Ladybugs, ladybugs (and more ladybugs)
10:28 AM Thu, Nov 01, 2007 | Permalink
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The first ladybug attack at my home in Exeter was, maybe, 15-20 years ago, I don't remember exactly. It happened back then just like it did this year. An unusually warm day in early fall brought loads of them out of nowhere. Ladybugs all over my home's exterior, inside the house, inside the cupboards, in my hair. Back then, at first, they seemed funny and smelled pleasantly earthy. But it's surprising how quickly that got old. I remember finding one in my last sip of tea. Today, they are no longer welcome in my home, smell raunchy and I consider them generally annoying, unless they are travelling alone at which time they still have the potential to be somewhat cute. To put it plainly, the ladybug's reputation in my home is shot.
My vacuum cleaner smells like ladybugs, since I am constantly vacuuming them. During ladybug season, it seems as if I vacuum them one day, and there are just as many the next. Until one day, there are suddenly no more. It's an annual event in this area now. The most recent infestation was about two weeks ago on a warm day when my daughter called me saying they were everywhere again. Within an hour, my co-worker's daughter in Attleboro called him to say the same, but it was her first time finding them at their home. I advised her not to crush them because they make an orange stain and it intensifies their smell. And vacuum them up -- yes, even the live ones! I'd like to hear from anyone who knows of a natural way to control ladybugs. And continued from Wisteria is a mystery to me, here are the shots I promised of my transplanted wisteria, far from the house (thank goodness).
The close-up shows a location about 40 feet from the original plant's base. You can see it coming up out of the ground in both shots, as well. If it does reach the house, maybe it will be coming after the ladybugs. One can only hope. 
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The "hive mind of the Internet" to the rescue.
It says these are not native ladybugs, but the descendents of imported Asian ladybugs. Unlike the natives, these set up housekeeping in buildings.
This site
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hse-fact/1030.html
has some useful info, such as how to close up your house to keep the ladybugs from getting inside, and a neat trick using an old stocking with your vacuum to trap them and easily discard them.
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This got me thinking about critters in buildings in general. One year in California, a raccoon ripped a raccoon-sized hole through my roof shingles and started to set up housekeeping in the attic. My "reverence for all life" (I guess it's quotation day), did not extend to holes in the roof, so after a Keystone Kops episode, the raccoon was convinced to leave.
I would have liked to have a raccoon family in my garage, which was open enough for animals to go in and out. There was at least one raccoon family in the neighborhood; they showed up in the backyard for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for awhile.
What's worse, a raccoon tearing shingles off the roof, or 60 million ladybugs in the house, I do not know.
There is a little mouse who has taken up residence in my garage here. Kind of a cute fellow, who does no apparent harm. We humans have such a large footprint, often for ill, on the earth, that I figure we should share.
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Congrats on starting your own blog. Wow, I've never seen that many Asian ladybugs. The only natural way to control them is to attract birds to your garden.
Wisteria - I love it but it is very invasive. It no doubt traveled underground to its new location. The secret to Wisteria is drastic pruning, both at the root and the limbs.
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Everybody probably knows about green, that is, vegetative, roofs by now. They help reduce pollutants, provide insulation, and reduce the urban heat effect, plus, they look really cool. For some very snazzy photos of green roofs, see:
www.ecogeek.org/content/view/902/
Well, next up are green walls. At the Solar Decathalon, which is a contest run by the Department of Energy in which students from various colleges compete to design solar houses, at least one of the houses had a green wall.
This is my justification for posting this in a gardening blog :-) because what I really want to show you is the rather spectacular winning house by the Technische Universität Darmstadt, at:
http://www.solardecathlon.de/index.php/our-house/bilder/
Those itty bitty sections of what look like louvers in the shutters? Those are solar panels, folks. The house generates 100% of the power it uses.
The photo of the entry with green walls? That's by the team from the Université de Montréal, at
http://www.solardecathlon.org/homes_gallery.html
about half way down. This page has photos of all the houses.
Kind of amazing, some of the houses look like gems, some look like explosions in a pipe factory.
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ah, ladybugs! the joys of millions and millions of ladybugs.
If you can determine where they are getting in, spray the area with insect repellent. I use an essential oil blend repellent (my favourite is by kettle care and contains: Soy Oil (base), Essential Oils of Patchouli, Lavender, Rosemary, Cedarwood, Citronella and Eucalyptus). Another option is white camphor - either soak cotton balls in the oil or use a wax form to seal openings.
We discovered the ladybugs were actually nesting between the windows and frames, so removed all our windows from the frames, vacuum'd up hundreds or thousands, and saturated the wood with the oil repellent.
Another useful trick, to keep the vacuum from smelling like ladybugs is to use an old nylon stocking inside the hose. It catches the bugs before they go into the filter and makes post-vacuuming cleanup much easier.
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Ladybugs are still a problem here. If they are not really red then they are beetles I think.
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I was surprised to see the photos of the ladybugs. We've been having them come out for about the past 3 years. The only place I can think they may be nesting is in the attic. Every year I have to clean out the bedrooms upstairs, but this year as mentioned, I've had them downstairs in about every room. This morning I saw one crawling across the counter by the coffee pot. I've been leaving them alone, run their course, then clean up. But now am concerned about how they are all over the house. I've wondered if they are confused about the time of year. You wouldn't think winter is the time to "come out". Oh well, they don't bother us so much, so we'll let nature do what it does.
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I would be interested to have pictures showing lots of ladybugs inside a house. The multicoloured asian ladybeetle has just arrived where in Norway, and I'm going to have a presentation for a few people on the consequences of this new alien ladybug.
Please help me with some good pictures and send them to my e-mail. I'll give full credit to the photographer!
Best regards
-Arnie
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Your timing is good, Arnie. In just the past week, as temperatures are beginning to warm up, we're being invaded again. All food is kept covered, especially warm food. Lights are kept off if possible in areas where we eat and work, as they tend to land in our hair and on our clothes. It's getting pretty annoying again. When I arrived at work a couple of weeks ago, a ladybug flew out of my bag. My daughter said the same thing happened at school when she opened her backpack. They travel with us, unfortunately! You can take the photos from this blog and credit them to Beth Heaney, Exeter, Rhode Island. I can send some new ones if you need more.
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