Asparagus near compost bin also now infested with aphids

Oh well. I hereby declare that next year I'm going to eat whatever I can, before all three patches are permanently kaput.

Asparagus aphids still here, ecosystem with lady bugs and house flies

Wow that asparagus patch by the patio door is sooooooo completely infested with aphids.  Wonder what the long term damage will be.  There have been a few more generations of lady bugs, including some adult beetles who I witnessed today emerge spotless from their... whatever their previous form is called.  There are also a lot of house flies who hang around the asparagus constantly.  Can't figure out if they're eating the aphids or not.

The asparagus by the compost bin also has some starting :-(

Not doing anything about it this year, other than eventually removing the ferns later this fall.

Oh no!!!! Wasps are eating/removing ladybug larvae, even the big ones!!!!

Update on the ladybug larvae:

 

The outside-born ones it seems were mostly eaten / disappeared.

 

The inside-born ones:  Wow, do they ever grow FAST.  They did mostly* great, with new ferns added once or twice a day, and a wet cotton ball inside the jar, with cheesecloth lining (triple-folded).  Their shed skins were all over as they grew.  Gradually over the last ~3 days I've been setting a few loose into the asparagus each day.  It was tricky to get them take hold of a new asparagus fern and not fall off as it bounced into place, but it worked with some patience.  I could swear I wasn't seeing as many on the plants as I was releasing.  Well, sure enough, today as I was out to release the last two*, what did I see but a wasp/hornet in the plant wrestling with a balled-up ladybug larva, one of the bigger ones!!  The wasp/hornet flew off with it!  Noooooooooooooo........!!  Dang it.  One beneficial insect eating another beneficial insect.  *The last two or three seemed to have something wrong with them starting yesterday -- they seemed to lose their ability to move normally, just lying in place wriggling their legs around, unable to get up and move.  I tried placing things there for them to grab onto, but the same issue.  So today I just set them loose onto the ground near the asparagus plant.

Lady bug eggs hatching, outside ones getting eaten by something!!

The lady bug eggs on the asparagus ferns are hatching!  Both inside ferns hatched today.  I set one outside for a bit, but then it disappeared, I think it fell from the wind because it wasn't secured very well.  Darn.

And, one of the outside ones, within a few hours after hatching almost all had disappeared!  There was a larger grey/mottled beetle hanging around nearby, who I assume ate them.

So, I brought in another of the unhatched ferns inside.  Total of two batches inside, with the plan to raise them for a few days until they're bigger, to give them a better chance of survival so they can get busy eating those asparagus aphids!

Lady bug eggs & asparagus aphids found on asparagus ferns

Bright orange eggs drew me to look closer at the asparagus ferns along the NE wall.  Turns out there are a bunch of aphids!!!!  Not totally infesting the entire plant, but, certainly hundreds/thousands in particular areas.

Cool though that lady bug eggs were laid there!  I have been seeing several lady bugs in the garden including on the asparagus.  Hadn't noticed the aphids until now.

Brought these two ferns with eggs and aphids inside, in a jar with cheese cloth cover.