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Post by kevlar on Feb 22, 2024 8:05:39 GMT -6
Does anyone else have a house full of ladybugs? I’ve seen some other years but nothing even close to what it is this year. Usually if they are in the house they are active early on in the winter but then seem to go away, I’m wondering if the warm winter has something to do with it. Sounds like everyone in the area has them, even heard of one guy who put a bug zapper in his house. Just wondering if it’s just this area or more widespread. Good sign or bad sign??
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Post by OptimallyDismal on Feb 22, 2024 8:58:49 GMT -6
Yup, it's those fake Chinese ladybugs, real ones have round black spots, these show the typical chinese knock off quality, with irregular spots 😁. We have had them all winter. They tend to cluster in corners. Saw a maple bug in the hospital the other day, they can be a bit of a plaque as well at times!
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Post by shmiffy on Feb 22, 2024 9:00:22 GMT -6
My thoughts after dabbling in more biological farming this last year. Once you get the brix of your plant close to 10 you don’t see any lady bugs. There is nothing there for them to eat. Years ago when aphids were reallly bad they were everywhere in the winter. But not alive.
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BJT
Full Member
Posts: 111 Likes: 41
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Post by BJT on Feb 22, 2024 12:27:20 GMT -6
Lady bugs or maple bugs ?
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Post by kevlar on Feb 22, 2024 14:34:08 GMT -6
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Post by shmiffy on Feb 22, 2024 18:15:21 GMT -6
Asian lady beetle
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Post by northernfarmer on Feb 22, 2024 18:16:55 GMT -6
What the heck is drawing in the ladybugs, and I wonder where they are able to get into the house and during the winter time I gather ?. Is there a chance they were there all along as in house plants and breeding through the winter or accidentally brought in by carrying in some item that was contaminated with them.
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Post by Oatking on Feb 22, 2024 18:43:07 GMT -6
What the heck is drawing in the ladybugs, and I wonder where they are able to get into the house and during the winter time I gather ?. Is there a chance they were there all along as in house plants and breeding through the winter or accidentally brought in by carrying in some item that was contaminated with them. Last year I sprayed for crickets around the walls of my house and in the basement . I have not seen any insects in the house since ! I use to get lady bugs! I used tempo
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Post by slipclutch on Feb 22, 2024 19:39:41 GMT -6
What the heck is drawing in the ladybugs, and I wonder where they are able to get into the house and during the winter time I gather ?. Is there a chance they were there all along as in house plants and breeding through the winter or accidentally brought in by carrying in some item that was contaminated with them. Last year I sprayed for crickets around the walls of my house and in the basement . I have not seen any insects in the house since ! I use to get lady bugs! I too sprayed around the house and basement those damn crickets smell bad!
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Post by kevlar on Feb 22, 2024 21:31:32 GMT -6
What the heck is drawing in the ladybugs, and I wonder where they are able to get into the house and during the winter time I gather ?. Is there a chance they were there all along as in house plants and breeding through the winter or accidentally brought in by carrying in some item that was contaminated with them. I think they come in in the fall, just like flies do, looking for a place to stay for the winter. Doesn’t take much of a hole for them to get into from the outside and work their way in I guess. Even people with new houses have them so assume they would be built pretty tight.
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Post by victory on Feb 22, 2024 21:34:58 GMT -6
We get some lazy flies in the house if it warms up enough, but not bugs like you guys are talking about. We won't complain if you keep them well fed over there!
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Post by northernfarmer on Feb 22, 2024 22:13:52 GMT -6
We must not have near the ladybugs around then as that certainly isn't something I ever thought would be an issue in a house. Having said that I did discover a few years ago why we had ants coming into the farm house and in a certain area of the basement was the worst. It turned out that when the builders made a front step/pad they attached it to the house with rebar that was poured into the pad and the rebar stuck out and had a hook shape they formed and that went through the wooden portion of the house just above the basement cement line. They did not fill in the cutout notches in the wood so over the years the ants made their home under the cement pad and discovered the passage ways into the house. From the inside of the house the holes could not be seen because insulation bats were cut to size and stuffed into that area. Once I realized there was dirt in the insulation and pulled out a bat and could see what was behind it and even see a bit of daylight, I knew I found the issue. I took out all that dirt filled insulation and then cleaned up all those places under/between the upstairs floor joists and then used that sort of rubberized type caulking that can be used to fill in cracks in cement, I figured that would last and be tough to chew through. Then I took new insulation and fitted that back in but what a mess that was when I found it, the amount of dirt was unreal that those ants had packed in over the years into the insulation.
So hard to say if you have anything of the sort like that which is giving a passage way for them to come in or they are capable of crawling up the wall and sneak underneath siding and through some cracks in the wall sheeting, I rather doubt they would walk in through the door that would be closed most of the time, perhaps hanging off of a indoor/outdoor pet and just carried in ?
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Post by SWMan on Feb 23, 2024 0:16:41 GMT -6
Don't kill the ladybugs, they are a beneficial insect and eat a lot of aphids! I found one today that must have woken up, perhaps it thought spring was here...lol
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Post by kevlar on Feb 23, 2024 8:56:28 GMT -6
I know they are good to have around, they eat flea beetles as well, but ya, my wife isn’t as receptive to having them in the house as I am!
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Post by kevlar on Feb 23, 2024 9:14:53 GMT -6
You’re right, but they still aren’t a terrible thing to have, they eat the same things as ladybugs, biggest problem is they come into the house and occasionally do bite.
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