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- - Lady bugs (https://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/gardening/45204-lady-bugs.html)

The Lady bugs are swarming again. What a mess. They got in the house and
almost cover the walls. When a light is turned on in the evening they are
attracted to it and make more of a mess.

Gary

In article , "gary"
wrote:

The Lady bugs are swarming again. What a mess. They got in the house and
almost cover the walls. When a light is turned on in the evening they are
attracted to it and make more of a mess.

Gary

They're massing to hibernate. If you can tell where they're getting in the
house, you might be able to lay black plastic bags nearby (layered &
staked to the ground) or layers of folded tarpaper, & they'll be attracted
to that because of the heat. When they finish massing, add a light layer
of mulch over the plastic bags or tarpaper. They won't come out from under
that until spring. If they keep coming in the house & you can't seal up
their ingress, maybe you can vacuum them up in a low-powered hand-held
vacuum cleaner & then store them in the bottom of the refrigerator, or in
sphagnum in some corner of the garage or tool shed, until spring when the
garden needs them.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

"gary" wrote in message
...
The Lady bugs are swarming again. What a mess. They got in the house and
almost cover the walls. When a light is turned on in the evening they are
attracted to it and make more of a mess.

Gary

I was told they get rid of aphids and other small parasitic insects.
I'd rather have a swarm of bugs that protect my plants than a swarm of
caterpillars or aphids wreaking havoc around my garden.

I've had them invest our house as well. I felt so guilty wanting to
squash ladybugs--they seem such a symbol of innocence and good. That is
until they start flying at your face kamikaze style and keep you up all
night flying into walls and window.

There was a great article in Southern Living (I think it was SL) one or
two years ago (how is that for specifics?). The author had a similar
experience with lady bug infestation, and I read it nodding my head
through each paragraph in appreciation as her experience was just like
mine. She managed to capture some of the ladybugs and save them in an
opaque container that she kept in the fridge until spring when she
released them in her garden. She placed wet paper towels in the
container for moisture and raisins for the bugs to feed. Interestingly,
she found that the lady bugs liked yellow raisins...not black.

Good luck!
heidi

gary wrote:

The Lady bugs are swarming again. What a mess. They got in the house and
almost cover the walls. When a light is turned on in the evening they are
attracted to it and make more of a mess.

Gary

I draw a distinction between the lovable (and non-biting) red ladybug
and the orange-brown (and biting!) asiatic or mexican beetle (call 'em
what you want).

Now that I know the difference (and have been bitten a few times),
it's the vaccuum cleaner for the little buggers. Along with the verdammt
box elder bugs. Kill 'em all (box elder and biting beetles) and let God
sort 'em out.

It used to be SOOO easy with ladybugs... Ran into a swarm of the
beetles a few days ago. Sounded like hitting little M&Ms...

--
Reply to me at louis little punctuation mark ohland with the same ISP