Ladybugs

[Lily left the valley]

As long as we're straying off topic, I have to mention...

Ever since a friend asked me to help her get out of the habit of using the word "actually" (for which I have given her sarcastic thanks for my heightened awareness of this plague on the English language), I hear it peppering every conversation and monologue (the British are the worst offenders) and it's almost always unnecessary. For example, in Gardner's weather records, why is "actual temp" better than "temp"? Along with "actual hi" and "actual lo" - as opposed to what? Imagined? I wonder why this has caught on so powerfully - it's everywhere - and also hope this complaint makes others acutely aware of this current trend of rampant over-use of "actual" and "actually" because misery loves company.

OK, rant over.

Temperature and bugs - they're not really (I didn't say actually, although I could have, properly) off topic, since they're a big part of a window's existence. Too much of a stretch?

I am braced for replies that, in a feeble attempt at humor, profusely use the word.

I blame "RealFeel®" (Patent filed in 2004). Although to their credit, their original wording for that was "apparent temperature".

Related:
Temperature_measurement.
Heat Index

(This bugs me too.)

[mjt]

Wind chill and heat index, which are both "feels like" temperatures as experience by animals, as compared to the (actual directly measured temperature.

Here in the US upper midwest, we get to experience both. Sometimes in the same week!

[phil]

Note from site admin: This is the actual start of the Park Avenue thread
(posts moved from the previous "threadjacked" thread appear before this point)

I noticed int he window thread everyone was discussing ladybugs. lately for some reason Ive been interested and noticing them more.

I have a sort of plumb tree and they seem to love it. probably because there are other little critters they like there. anyway I ahve been observing them and I guess they aren't native they seem to be orange and quite big ones. I was trying to move them ot other plants thinking maybe they would do some good but they seem to fly back to where I got them..
a few days later, weve had a hot spell.. and I looked for them and only saw dead ones. also see little black and red spiders so i was wondering if the spiders got them all or if they just die from the heat and dry out or if it is just the end of their cyle now.
I also had some house plants that had a few, but these ones were tiny and they were not the normal red or orange but black and white. but they seemed to have the same shell and they fly like ladybugs. the little black and white ones were about half the size, the largest ones I saw were the size the sulfur on a paper match and the red ones get bigger like a wooden match head for size.

in the thread we are now starting a little farm of them and at the same time trying to keep them out of windows? do they eat wood or something ?

I always thought they were good bugs as they eat little mites and things but not being much of a gardener Im not sure which are the "good bugs"
Do others try to move them about and encourage them in their gardens?
maybe they are early summer bugs? I checked my plumb tree yesterday and now the only ones I can find are dead and stuck to the leaves and turning more yellow in color. It seemed a coincidence that everyone seemed to be discussing them.
I read somewhere that the native ones have a different number of black spots and that other species are taking over.. are they still good for plants?
do they hatch their eggs in trees or in the dirt or something ? this tree where they are appearing most. I hacked it back the trunk last winter and this summer it exploded with many many new branches.. no fruit since it hardly had any branches to blossom from early in the year.. it makes little plumbs that look like cherry tomatoes. it was getting so big I hacked it severely which I thought might kill it but I just didn't want it to be a giant tree. couldn't reach any fruit and Ive been trying not to let the trees on my lot get so out of control that I need to hire professional trimmers.

I also noticed a wasp that was stuck to a leaf.. It could be a bee? my neighbor has a bee farm 30 feet away and the bees are cool with me. 7 times they have swarmed to the same tree and they put on their bee suit and collect the swarm.
I tried to pick the wasp off the tree leaf but it was not wanting to leave as if it was stuck there.. maybe they eat the ladybugs?

[Manalto]

Do others try to move them about and encourage them in their gardens?

When ladybugs emerge from their pupa (they go through the same four stages as butterflies), they are genetically programmed to disperse. People who buy ladybugs because they want these beneficial insects in their gardens are often disappointed because they simply fly away. I'm not sure what happens once they reach their new home. Maybe they have a strong instinct to stick around?

Remember the nursery rhyme?

Ladybug, ladybug fly away home,
Your house is on fire and your children are gone,
All except one,
And her name is Ann,
And she hid under the frying pan.

Ladybugs are regarded as beneficial in both the larval (a spiky caterpillar) and adult stages.

[Lily left the valley]

Do others try to move them about and encourage them in their gardens?

When ladybugs emerge from their pupa (they go through the same four stages as butterflies), they are genetically programmed to disperse. People who buy ladybugs because they want these beneficial insects in their gardens are often disappointed because they simply fly away. I'm not sure what happens once they reach their new home. Maybe they have a strong instinct to stick around?

I've actually met some folks that bought ladybugs and said "never again" because they all flew away. You know what I asked them? "So you made sure you had plants they like to eat on your property before you released them, right?"

This is their face then when the significance of what I ask them dawns on them, every time I've found myself asking--->

There should be better instruction by the sellers of ladybugs. A few do note things like how to make ladybug houses; the best times of day to release them (just before sunup or just after sundown); dampening plants before releasing them; to not to dump them all out of the container in the same spot, to gently lay at least some where there is an obvious aphid infestation and make sure there's no ant farming said aphids; and planting tansy, angelica, or scented geraniums come to mind as the sorts of things that would be helpful to keep them nearby. Not nearly enough sellers do so in my experience.

[Mick_VT]

Ladybugs are predators, they eat other bugs (mainly aphids), so it's more down to what bugs are around rather than what plants

[Lily left the valley]

Ladybugs are predators, they eat other bugs (mainly aphids), so it's more down to what bugs are around rather than what plants

Incorrect. They are actually like humans in that they can be omnivores. From one site (emphasis mine): "Lady beetle larvae and adults eat aphids, small caterpillars, mites and random insect eggs. A few species specialize by feeding on scale insects, mealybugs, mites and even powdery mildew. Adult lady beetles also eat insect honeydew, flower nectar and pollen."
Source: https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/pest-control/how-to-attract-ladybugs-zw0z1302zkin

Females in particular: "You may be surprised to learn that female ladybugs eat both nectar and pollen for the nutrients they need to mature and lay eggs. Ladybugs feed on flowering plants and legumes. In addition to eating insect pests, ladybugs pollinate flowers and vegetable plants when they visit the blooms to feed on pollen and nectar and carry it to new flowers."
Source (quote under the subhead "Secondary Diet"): http://living.thebump.com/ladybugs-eat-nectar-flowers-8366.html

Other sites to back this up:
http://eol.org/pages/7459/details
https://www.almanac.com/blog/gardening/garden-journal/beneficial-insects-garden
https://www.almanac.com/content/companion-planting-guide
http://balconygardenweb.com/26-plants-that-attract-ladybugs/
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/beneficial/attract-ladybugs.htm
https://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-f ... our-garden

Getting a bit off the beaten track, as most folks wouldn't consider the following as part of what folks normally think of as ladybugs, yet are still under the same ladybug umbrella (and you started this rabbit hole... ). Some variations are even agricultural pests if a one off happens to kill off their prey, and some are strict vegetarians (the following link goes to one of the few in North America that only eats plants): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_bean_beetle

Studies have even been conducted to use their love of plants for food against them: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3883695/

So there. (Yes, I read a lot. Why do you ask?)

[Lily left the valley]

EDIT: since posting this, I have taken a better picture, so the rest of this paragraph is not what I was thought was true based on that not so great image. Speaking of...this happened two days ago I think it was now when I was trying to pick what few red raspberries we have this year...and now I understand why because there are about a dozen of them feasting on something on the fruit and leaves. (Chilocorus stigma)


I finally got a better shot of this bug with its small group today, and I should have trusted my brain when it said they weren't bubble backed enough. Now I don't know what they are, and I'm back to my original notion that they are eating our red raspberries Apologies for any confusion. *sigh* Insect IDing is tough.

[awomanwithahammer]

Aaarrghhhhh!!!!! I HATE these bugs! I don't think we have true lady bugs here anymore, just the invasive Asian beetles, and they're horrible. We came home one time and one entire side of our house was black with them. They're too dumb to go around the house, so they find any place they can go through. Then they can't get out. They congregate in the upper corners of rooms. They deposit some sort of orange secretion on your curtains and drapes and if you squash them, they stink to high heaven. They also have these little pincers on the front; one flew into my son's lip one time and he thought it bit him.

About the time you think they're gone, they start coming (literally) out of the woodwork again where they've nested and multiplied, and then you start all over again. I used to get the ShopVac out and suck them out of the windows. After half an hour, you couldn't tell I'd vacuumed.

We had to move to get away from them. I had a panic attack last summer when there were a bunch on the front of our new house. We sprayed the hell out of them and they went away.

[Mick_VT]

Aaarrghhhhh!!!!! I HATE these bugs! I don't think we have true lady bugs here anymore, just the invasive Asian beetles, and they're horrible. We came home one time and one entire side of our house was black with them. They're too dumb to go around the house, so they find any place they can go through. Then they can't get out. They congregate in the upper corners of rooms. They deposit some sort of orange secretion on your curtains and drapes and if you squash them, they stink to high heaven. They also have these little pincers on the front; one flew into my son's lip one time and he thought it bit him.

About the time you think they're gone, they start coming (literally) out of the woodwork again where they've nested and multiplied, and then you start all over again. I used to get the ShopVac out and suck them out of the windows. After half an hour, you couldn't tell I'd vacuumed.

We had to move to get away from them. I had a panic attack last summer when there were a bunch on the front of our new house. We sprayed the hell out of them and they went away.

My sentiments exactly - we have the same issues up here in Vermont, and they are all the Asian ones. They smell, they make a mess and they are a real nuisance when they awake in the warmth of the wood stove winter.

And yes they do bite, it's generally a sharp pain an leaves an itchy mark. Usually it is only if you threaten them, but some are just a-holes.

I once had them so bad that half of crawlspace was covered about 1/2" deep in them - gross