LADYBEETLES: Every year, we get questions about hordes of
ladybugs – actually, the Asian ladybeetles – and how to get rid of
them without resorting to drastic measures. Keep this advice, from
the current edition of Mother Earth News, on hand when they start
to emerge from their winter hiding places inside your home.

Barbara Pleasant, gardening editor, is the one who referred to
them as “ladybeetles.” In the spring, she says, most of them are
just looking for a way out of their winter home and will leave
unnoticed through open crevices. Others will leave freely if you
remove screens or storm windows and open warm windows an inch or
two at the top.

But what about those that won’t leave on their own? How to you
eliminate them without harming them? Should you vacuum them up
alive and release them into your yard?

The article quotes Ted Cottrell, research entomologist at the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Southeast Fruit and Nut Tree
Research Lab in Byron, Ga.: “In terms of control of other insect
pests, the number of beneficial beetles you might capture and
release outdoors is insignificant compared to the outdoor
population as a whole. From a convenience standpoint, get rid of
them using your most effective and easiest method – dead or
alive.”

That, of course, means the vacuum cleaner.

“To keep from having to change your vacuum’s bag or empty the
canister, place a thin sock or knee-high stocking between your
vacuum’s hose and head before quickly doing the deed. Special
long-handled ‘bug vacuums’ are great for reaching high corners –
folks who think the only good spider is an outdoor spider love
them.”

If you’re faced with overwhelming numbers, collect them at night
with a light trap which makes use of milk jugs and other
easy-to-find materials and is designed to be hung from attic
rafters.

After months indoors, Asian ladybeetles are dehydrated and
hungry. They usually drop straight down when disturbed, so it’s
easy to collect them in a wide-mouth quart jar furnished with some
apple peelings and a damp paper towel, then covered with a thin
cloth.

“Within minutes, the beetles will be quenching their thirst and
filling their bellies. They will be more than content in their
‘spa’ until the weather warms up and you can release them
outdoors.”