Ladybugs... Attack?

[Garden Green]

I walked out onto my deck today to find like 30 lady bugs with more in coming. Red and yellow ones, some with spots some without. My poor dog doesn't know what to do with himself, he keeps getting dive bombed by lady bugs. One landed on his nose earlier and he just about had a fit. They are falling off the deck cover. While I was whipping out the camera I had one land on my nose. And this isn't the first time this has happened to me. At the house we lived in before this one, this happened. None of our neighbors had the influx, just us. And it is the same here. My neighbors aren't seeing them like we are. I think they just now figured out where I moved to...

I'm being stalked by lady bugs!:D

[gardengirl72]

That is great news! Ladybugs are precious and beneficial to the gardener, the eat Aphids and other creepcrawlies! Your garden will be rich and delicious with minimal damage from insects.

Congrats!

[Garden Green]

Hehe, I know! Blessed by a velvet ant *and* by lady bugs. It doesn't get much better than this.

I just wish my dog would quit trying to eat them.

[Sinfonian]

I thought the number of lady bugs you saw was in direct proportion to the amount of "food" for them. I wonder if there is an infestation of bugs they eat around? I agree that they're a good thing. Of course, I've never been "attacked" by them before.

[Garden Green]

It wouldn't surprise me. We've been overrun this year with greater than normal amounts of black flies, white flies, fruit flies, horse flies, ear wigs, ants, palmetto bugs and various other insect like critters on the property. It's been a fight to keep them out of the house, too. I've killed two millipedes on their way into the house this year on the deck so.. we probably do have enough food to go around for the lady bugs.

The DE did a good job helping out getting a lot of the insect population down. Now that the calvary has arrived, I think we can kick back and let the predatory insects balance some of it out.

At least, I hope they do! I don't think I can handle going through the black flies again next year. It drove me nuts this year. I spent a good amount of time on the phone trolling around the deck with my fly swatter. Eventually, I broke down and got a trap which took care of the bulk of the problem post haste.

[plantoneonme]

I really hope those are ladybugs and not Japanese beetles. We had a boxwood elder tree at our other house that was infested with them. They look so similar to ladybugs I was happy the first time I saw the side of my house covered with them...only later to find out they were actually killing my tree. We had to take out the 75+ year old tree in order to get rid of them. If you have any bug experts in your area maybe you could catch a few and make sure they are ladybugs....best of luck and best wishes for ladybugs. Kim

[Garden Green]

Hmm. Good point. Perhaps a trip down to the local extension office is in order. Thanks for the advice, I'll definately check this out.

[Sinfonian]

We too have had insane amounts of fruit flies. Only ours have been inside. With all the fresh friut and veggies we've had we can't keep up with them. Grrr. Of course until recently we had an open kitchen compost bucket under the sink. It didn't stink but the flies made my wife mad. Now we use a covered bucket but still have flies elsewhere.

[Garden Green]

We too have had insane amounts of fruit flies. Only ours have been inside. With all the fresh friut and veggies we've had we can't keep up with them. Grrr. Of course until recently we had an open kitchen compost bucket under the sink. It didn't stink but the flies made my wife mad. Now we use a covered bucket but still have flies elsewhere.

Yes, annoying. We had to stand guard every time we grilled out (which was a lot because we bought a side of organic beef) this summer because they were just so thick! I was really afraid that they were going to tote off the grill a couple of times. My father complained of it, too, and he is in Louisiana (not that they don't *always* have flies down there, but you know). He said it just seemed worse this year than in previous.

The explosion of insects signaled the end of a really long drought here. We had two brown summers in a row. Going on vacation was like seeing green for the first time because it had just been so long since we had a nice green yard. I'm not sure which is worse, the drought or the bugs.

[Garden Green]

Just as a follow up. I did find out that my lady bugs are indeed lady bugs.