Ladybug dilemma

A sure sign of the harvest season appeared this past week. This has been a regular occurrence now for many years. A few days of cool weather followed by a quick warming trend and then BOOM! Hordes of ladybugs swarm the house.

I am conflicted in fighting these little bugs. I want them around in the summer to keep the aphids and mites off the garden veggies. I guess they feel that residing in my attic and house for the winter is fair compensation for me having plenty of green beans. I would give up the garden to have a bug-free home, though.

Ladybugs aren't harmful like brown recluse spiders or centipedes. But they tend to fly around chaotically, sometimes ending up in a cup of coffee. I see them on the ceiling of our bedroom, just waiting to drop into my open mouth while I'm snoring.

Spraying doesn't really help. You would have to cover the soffits and vents of the entire south-facing wall of the house. And I don't really want to kill them, just get them to go to someone else's home. I have tried garlic sprays that smell worse than the ladybugs and tend to stain the outside house walls. Citronella doesn't stay around long enough to work, either.

This year I got the power washer and tried to hose them off. This was effective only until the water dried off the roof and soffits. I also knocked the paint off some of the guttering, which just added to my chore list.

One year I decided to keep them confined to the attic by having the attic light on continuously. I noticed fewer bugs in the house itself, but when I entered the attic several weeks later I was horrified at the cloud of bugs flying around the attic light! Evidently it attracted even more of them from the outside. I vacuumed bugs up there every weekend until Spring. Keep the lights on outside the house.

It is practically impossible to keep them out of the house once they get into the attic or walls, so your best defense is to capture as many as possible. Swatting them is not recommended as they emit a foul odor when squashed. They also leave an orange-yellow stain. Best method is to use a handy Shop Vac with plenty of hose extensions. This often calls for some improvisation.

My house has some rooms with 22-foot-high ceilings. That is where all our heat goes in the winter. Since ladybugs love warmth, that is where they reside the majority of time in our house. It is maddening to be sitting in the living room and see these bugs crawling along the ceiling. So, I got out the Dyson vacuum since it was close, found two 10-foot sections of 1-inch PVC pipe, and taped them to the vacuum hose. By carefully holding the modified hose/pipe combo, I can suck up the stinky critters. They make a rather satisfying "snick" sound as they plummet down the pipe. However, the pipes can become unwieldy and heavy after some time that, in my case, resulted in loss of some vases and glass figurines I inadvertently knocked off bookcases.

The other side effect of all this is that the inside of the Dyson is now stained ladybug orange. And the air coming out of the vacuum smells like squashed ladybugs. I should have stuck with the Shop Vac. But the new Dyson vacuum will be a great birthday present for the wife, right?

Just like the leaf blower I got her for our anniversary.

-- Devin Houston is the president/CEO of Houston Enzymes. Send comments or questions to [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 11/08/2017