Lady Bug Infestation

[N80]

I am currently living full time in my log cabin while my home in town is being rennovated. I'm enjoying country living. I'm handling the commute (40 minutes) okay. I'm handling the long muddy driveway okay. I'm dealing with not having TV or internet. I'm getting by with three of us in one tiny bathroom (even though one of us is a 17 year old girl).

But, the lady bugs are about to drive me nuts. I've heard that they are not technically ladybugs but they look like them to me. They don't bite.They aren't disgusting or scary. They don't get in the garbage. I don't think they are nasty or spread germs. But they are everywhere. Especially windows, ceilings and light fixtures. They get in our hair. They fall into the bed at night. Sometimes they fall in your plate. They also stink if disturbed or squashed.

Any home remedies for these things? We've tried vacuuming them up. By the hundreds. No help. I've set off bug bombs. Temprorary improvement only. Will try anything at this point.

 

[KB9UDE]

I dont have a total solution for them but I have been told they are the thickest when you live in a wooded area. We have them and the only way I have found to get rid of them is with a shop vac. It can be a long process until you have them under control. Our population is much lower than it was a few years ago.

 

[Lil_FarmerJim]

Do they look like this?

Brown marmorated stink bug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If so they aren't lady bugs, but that dreaded stink bug. And those darn things are a pain, the only way to get ride of them is Seven (which indoors in the winter would be a really bad idea) or call an exterminator.

:thumbdown:

We have the same problem up here in PA and in the winter they go indoors for warmth. So homes through out the region are inundated by them. Although they claim they aren't breeding in the winter, you couldn't prove it by me. And when you squish them, boy do they stink! :mur:


Good luck,

 

[studor]

I think they are probably asian multicoloured lady beetles and they are a PITA. We use KONK 409 occasionally to kill them and cluster flys on mass then vacuum the remains. The other things that work are traps that contain crushed eggshells and stick to the inside of windows (brace yourself they are expensive). You will be surprised at the number that just seem to disapppear into these things. Once you get the population down to a reasonable number through these methods you will find it much easier to control them without pesticides although they do stink when squashed.

 

[N80]

John, I'll keep plugging away with the vaccum.

Jim, that's not what we have. These look just like ladybugs. They are round/dome shaped, red with little black spots. Kind of cute even....if there was just one of them!

We have had some bright green ones that are shaped like stink bugs but about the size of ladybugs. Sometimes dozens of them. They smell awful when squashed. Fortunately we haven't seen any of those in a long time.

I think this is what I've got:

Help with Asian Lady Beetles & Japanese LadyBugs from the Carolina Bugfarm

 

[N80]

Thanks studor, will look into that.

 

[beersngars]

We get the same bugs in our cabin as well. Last summer I replaced the doors and we seem to have fewer this winter. Amazing how the darn things get in.

 

[Lil_FarmerJim]

Bummer, you mean there is another bug that stinks like that, yuk!


Good luck with them.

 

[forgeblast]

Heard that sicky traps will work near something white, your right about the smell though, you squish one they do give off a smell.

 

[rekees4300]

Any home remedies for these things? We've tried vacuuming them up. By the hundreds. No help. I've set off bug bombs. Temprorary improvement only. Will try anything at this point.

You can forget about trying to keep them out, it's impossible. Vacuum is the best way to control them. I've tried the traps but they aren't very effective. Sounds like you have a major infestation that will require a professional exterminator. Good news is they will leave on their own in April. Bad news is they will come back in October. We can thank the idiots at the Dept. of Agriculture for importing them for Aphid control before researching the unintended consequences.

 

[N80]

You're right. We have had them for years. They were there while we were building the cabin. They have even been worse than they are now.....but we weren't living there full time. It is normally just a weekend place.

It does make you wonder about them being imported by folks who should know better. Do species imported to solve a problem ever work without causing a new problem? They poster child for unintended consequences here in the south is Kudzu. It swallows whole towns!

 

[jinman]

About a month ago I was on my open-station backhoe and the lady beetles were swarming me so bad I almost gave up trying to work. I thought I was going to have to wear a bandana just to keep them out of my nose.

They seem to be worse just as all the leaves turn brown and the trees go into their winter mode. As soon as spring rolls around and the trees start leafing out, the beetles go back to the woods, only to appear in the garden to help with aphid control. They are a pain, but we use a little hand-held vacuum to suck them up and dump them outside. If they stay in the vacuum, the next time it is turned on, it will stink up the whole house with their smell. Unfortunately, they like our west wall where most of our doors to our house are located. The warmth of the west wall and doors and windows seems to be a big attraction. Sorry. . .I don't have a solution, only an anecdote.:confused3:

 

[andrec999]

Yup.
They are here too, in our houses in the winter , they invade us in October every year and come inside for the winter. They don't stop at the border and they keep on getting up north , they should know better , like birds, and stay where it's warmer.lol
At -28* yesterday I felt like shop vac them up and letting them loose outside!!!

 

[polo1665]

They seem to be the worst around here when soybeans are in the rotation. Have not been that bad in the last couple of years.

 

[Toyboy]

They'll start showing up here after the first frost. It seems to trigger them to start looking for someplace to winter. The really do stink if squashed and they will bite. Just get one down your shirt. I can deal with these beetles easier than those jumping carp the DOA allowed in our country that have taken over the Mississippi River. What a bunch of idiots we have in that department.

 

[adjusterr]

Bad stinkbug infestation in the Indian Springs area of Western MD. Vac is the only way I can catch them. I was really PO'd until I developed a game, Stinkflick. While sitting in my chair near the woodstove and under a bright reading lamp that really attracts stinkbugs, I wait until one lands on my chair or body, I line him up with the stove, on which is an open pan of hot water, and give him a good flick with the thumb and second finger. With some practice you can bank shot the bug off the fireplace, into the hot water. After a bit of practice, you can do a hard shot off the fireplace on to the stove surface, the record so far for stinkbug backflips is six, before they become toast. Good luck and good flicking.

 

[6thgpSF]

Howdy George,google algae control, Algae Control, allergen control, Allergen Control, allergy control, Allergy Control, ant bait, Ant Bait, ant control, Ant Control, ant products, Ant Products, ant spray, Ant Spray, ant trap, Ant Trap, ant treatment, Ant Treatment, ant .when you get to their web site scroll down to ladybugs.they have some good products to use both outside and inside. russ

 

[DoubleL]

Bad stinkbug infestation in the Indian Springs area of Western MD. Vac is the only way I can catch them. I was really PO'd until I developed a game, Stinkflick. While sitting in my chair near the woodstove and under a bright reading lamp that really attracts stinkbugs, I wait until one lands on my chair or body, I line him up with the stove, on which is an open pan of hot water, and give him a good flick with the thumb and second finger. With some practice you can bank shot the bug off the fireplace, into the hot water. After a bit of practice, you can do a hard shot off the fireplace on to the stove surface, the record so far for stinkbug backflips is six, before they become toast. Good luck and good flicking.

:laughing::thumbsup::laughing:

 

[TCowner]

reekes4300, you are right about the morons in the Department of Agriculture. They thought they were going to control the soybean aphids. Farmers will tell you they had little if any affect on the aphid population.

But its gets worse. The ash trees in Minnesota, like the rest of the country, are being attacked by some vermin that bores into the tree. But there is a great plan to deal with the problem.

We are going to import some type of Chinese wasp that consumes the bug that kills the ash trees. Well, isn't that great. They tell us that these wasps don't sting.

So imagine your house full of lady bugs/beetles. Now replace that image with a house full of Chinese wasps.

Only the great minds of our Minnesota public officials could come up with a plan like that.

 

[N80]

Thanks guys. Only good thing about this is that with it getting dark at 5:30 pm, no internet, no TV and too worn out to read anything of substance I'm making a game (or grudge match) of vacuuming up as many as I can.

Periodically I put a shot of bug spary down the vacuum hose. Don't want any repeat customers. I know these things can be beneficial.....but there seem to be plenty to go around.