Saturday, March 07, 2009

Ladybug Invasion

I wish I could say that this is just a recent development, but we began seeing ladybugs on the upstairs windows last October. We ignored them at first. There were just a few. Like 10. Then Dave began vacuuming them up and the next day there would be another batch. Again and again. Now they have appeared on my ceiling downstairs. At least 30 today. Each little black dot is a ladybug. They fly around and die in the lamp wells.
We are going to open the windows today ( it will be WARM) and put up a big Exit sign with an arrow. Dave says we have to write it in Ladybuggish.

24 comments:

  1. Aha! A new career! Ladybug Farms, inc! Batch them up in your little plastic containers, with holes punched on top, and visit your local nursery! Drop them off on the steps when no one is looking... they'll find the little critters a new home!
    Seriously, I have never heard of a lady bug invasion! You must be living in the perfect environs for them to breed...

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  2. Hi, Mel. The ladybugs come with the territory--the closer you are to the woods, the worse they are. They are an annoyance, but harmless. I lived in a log cabin in Johnson City (on the side of a mountain) and they became expected guests every year at this time. They should subside around May!

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  3. *hehe* Good luck with the ladybug exodus!

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  4. Anonymous8:24 AM

    Hello, I love in NNY and in a field and we get ladybugs too. Some years there are 100 a day. They also make your vacuum stink. I hope to make a quilt with a giant ladybug on it to appease the ladybug gods. Good luck

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  5. I have had them, too. NOt as many, or at least they don't show up as well. They just like all the colors at your place.

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  6. Some houses in our area get swarms of them. I'm on the luckier side, like you, and seem to have a constant supply of ten to twenty in each south facing room. Although they come and go in singles, they bundle together during the winter. Here in Central VA, the locals make a point that these are a different strain of ladybug than the beneficial type you get from mail order. They say this strain escaped from a VA Tech agricultural lab. Of course, it was only last year that the light bulb went off, and I realized that this was most likely a myth stemming from sports rivalry between UVA and VA Tech. Duh!

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  7. Anonymous8:58 AM

    Here in TN, those are actually a beetle. It looks like a ladybug, but they are more orange, and THEY BITE! Nasty little buggers. If you spray diluted dish detergent around the window, well, they don't like the taste or the feel of the soap, so they come in less. Once they start coming in, they are very difficult to get rid of. More caulking in the fall helps. Patty from Oak Ridge, TN

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  8. Here's an old English nursery rhyme for you to chant as you shoo the ladybugs out:
    Ladybird, Ladybird, fly away home
    Your House is on fire and your children all gone;
    All except one, and that's little Ann, And she has crept under the warming pan!
    One of these critters is pretty and brings luck. But a swarm? Not so nice!

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  9. Ah yes, those nasty ladybugs - we got them big time in Kentucky! I do think that they are an Asian strain that is more orange than Red and there are no natural predators for them. Hate those thongs, and the smell they make upon being vacuumed. Try to track down where they got into your house and see if you can caulk that area...they can get pretty darn disgusting. Yikes! At least they're not cockroaches!

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  10. We have the same problem. I have no idea how they get in through the storm window, regular window, and then the clingfilm!!! GRRR! I've been vacuuming them up since last October too! They are CONSTANTLY crawling all over. At least they dry up and die, or there'd be swarms all over the place. I hate 'em, but much less than rats and mice. I'm so gland I'm not the only one.

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  11. They are good beetles, just hanging out in your house until the bad bugs come to your garden. Here is a link to more info http://www.marchbiological.com/L/ladybug.html#top

    I once ordered ladybugs from a catalog to get rid of the aphids in m flowers. It worked.

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  12. A few years ago in Wisconsin we had the ladybug problem. The first year I vaccuumed...neveredingly. The second year we had the exterminator come out and that got rid of them, but the third year they were coming back already. If you kill them they emit a stink that calls their friends...they are no fun and I no longer like ladybugs (or japanese beatles!)

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  13. We live in Ontario Canada and have them in the spring and fall in swarms. Some kind of Asian Beetle.I usually just vaccum them up but have not figured a way to get rid of them entirely.

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  14. Oy! I, like the rest of your readership have ladybug stories - though we had the orange ones like someone above mentioned. I used to work at Bacova Gallery in Warm Springs, Virginia and they had such an infestation that we'd vacume EVERY morning and it seemed like hundreds though I have no idea how many it actually was.

    Do NOT set off one of those bug bombs! Those little things leave bug guts streaks down the walls and curtains as they expire. Oh the horror!

    They were introduced by the USDA and are found mostly in the south east but spreading. Eeeewwww! http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/predators/harmonia.html

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  15. In Europe, we had a huge aphid problem in one summer a few years ago, and soon, herds of ladybugs were seen flocking to the aphid regions as if ordered there.

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  16. THe comment regarding soap does work! I would spray our doorwalls, sliding doors, etc. and the lady bugs would still be there. I read on internet to use soapy water and it worked. Killed the little guys right off! Hate to kill any animal but these are the lady bugs you want in your garden let alone your home! Good luck!

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  17. We live near DC, get them in the winter in our upstairs, south-facing windows. The ones we have are orange (and I'm told they're some kind of japanese lady bugs, not actually lady bugs?) I agree with Dave, you'll have to write the sign in Ladybuggish for them to pay any attention to it at all..... :-)

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  18. Anonymous1:39 AM

    I'm more shocked by the fact that you still have some white walls in your house! (Not that there's anything wrong with white walls).

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  19. Anonymous6:57 PM

    this is Sidonna from Knit at Stone Light.
    The ladybugs are a type of invasive aphid ??
    I think. Check with the Tenessee Agricultural Extension agents. They can tell you how to get
    rid of them the greenest way. You are doing great
    with the vaccum but from articles I have read in the newspaper, there are other more proactive steps - plus, if they inhabit the house now they could cause
    problems later as well as problems to your garden
    and trees. That's all I know - loved what you dyed
    on March 9 - great colors!

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  20. I feel your pain, Melody. I have been suffering from the dreaded japanese beetle (they are probably not lovely ladybugs in your invasion...you have to check out their faces for a "w" or something)for years now. I used to be insane about vacuuming them up, but now I just don't give a(bleep). You'll be ok. Take care.

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  21. Anonymous4:58 PM

    Thanks for sharing the link, but unfortunately it seems to be offline... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please answer to my post if you do!

    I would appreciate if a staff member here at fibermania.blogspot.com could post it.

    Thanks,
    Alex

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous2:41 AM

    Thanks for sharing this link, but unfortunately it seems to be offline... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please answer to my post if you do!

    I would appreciate if a staff member here at fibermania.blogspot.com could post it.

    Thanks,
    William

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous6:29 AM

    Hello there,

    Thanks for sharing the link - but unfortunately it seems to be down? Does anybody here at fibermania.blogspot.com have a mirror or another source?


    Cheers,
    Jack

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous2:27 AM

    Greetings,

    Thanks for sharing this link - but unfortunately it seems to be down? Does anybody here at fibermania.blogspot.com have a mirror or another source?


    Cheers,
    Jack

    ReplyDelete

Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com