HELP!! Ladybugs Again

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Does anyone know of a way to get rid of these Asian ladybugs? We had a bumper crop last year, and it looks like we are on our way to another invasion. Last year we battled them until about April, then I think they went back outside for the summer.

Does anyone know what they eat, how they reproduce, anything that may help in their extermination. They do NOT have any natural predators in this region of the country. They multiply like crazy.

If you can help, anything would be appreciated. The only way we have found to kill them is to physically place them in vegatable oil. This would be a never ending task with the numbers we are talking about. A neighbor tried to freese them in water, but when the water thawed in the spring they just crawled out and walked away. She placed them in a fire and they just crawled out minus wings and kept on going. They seem like some kind of sci-fi creature.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated by all of us with this problem

Talk to you later.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), September 28, 2001

Answers

they eat aphids, mites, rust, and a bunch of other nasty critters. If they are inside,, vacuum them up. Freezing hard shelled insects doesnt do anything except stop their metabolism. Incects are cold blooded,, so when it warms back up, so do they.

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), September 28, 2001.

I am always so perplexed why folks have such a problem with Asian Ladybugs! They feast on soft bodied pests in trees, and they were imported here to eat aphids in our orchards. That's why you rarely see them feasting in the garden or on the roses.

They prefer to spend their winters hibernating in attics and crawlspaces on the south side of buildings. On warm days, they find their way down into your window sills. Once they enter your building, you are better off leaving them until next spring when they leave. Anything you do to kill them will certainly make them stink worse. Dead insect carcasses inside walls and ceilings are hightly allergenic.

My advice is to wait until they leave next year and seal up all the nooks and crannies they are entering your house through and mount ladybug houses at the highest points on the south side of your buildings. Then you can collect them in jars or ziplock bags and sell them to organic fruit and nut growers.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@hotmail.com), September 29, 2001.


Laura,

You wonder why I am perplexed about ladybugs. Apparently you have never been invaded by them en-masse as we have in the last few years. They are everywhere. They walk all over the ceiling and fall in our food. The fall in our clothes. They fall in our grandchildrens stuff. Anytime you seem to move something there is another few. They are everywhere. You walk on the floor and step on them, and then you have a great stink.

We counted the number we vacuumed up daily and it was in the high hundreds everyday, until about the middle of November. The rest of the winter was a slow downward number of bugs collected each day until about April 20. At that time they apparently moved back outside because we saw only a few each day after that.

I am always amazed that people think they are so much smarter than nature when they move animals and plants to other parts of the world. Asian Ladybugs are a good example. They may help in one small niche, but in general they are a nusiance. Killer bees, rabbits in Australia. The list goes on and on. The ignorance of the people who do these sort of things truly baffles me.

I wish the house could be sealed up, but alas it is an old farmhouse and it would be an endless job to try to keep out ladybugs.

I am interested in your ladybug traps though. How are they made etc. I would appreciate the information. Thanks.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), September 29, 2001.


Ladybug HOUSES, Bob, not traps! Make a wooden box that is 4 to 6 inches deep and at least 12 inches high and wide. The hinged front should be solid at the top and luvred slats on the bottom. I made mine out of old shutters.

If your house has crawl space and attic, wait until the coldest day of the year and crawl in scoop their nests into sealable containers. Wear clothing like you were going to be handling bees because they will bite!

Bob, I've lived in a couple of old houses and I'll take the ladybugs over carpenter ants ANYTIME! When the ladybugs drop on the pillow or the dining table, the kids giggle, play with them and put them outside on a tree. When carpenter ants do the same thing it was blood curdling screams all around. Out here in the rain forest old houses just stink anyway even when they don't have any insect invasion.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@hotmail.com), September 29, 2001.


Bob; It's apparent that Laura has not encountered the numbers that you & I have! If I can I'll flip them out the door.....or the time honored method ....between the thumb & index finger. I wish they'd all go do their thing in the orchards/woods!

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), September 29, 2001.


Bob; It's apparent that Laura has not encountered the numbers that you & I have! If I can I'll flip them out the door.....or the time honored method ....between the thumb & index finger. I wish they'd all go do their thing in the orchards/woods! But yes I'm still waiting for a reasonable answer????

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), September 29, 2001.

I never see any ladybugs where I'm at and I am in Missouri!! I will take a box.LOL. If you can freeze them what about 100 to a box put them in your freezer and then come spring selling them to a gardening place to resale?

-- Teresa (c3ranch@socket.net), September 30, 2001.

Bob an Jim-Mi,

We too have had the same problem with ladybugs both in Maryland and now here in Ohio. It's especially terribe when you are trying to sell a house!! LOL. It was so stressful to try to time it just right, waiting till the last possible minute to make yet another run through the house to scoop up more of them before the "lookers" arrived.

We thought we weren't going to have the problem this year because none were coming in and we had received almost a week of very cold weather. Lo and behold, today we have thousands of them on the sides of the house, all over the windows and of course now hundreds coming in. What I really hate is that I want to wash my windows before it gets so cold outside but feel like what's the use when they leave their little yellow "poop" trails all over. No way around it, just have to wash windows now and then once they are in all the little cracks for the winter go back and clean some more.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), September 30, 2001.


Well Guys, I gathered 20 quarts from the south attic of the drafty old ladybug house I was renting. That cut down the number of indoor bugs considerably.

I just think that an insect invasion could be so much worse. With ladybugs yo can still say, "Thank God it isn't cockroaches, termites or yellowjackets!"

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@hotmail.com), September 30, 2001.


I'm with you, Laura. Here in S. Central MO I have witnessed the kind of invasion of ladybugs you're talking about. If you think its bad in a house, try being in a 14' camper when they come along.

But, they don't go for the food, they don't sting, they don't suck your blood - I'll take 20 quarts of ladybugs over the several hundred chiggers that invaded my living space any day (courtesy of the new kitten, who is now flea-collared and chigger free).

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), October 02, 2001.



I thought I'd pop in to see what's up here and I see Bob has the same problem we do! Yuck! Yesterday, the weather was warm and those bugs were thick on the south side of the house. I couldn't hardly bear to mow the lawn as they were so thick! Inside, it is the same story as last year! Gross! Last year, we fumigated. I dislike using that stuff, but it beats having those disgusting things all over the house and on my body. We live in an old farmhouse too and it's impossible to seal every nook and cranny. One year we had an invasion of wasps that came through a small crack and visited our bathroom. We had like 20 at a time. I can assure you, we "went" fast.

-- Ardie from WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), October 02, 2001.

I hate bug spray etc. but last year I got so sick of them I used it. We too live in an old farm house and one of the main places I found them was on the windows. Our old windows have/had the rope pulls with the little roller things on the side. Does that make sense? Anyway, I sprayed in the smaller holes where the rollers are and that seemed to get rid of many. This year as they've started again I'm spraying any crack and crevice and I seem to be having less each day. Good luck, they're really pests!!!

-- Anna in Iowa (countryanna54@hotmail.com), October 07, 2001.

I have read your post on a forum while surfing the net to find a "cure" for these creepy things. I live in MI. We are infested with these all year round. The heat in the house allows them to become active inside. We daily have them flying around or crawling around. They are lying dead every room you go in. I hate them and they creep me out. Also, all these people who think it is a sin to kill them... in their ranting and raving... seem to mention that water and soap kill them. Although not a permanent solution but as effective as vacuuming everyday... maybe spraying your house down with soap and water would kill them as you spray. Yes... NO? >If a homeowner insists on eradicating ladybug, a usenet posting noted that a small amount of Murphy's Oil soap in >water was the most effective spray. Spray on a schedule; even oil and soap sprays kill ladybug larvae. But that >should be your very last resort. A chemical spray with rotenone can be used to kill them.

Or try... http://www.bugspray.com/articles98/ladybugs.html http://www.pestproducts.com/ladybugs.htm

-- kd (k__dennis@hotmail.com), February 04, 2002.


I am sick to death of the little creatures here in MI. The winter has provided very little in the way of decreasing the numbers. I was thinking of trying one of those electronic replellents that you plug into the wall. Has anyone had any experience with these devices. I'm a bit skeptical as to whether or not they work. Well good luck to all and down with the bugs.

Wally

-- Wally Clay (pharr4@msn.com), February 10, 2002.


We just moved to an old farmhouse in NC and have them something terrible. There are old windows on the house and we put plastic on them during the winter months thinking that it will help with the cold and the bugs. WRONG! Somehow they managed to find a way in. My son thinks it's neat to pick them up and bring them to me. Of course I think the smell is aweful. I haven't found any remedies. I read something about dry basil leaves. It won't hurt to try putting them around the windows. I had no idea that they bite. So far my son hasn't been bit, that I can see. TWO MORE MONTHS UNTIL APRIL!! Janette

-- Janette (djsickles@gloryroad.net), February 14, 2002.


The ladybugs' natural habitat is said to be in the crevices of rocks on the sides of hills and mountains---so old country farmhouses are excellent substitute. We have them by the bucket-load in Central Virginia, and I would love to meet the idiot who brought them here. They're *not* cute and, in the Spring, when they're massing on the windows to move outside, it's like a Japanese sci-fi flick. The only suggestion I have, other than to buy a really outstanding vacuum- cleaner (two would be better), is to remove the screens and open the windows in the Spring---because these bugs are dumber than daylights. If the windows are kept closed, it can take them days to find their way out. God bless the Electrolux and Miele people. J. Hougan

-- Jim Hougan (jimhougan@aol.com), February 16, 2002.

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