safer option than using pesticides.

The ladybugs are due to be released at 11 a.m. Sunday at the park, at 2030 Wellwood Ave., Farmingdale.

The educational event will teach the Girl Scouts and their families how aphids, a common pest, can cause harm to a variety of plant life. Lady beetles, also known as ladybugs, which are a natural predator to aphids, help control their population. Ladybugs can eat up to 5,000 aphids in their lifetime.

The hands-on event will include 60 Suffolk County Girl Scouts, ages 5 through 14 — and their parents — from Northport, East Northport, South Huntington, Kings Park and Dix Hills.

Pinelawn Memorial Park and Arboretum also recently brought the event directly to the residents of Sunrise Senior Living in Dix Hills.