ladybugs!

For the past several days hundreds of them are seen crawling on the side of the house, peaking in the afternoon. Some get inside, then collect around the windows where they are vacuumed up using the crevice attachment. They hunker down when threatened which makes it difficult to pick them up by hand. If you crush them they can stain walls, clothes, even your skin. The other day I saw my neighbor spraying his house with insecticide, while another hosed down his house with a garden hose. Another told me he has not been using his deck due to the ladybugs. And yes, I've gotten bitten when they crawl inside the shirt. On closer inspection, I noticed that there are several varieties with a different number of spots, although I have not seen any 2-spot nor no-spot species. In the summertime they do seem to like the Rose-of-Sharon where the aphids are plenty. Kids call them "pumpkin bugs." In a week or two they will be gone. But this fall it looks like there is the largest invasion of ladybugs than I can remember.

Reply to
Phisherman
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they were imported to deal with the aphids cause our native lady bugs werent doing the job well enough. the imported ones really do get rid of aphids. while they have no natural predators their population will crash when the aphid pop crashes and numbers will follow cyclicly after that. we had a huge population 2 years ago but since then they dont seem to be as much of a problem. Ingrid

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Reply to
dr-solo

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