ladybugs
Posted by deuceO on Nov 19, 2007 · Member since Nov 2006 · 548 posts
Well, after great success in getting my family to stop using commercial cleaning products, they are now asking all kinds of other ways to go green. Which makes me very happy but this one has got me stumped.
In my mom and my sister's homes, ladybugs are everywhere, way to many to release back outside. Is there a friendly way to repel ladybugs?
Don't repel ladybugs! They are the most garden-friendly critters there are! Ladybugs eat the aphids and cottony-cushion scale that prey on other plants! Keep them! They're your friends!!
Ladybugs are the "green" solution to many insect infestations in the garden.
Besides, they're cute, they don't bite or sting, and they look like the classic 60's VW "beetle." What more can you ask!!
I am in complete agreement with you, Yabbit. I think they are adorable. When my mom called me asking me how to get rid of them, I replied, "Why? They don't eat much."
But she said they are all over her kitchen. I hope she is fine with them in her garden.
I wonder if my ant-repellent counter cleaner would help? Look in non-food recipes: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=19610.0
I don't know if the lavendar oil repels ladybugs but you can try. Let me know if it works for you. If it doesn't, try citronella oil instead of lavendar.
I'll give that a try, Yabbit. I already have some made up. Thank you!
Oddly enough, some time last year i was doing a rare dusting :-[ of a very long shelf over the desk in our garage-turned-family room and there were probably at least two dozen dead ladybugs on it. I had seldom noticed any ladybugs in the house, much less that many in that one location. I have no clue where they came from, why they were there, or what killed them. I was very sad. Once in a great while I'll find a live one crawling on the desk so it's easy to relocate those. I cannot believe I didn't see any of the ones that died there until it was way too late. :(
My parents have tons of them in their house too. They're everywhere, crawling over all surfaces. They don't mind the little critters and consider them to be good luck, but it's baffling to us all how they find ways to get inside. We can't figure it out.
The worst part about it is that they're sure to starve to death over several days while crawling all over, and there are just too many to catch and release. It'd be a full-time job :(
My parents have tons of them in their house too. They're everywhere, crawling over all surfaces. They don't mind the little critters and consider them to be good luck, but it's baffling to us all how they find ways to get inside. We can't figure it out.
The worst part about it is that they're sure to starve to death over several days while crawling all over, and there are just too many to catch and release. It'd be a full-time job :(
IDK, I guess I would just feel honoured. I mean, they consider your house a friendly, safe environment.
If you stood in the middle of your house/room and yelled out the "Ladybug, Ladybug" rhyme a) Would they all leave simultaneously? b) Would it be cruelty--you know, scaring a houseful of ladybugs and maybe causing a mini-riot?
I seldom see ladybugs here, and they are usually 2-spotters. They always make me feel so happy! When I was a kid in the Midwest they were of course more plentiful, but seeing one or having it condescend to walk on your arm was a great thing.
We don't have lightening bugs here either. :'( DH says they used to when he was a kid but I think it's to citified now. (Too much pollution!)
BTW--boxelder bugs I do NOT miss at all. Not one tiny bit. :D
Hee hee! Look what I found. :)
I also feel honored to have ladybugs in the house, BUT I relocate them since I do not know what they need to survive and whether or not we have whatever. Our sad little episode was doubly odd since i haven't seen that many in our house, alive or dead, since then.
They are probably Japanese ladybugs. Watch out....the little critters bite :o & they give off an unpleasant odour.
http://www.thebeneficialinsectco.com/help/asian-lady-beetles.htm
They are probably Japanese ladybugs. Watch out....the little critters bite :o & they give off an unpleasant odour.
http://www.thebeneficialinsectco.com/help/asian-lady-beetles.htm
Ooh, what a helpful site! I don't have that problem, but it said you can put the beetles in the fridge so they hibernate until spring! Cool!
Sometimes we get inundated with ladybugs too. I don't think they're the kind that are in the garden and I'm sure I heard they bite as well. If they're outside it's okay but once they were everywhere in my house. I tried to pick each one off and put it back outside. Then, one day they were gone. I found one yesterday in the house and put the little thing on one of my spider plants. It was way too cold to put outside.
OH THEY ARENT DEAD!!! they are hibernating!!
they go into hibernation about this time...they will go iunder your clapboards or around window sills, etc...sometimes, they will find their way back into your house and will not go to "sleep". if they are around your house, inside, vacuum them up in a clean bag and store the bag in the freezer or outside in the garage, shed, etc so that they will hibernate. when spring comes, you can let them out, or they will find their way out, into (hopefully) your garden!! where they will be awesome pest controllers.
I never knew bugs hibernate, but it makes sense. I had some poor science teachers in school who basically gave me the impression that all insects died off after laying their eggs in the fall, like Charlotte the Spider. But then they also differentiated between birds and fish and "animals". They meant mammals, but they would say that "fish aren't animals" or "birds aren't animals."
I grew up very confused.