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Ladybugs

Started by gizmo, November 13, 2005, 10:04:08 PM

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gizmo

The past three weeks have been brutal with Ladybugs. Not a sexist thing but I can't take them anymore. My cabin was actually covered solid with them. I don't know what the heck is attracting this pesky bugs but no other cabin around me seems to have the problem. What attracts these bug?? My cabin is a slate color with white roof shingles. I have a lot of pine trees around me also. The weather should beat the heck out of them this week as it will go below freezing.

http://users.adelphia.net/~gizmo/

farmerdoug

They are looking for a place to winter.  The freeze will not hurt them in the short run.  But the cold weather will push them into your cabin for sure.  Then in the late winter you will really be in for it.  We have them by the bucket fulls in the corners of our out buildings and greenhouses.  I even find them in masses in the boxes of squash I haul to market.  They go dormant so the freezing weather will not hurt them.

Farmerdoug
Doug
Truck Farmer/Greenhouse grower
2001 LT40HDD42 Super with Command Control and AccuSet, 42 hp Kubota diesel
Fargo, MI

woodhick

I feel your pain >:(.  I have had these pesky things for the past several years and they get much worse every year.  At first they would last a couple weeks then be gone, last year we had them all winter :o.  Local agriculture expert said after the first frost and it warmed back up, that's when they would start swarming. He was right as that is what happened last year.  This year he recommended spraying house before they swarmed.  I used a product he recommended called Tempo, it is made by Bayer.  $40 for a small bottle :o, but my wife said she couldn't handle the things again this year so I sprayed the second week of October.  I've only found one bug in house, but we have swept hundreds off of the walks and window sills outside, so it worked.  according to the extension agent it won't do any good to spray after they have swarmed but I would definatley give it a try anyway. Good Luck ;)

Woodmizer LT40 Super 42hp Kubota, and more heavy iron woodworking equipment than I have room for.

gizmo

I still want to know why they pick me out of all the cabins around? What is the attracting factor?? After deer season I think I'll fog the place with foggers.. That should take care of those pesky bugs. They'll meet the end of their journey when the Shop Vac gets fired up and the canister gets carried to the fire pit. Cremation is too good for them but I want to make sure they are Finito!!

Furby

The light color roof may be one reason.
Also, does your place have a lot of cracks/gaps for hiding places?
Had both ladybugs and Boxelder bugs real bad the last several years here.
Last fall wasn't too bad as I was still working on the addition.
This fall I only had/have a hand full of ladybugs, but when the sun hits the siding........... :o
The Boxelder bugs come a swarming! >:(

gizmo

If I had the walls drywalled on the addition I am sure they wouldn't get in. But they do tend to slip through the littlest openings.......Not tooo many stink bugs this year. Last year was bad for them...

Woodcarver

It's difficult to keep the ladybugs and boxelder bugs out.  Our son built a new home a couple of years ago.  They have problems with both.

Soapy water sprayed on the boxelder bugs will kill them.  Doesn't seem to have much effect on the ladybugs.  Pyretrim sprays will kill the ladybugs. It's not fast acting, though.  Some will probably get inside before they die.  >:(     











Just an old dog learning new tricks.......Woodcarver

Furby

Yup, soap and water work GREAT!
My addition is tight enough that they can't get in, just behind the siding. The old part of the house has not been redone yet and they just come right in. >:(

Max sawdust

Do the bugs have a bad smell when crushed?
If so those are not lady bugs those are Asian Beatles.  The suckers bit too :o
They are an introduced species that were originally brought over to keep smaller bugs out of soy bean fields from what I understand.

I suspect they gather on the south or warmest side of your cabin, maybe other cabins have more shade.

My suggestion is to start killing them with spray or anything, otherwise you will have a house full in spring.
max
True Timbers
Cedar Products-Log & Timber Frame Building-Milling-Positive Impact Forestscaping-Cut to Order Lumber

gizmo

They smell pretty earthy when smashed. I was going to spray all the seams with SEVIN. That should work. Any other suggestions on what to use. Some of the bugs are Yellow with dots unless those are the females...

woodhick

As I said in earlier post .     TEMPO  It worked great for me. It's made by Bayer Cropscience and most farm supply stores and garden centers around here carry it.
Woodmizer LT40 Super 42hp Kubota, and more heavy iron woodworking equipment than I have room for.

beenthere

I have very good luck with Ortho Home Defense. Comes in a gallon container with a spring loaded sprayer that is quite handy. Spray around the door steps and stoops in front of the garage, around the siding where they collect, and on and around the woodpile (where they like to collect and ride into the warm house on the wood).  Says it lasts or 3 months. I spray about every 3-4 weeks and apparently works well if all the dead asian beetles are good enough evidence. This is the second year it has worked for me. The beetles walk over it and die. Don't have to spray it on them 'personnaly' like.  :)

Great for spiders and daddy long legs. Also I think it has an effect on the wasp population, and expect the carpenter bees have a bit of trouble with it too.

But alas, it is a chemical.  :o
That works for me   ;D
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

gizmo

My son has a half gallon of Ortho left after he got done hunting his carpenter ants so I'll give that a try..He said it killed ants very quickly..Thanks for the info.........

Paschale

Those pesky things are back in spades.  I HATE 'EM!!!!!!   >:(

who else has got 'em?
Y'all can pronounce it "puh-SKOLLY"

beenthere

Very few this year.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

CHARLIE

We have a few showing up in the finished basement.  I think they are the ones that got in last Fall that hid and hibernated. Now that it is warming up, they are coming out of hibernation to die on the carpet from hunger.  I hate them too!
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

SwampDonkey

I see the odd one around. Last fall when it was almost 80 F for a week in mid October the outside of the house was covered in them. I'm cursed with house flies.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Max sawdust

Not a lot of Asian beetles this year thank goodness ;D  House flies not bad either ;D
Already saw a deer tick on my brothers pant leg.  Not a good thing since Lyme is real prevalent here. :(
Max
True Timbers
Cedar Products-Log & Timber Frame Building-Milling-Positive Impact Forestscaping-Cut to Order Lumber

Burlkraft

We had a few all winter long. I was doing some remodeling this winter and had to do some wiring and I found a major hide out for them.....The insulation on top of the basement wall. I found thousands of them in there. So....down came all the insulation and out came the shop vac ;D ;D ;D ;D

Box Elder bugs on the other hand are back in droves :( :( :(
Why not just 1 pain free day?

CHARLIE

Max Sawdust, my neighbor lost his dog last month to Lyme disease.  I noticed we have quite a few ticks in the woods around here so I really have to watch for them.  I spray my lawn for them around the perimeter of the woods.  Lymes is a sneaky disease.  Four years ago I took my dog in for the annual heartworm check and found she had Lymes.  We caught it soon enough and got rid of it and have her vaccinated every year now. 
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Onthesauk

Seems like I've also read somewhere along the way that they have a defined migration path from higher to lower ground and back.  May be your cabin is simply in the way.  I had a colony winter in my barn one year and then disapeared in the Spring.

My wife has also been using Home Defense for the last year.  Sprays the thresholds, Spring and Fall.  Has made a big difference in the numbers of spiders and bugs in the house. 
John Deere 3038E
Sukuki LT-F500

Don't attribute irritating behavior to malevolence when mere stupidity will suffice as an explanation.

SwampDonkey

I wonder if moth balls along the edge of the basement wall outside away from the drip line would thwart insects. Might be a bad idea with pet cats and dogs around, gotta think it over. I do know coons will chew on them.  ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

metalspinner

Don't organic gardeners pay $$$$$ for lady bugs?  Maybe an oppertunity is swarming  on your cabin?
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

logwalker

I was just going to make the same suggestion. There is money in them bugs. Sure wish I had 'em around. :D
Let's all be careful out there tomorrow. Lt40hd, 22' Kenworth Flatbed rollback dump, MM45B Mitsubishi trackhoe, Clark5000lb Forklift, Kubota L2850 tractor

SwampDonkey

I'll take the money. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Burlkraft

The ladybugs and Asian Beetles are two different bugs. The Asians bite and swarm and are a DanG pain >:( >:( They smell too >:( >:(
Why not just 1 pain free day?

barbender

  That's right- never had a problem with regular lady bugs, actually used to be a treat when you saw a lady bug around here cause you didn't see them very often.  Then about 5-6 years ago we started getting those asian beetles and they come in swarms.  They bite, stink, and in general are a real pain.  I'd like to see whoever imported them strung from a big oak tree.  Every time a non native species is released it causes problems (nutria, starling, leafy spurge, etc.)  I wonder if these bugs were brought here legally or not, there should be laws against it.
Too many irons in the fire

SwampDonkey

Yes they are the Asian variety, but I've never been bitten by any.  ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

metalspinner

Maybe the same fella that brought cudzu over here is responsible for the ladybugs as well.
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

Burlkraft

From what I heard the Asian Beetles were brought here to eat the alfalfa and soy bean aphids. I don't ever recall my house being over run with aphids though >:( >:( >:(
Why not just 1 pain free day?

SwampDonkey

I think also the green peach aphid on potatoes. We have a few farmers that grow soyabeans here, but there is a limited market locally for the beans. Only one guy I know of that dries them and sells them out of province. They seem to grow them awefully late in the fall here, and that's our wet season.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

rebocardo

I would rather have the ladybugs then the things they eat bothering me.

johncinquo

I have apple orchards, and soybeans planted all around me, you can guess what my windows look like anytime the sun is shining, a giant swarm. 

I found somewhere (maybe on here) that a good way to kill them off is....  well I forget what the exact chemical is but can go look it up again, but regardless I tried to buy just that chemical with no luck.  I then searched a bunch of killers on the shelf and found that Roach Proof had the highest concentration of that ingredient of anything else I came across.  I sprinkle some of it on the window sills and areas they accumulate and the wander through it and die off.  It looks like a giant mine field at the end of the day. 
To be one, Ask one
Masons and Shriners

SwampDonkey

I use CIL Vapona strips, good for 4 months.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Patty

The asian bugs are back in full force at our place also. Actually they never left all through the winter.  >:(   They have ruined the beautiful fall days we used to have here in Iowa. Now you can't go outside on those days due to the huge swarms of the bugs. They are nasty.

Rumor around here is they were released to eat the aphids off the soy beans by Iowa State Univ ag dept. The aphids were never as much as a problem as the DanG asian bugs are.  >:(
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

Max sawdust

It is my understanding they were brought in to eat aphids in farm fields.  Which is what they do in summer.  Then they seek the warmest spot to winter.  (Like your house.)

Not sure on this but I think you would be hard pressed to find a ladybug, I think these stinking rotten Asian beetles killed them off.

Keep in mind the Asian beetles very greatly in color and number of spots.  So you may think you have a lady bug, but it is a variation of Asian beetle.

I assume what the garden catalogs sell as "ladybugs" are really Asian beetles.  Which is WRONG in my opinion.  The things should be outlawed >:(

Maybe the chemical companies brought this non native species in as an "organic" pest control solution.  Knowing full well they would migrate to houses in winter so they could sell a ton of chemicals to home owners.

Hmmm conspiracy theory :o  ya
Max
True Timbers
Cedar Products-Log & Timber Frame Building-Milling-Positive Impact Forestscaping-Cut to Order Lumber

Norm

The best part is they still spray for the soybean aphids here. Last year we started seeing the ag planes thick, I was hoping they would put a hurt on the ladybugs too. No such luck, they were as thick as ever.

SwampDonkey

There are alot of the buggers. I can remember the last few years of harvesting grain, where the load of fresh cut wheat would be alive and crawling with asian beetles, even stink bugs.  ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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