Ladybug "problem"

We have two houses on our farm, the main house (where we live) and the garden house, which is a 1 bedroom w/ closet, 1 bathroom, kitchen and den.

I use the garden house as my office, and it is where the growlights are.

People are going to laugh at me, but I have a problem with an excessive population of ladybugs in this house. The problem has been here since we moved in. There are literally thousands of ladybugs in this place. They crawl on my keyboard while I type, land on my monitor, sit on my seedling's leaves while they are growing. There are so many of them I constantly hear them hitting against the growlights as the fly back and forth.

I swear I've never seen so many ladybugs in my life. So this summer I'll be catching and moving them out into the garden by the hundred. I wonder where they came from.

Dave

Dave,
I've had the same problem in my house for the last 3 years. I have them ALL winter long here in northern michigan. They are all over my seedlings right now too. As the weather warms they will start to disapear.
I think they are hibernating in the attic and somehow they are finding a way down into the house.
Sari

Dave
You have been a wonderful host here at your garden so I would like to propose that you can just gather up all those pesky ladybugs and mail them to me and that will ensure they dont breed over by your way.
No thank-yous required......thats what friends are for. :)
Janice

It's been a long time but I read an article about the ladybug in the house problem in Organic Gardening. It seems there have been several non-native ladybug species introduced to the US over the past decade. Your lady bugs are probably Asian and they're seeking (& have found) warm, cozy shelter for the winter. Once a few find a way into your house they tell all their ladybug friends to come and join them by secreting a hormonal odor or something. That's how you end up with a whole slew of them.

I heard that you can gather them up pretty safely with a low powered vacuum or dust buster. Empty them from the bag into a container and release them outside. If they're left in the house they will probably die after a while. In Tennessee they should be fine outside and start patrolling the garden for aphids soon. In Nature they hybernate in leaf litter on the floor of the woods.

I found this link on the Asian Ladybugs that looks pretty informative. ttp://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/PUBS/ent/ent64/ent64.htm

Not that unsual in old or poorly maintained buildings.


Get 1/2 doz tubes of caulking compound and a gun,

Seal up every little crack wider than 1/8th in.

Take special note around windows, doors and roof trim boards.

Make sure siding boards fit tight.


Byron

Dave, you seem to have "too many friends"...ladybugs in that number are a bit of an annoyance but still they are very beneficial...you're gonna want them this summer in your garden. Poppysue is correct, they are more'n likely Asian ladybugs. They tend to find nooks and crannies when the weather gets a bit cool for their winter hibernation...since you are running heat in your house they are coming on in. In agreement w/poppysue a dustbuster or other vacuum will collect them but someone said if you use a clean vac bag just collect them and put the bag of bugs somewhere cool and they will "go to sleep" and then be there when you need them in the garden this season. Meantime, take a deep breath, occasionally wipe off your keyboard, and feel blessed that you are part of Ma Earth's plan. Is it really all that bad?

there was a newscast here a while back where the newscaster's house was being invaded. They showed live footage of her screen door - completely covered!!! And she said they were all over the inside of the house also. I imagine she called a pest service to get rid of them. She was very very uncomfortable around them. She kept panicking & swatting them off herself. She will be the one to loose her garden to the aphids & other pests!! Julie

How can I tell if they are asian ladybugs?

Ah yes, the ladybug! Dave, we too, have this problem, now, I guess about 4 years. We do have an older home, but I know lots of people, in newer homes, that also have this problem. People living in the city, are not afflicted as extremely, as we are, in the country.
I have houseplants, so a few of them, is a good thing! As I understand, they don't multiply, indoors, another, good thing! Although, it seems they do, but they all look like, adults.
We have a spa room, with 17 ft. ceilings, on the south facing, back. On warm days, starting in fall, the side of the house, IS COVERED, daily. They come in around the screen, in the sliding glass doors. To get them off the ceiling, my husband has the hooked long, hard plastic, vacumn cleaner hose, together,with the slim, tapered attachment on the end.IT WORKS!
The neatest thing we use, is a small battery operated hand vac, about 12 inches long. We purchased this at RadioShack. We go around the house, several times a day, sucking up bugs. AAHHH, there's one on my desk, now! Got it! I also, hear one, popping on the ceiling, I'll get it, too! After a round, we empty them outside! My husband keeps this little vac, right beside his remote control, since they are drawn to the light, at night. You must have one of these vacs, for a little, immediate control!
The one thing about these bugs, is the foul smell, when they are squashed, so we do not do that.

I have the same prob.
when we moved in 3 years ago the house was full. but DH has since sealed and caulked and no we just have a few hundred not the thousands we did have.

they will bite!!!

Yeah, I caulked all over the place when we first got here. Repaired some of the rotted wood around the kitchen window (exterior) and sealed all window cracks.

Now I have a few thousand rather than a few million. :)

Dave

Ladybugs love to overwinter in garages and older structures such as you're describing, Dave. Boy, you're lucky! You've got your own army of beneficials....literally. LOL

Pete2

Chris,

Are you sure you have ladybugs? I've never heard of them biting.

Sometines the little hooks on their legs feel like a bite, and maybe that's what you have going on?

Phloxy-lady: Foul smell or not, why would any gardener want to crush ladybugs? They are the best friend you garden has.

This reminds me of the past summer..my gardener neighbor..he composts, recycles, cold frames..you name it, he's into it with his garden. Anyway, he ordered thousands of ladybugs last year for his garden (which is nicer than mine, in that he has more varieties and mature specimens, in addition to an outdoor jacuzzi..lol). I even gave him a bunch of red yucca last summer and they are more than thriving over there. Well, one day, I'm out in my back garden and I feel things crawling on me. As I look around, I see hundreds of ladybugs all over the place! I thought, wow..it's about time something positive came for dinner, instead of slugs/earwigs..lol. As it turned out, my neighbor's ladybugs stayed over here and he maybe counted what he had left in his property on 2 hands - he he. I offered for him to come over and retrieve the buggers but he declined (in embarrassment) and said that next summer he was trying praying mantis eggs..lol.
Trish

Correct, you are Brook! That's why, when I empty the little vac, I empty them into my back or front flower bed. I also see the benefit on my houseplants. No, insect problems, since they took up residency, in my home.

I love my lady bugs! They remind me of summer all winter looooong.

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My ladybugs bite.Please do not kill them.Build houses for them I was Plans here somewhere.They are good bugs.I did read,at gardens alive I think some can have larva of a bad bug inside.I dont know how to tell???
I have them In my house too.I save them,My husband swats them with the swatter when they are infront of the TV !.(I hide them in the attic!
lilbud

I have them too. It seems like 1,000's for the last 4 years or so. I collect them and put them in a jar in the refrigerator. They go to sleep and then in the spring release them. I feel bad if I accidently vac one up, they land on the wood stove and thats the end of them. I pick them all up and the next day there seems to be twice as many.

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Ms. Happy_Toes,
Do you mean you eat chocolate covered slugs?!?!? If so then please please post your address so that all of us fellow gardeners can send you some "food". BTW you now own me a lunch. As I read and thought about you sucking down slimmy slugs I couldn't finish eating my lunch. lol!!! I just started to have a drink of water and all I could think about was slug slim. yuck!
Signed,
Weak stomach Sari

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Ok karma I'm back from praying at the great white alter (throwing up in the toilet! lol!!)
On second though I am not sure I want to go to lunch with a slug eater especially if you are the one selecting the site. No telling what kind a places you eat at McBug, Taco Bug, Bug King...lol!!! Honestly do you really eat them? actually I'm not sure I want to know....

I found 2 really interesting articles about ladybug here are the links:
asain ladybugs:
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mladybug.html
Biting ladybugs:
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/champaign/homeowners/001028.html

Better than flies. When i first moved in, i had flies. Zillions. every day the bathtub had a layer...drove me crazy. i caulked...now the flies are down. Ladybug..i love them. I just move them around. I take them off the windows and put them on the house plants. I still have bugs, but i know they help.

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Ohmigosh, I'm so glad somebody else mentioned that they bite. Yes, Brook they do! I thought it was my imagination, but yes, I can testify that I've been bitten by a lady bug. Cute little bug, not-so-lady-like manners. I wil always welcome them into my garden, but I'm not keen on handling them anymore!

Dave, good luck with your problem. Look on the bright side, it could be worse - we moved into a rental unit infested with "waterbugs" (such a nice euphemism for cockroaches....ick) I would have taken ladybugs any day over that mess.

To your Ladybug problem,
The Tan lady bugs are the
Asian ones and yes they do
bite. Our regular American
orange ones do not.

The Asian ones will come in
everywhere and especially
under your eaves troughs
and any under hangs ,they
like to nest in caves in
Asia, so thats why they
seek out our nice houses
they think they found a
wonderful cave LOL

Dave if you can get some
Lady bug hormone and put
them up a house they will
go and nest in that and
maybe will not be so much
of a pest in your work area!


Carol
who had a large army
of both kinds this year!!

I'm just curious...are the Asian ladybugs(beetles) as helpful as our own plain old lady bugs? or are they going to be pests themselves?

I called the head of the entomology dept at the Univ of Wisconsin; he said that they were Asian Ladybeetles and while they did nothing for flowers, they were of help to trees and shrubs. When I told him that they bit, he said that they were "just tasting". Just thought I would let you know that all of you have been part of the Asain lady beetle taste contest!

Nothing lady-like with these bugs.
Be careful removing them from light colored surfaces.
They defecate and stain!!
Bud

Yesterday morning I woke up with something in my mouth. It was a ladybug that I had in my mouth for what looked like quite some time! It left a most aweful taste in my mouth even after praying at the great white alter. Stomach still not at ease with it.

Just wanted to add that YESSSS!!! the red common as we all know ladybugs can bite! I have 3 little boys who's favorite
past time is catching lizards,beetles and whatever other critters lurk our property,and we too have the thousands of ladybugs problem. I used to call on them to catch them and put safely in the garden,now they refuse.They have all been bitten ,I in disbelief found out for myself.And if their just tasting YIKES!!! I didn't mean to smash it but let's just say my reflex made me do it:(
Until I was bitten I too said they don't bite.
Dave I don't know how true this is but here in Tennessee alot of farmers use these critters to combat other pest as I've been told by my husbands grandfather who is a farmer.I'm surrounded by farmland and have just learned to
avoid them and let them do what they do best.
Now what were all those addresses for a free box of ladybugs? Daisylou:)

Just wanted to thank everyone for the new diet that I am going to be starting, (not being able to eat ANYTHING!), due to your descriptive posts of "chocolate, cherry filled slugs, lady bugs, palmetto (water) bugs" (don't miss those here in Jersey!!), etc! K_HappyToes -- I'm gonna join forces with Sari and *get* *you* *back*!!

(BTW, now I know how you stay so slim Ms KHT!).

Also - note to Dave......the whole reason these ladybugs are in your office is because it's warm and inviting. And even if your office isn't "tightly wrapped", they can still find their way in......our house is very well insulated and sealed and a few always still find a way in every winter. Hey, wouldn't YOU rather be inside w/ plants and warm lights than outside in the snow? :-)

You can send any "extras" you want to my house! (I'll put them in the shed until Spring!!
:-)

Dave, you could vaccuum them up, bag them and store them in the fridge, then sell them through the storefront or auction to those of us who are ladybug deprived! You may have a cash crop there masquerading as a problem!

Dave, please, oh please, add me to your list for sending ladybugs to. I don't care what kind they are, I'll gladly take a few thousand off your hands. I promise to take awfully good care of them and they'll be the fattest and happiest ladybugs in the whole county once they hit my gardens.

Ms. Karma.....I'm afraid that Sari and Mom24Cats are right...chocolate covered slugs, whether cherry filled or not, aren't my idea of a sweet treat either. But I would imagine that they would be easy going down due to the melted chocolate and slime. LOL!! Maybe a big tall glass of cold milk would help......NOT!!

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Hey Missy KHT! We know where YOU live too! :-) And you don't fool us - you are NOT sorry you started this! You're having WAAAYY too much fun!! ;-)

Poor Dave! He was soooo innocent! :-)

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Dearest KHT!

I'll be happy to be your partner in this, and if Dave joins in, then it will be three to two. Can just picture it now.....slug attacks! WHAP!! At least they won't stick when they hit....the slime will let them slide right off.

Oh, and Mz. M24C's.....beware, dear lady! Not only do I know where you live, but I also have a picture of your house, not to mention you. So there won't be any guessing on my part. And all you have of me are those Foster Grants. LOL!!

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