Bugs, bugs everywhere

[4grandbabies]

We have been totally attacked by those stinky little beatles that look like lady bugs but are not red. I bought some organic not toxic to human and pet stuff, which slows them down, I used it around the door facings so we can come and go, but for every one that drops , many MORE APPEAR... UGGG .tHEY BITE, THEY STINK..
Does anyone have a solution? will I have to go poison???

 

[digitS']

If they are "not red" are they green, 4GrandBabies?

If so, they are probably Green Stink Bugs and even Univ. of Kentucky entomology departement, celebrating them as the "The Stink Bugs of Kentucky!" - tells us that they bite (I didn't know that).

There were quite a few in the pea trellis stakes that I carried in from the garden the other day . . . nothing like an armload of stink . . . :/

They seem to appreciate debris but show up on a sunny fall day to fly about and hold conventions. If you have a pile of leaves or something where they are hiding, you might just stir that up thoroughly with a rake to encourage them to move to your neighbor's yard .

The University of Georgia say that pyrethroids provide good control when they move in to eat on cotton plants. A pyrethroid is a synthetic insecticide like the organic pyrethrins. That's what I would spray them with if they really, really are bothersome - - and I'm sure they can be.

Steve

edited to add: Pyrethrin is effective a very, very short period of time. Probably no residue after 24 hours but you'd better check the bottle on frequency of spraying.

 

[4grandbabies]

Thanks digits, no I dont think they are stink bugs, they are more of a dull brown or dull orange., but look like lady bugs, and they do smell, and if you kill a bunch , then sweep them up in the vac, you had better dump it right away, they are really peutrid smelling when they die!! they are the same size as lady bugs which are full grown and fat.

 

[bid]

Sounds like asian beetles or asian/japanese lady beetles. Probably looking for a warm place to hibernate for the winter. We had an infestation several years ago and about the best I could do was vaccuum them up with a shop vac. Good luck!

 

[curly_kate]

They are definitely Asian lady beetles. They hit here today, too! I've been vacuuming them up - hopefully they don't just crawl back out!!

 

[4grandbabies]

Better empty the vacumn bag, if they die in there, I am told your vac will stink so bad you wont want to use it!! Yes, I have found out they are the asian lady beetles. Thanks everyone for responding. I found some some stuff I can spray around doors and windows, and it helps a while, but its not toxic enough to keep them away. The neighbor used something really potent, dont know its name, but may have to find out, her stuff worked, and we cant even set on the deck .....

 

[journey11]

I hear the sprays have to be put on *before* they come at ya. They've been pinging off the windows here all afternoon too. Stinky, nasty things! They weren't bad at all last year, because a late freeze did in their food source (aphids in the tree tops), but it also did in the mass majority of our wild tree nuts. They don't get in my house too bad here, but my old one they sure did. They make my husband quite literally sick. He gets pale and clammy and nauseous. I just keep them vacuumed up. That's about the best you can do unless you want to spray.

 

[chills]

ok so i have a question, i googled Asian lady beetles, i thought lady bugs were the good guys, how can i have to many?
they really come inside? .. and you vacuum them?? wow ..
ive never killed a lady bug so i dont know if they stink - so the stinky ones oblivious are bad and the not stinky ones good?????
so i figure a lady bug i want on my roses, a lady beetle, not so much!?!

 

[journey11]

ok so i have a question, i googled Asian lady beetles, i thought lady bugs were the good guys, how can i have to many?
they really come inside? .. and you vacuum them?? wow ..
ive never killed a lady bug so i dont know if they stink - so the stinky ones oblivious are bad and the not stinky ones good?????
so i figure a lady bug i want on my roses, a lady beetle, not so much!?!

These asian lady beetles are not native to our country and have developed a severe population imbalance. As I understand it, they were illegally imported by some lady who thought she'd use them for aphid control in her garden. I have never been unprovokedly bitten by a regular red lady bug, nor have I noticed any stink to them. However, I don't encounter them as often, so that might be a factor.

And, yes! These nasty little bugs will come right in if they find a way. Primarily on the warmer, sunnier southside of your home. They will congregate in the corners and around window sills and I have vacuumed up a wall seething with 10's of thousands of them at my old apartment. This was a regular fall occurance (they would come in through tiny cracks around the AC window unit). They are not so bad in the house we own now. They stay mostly in the attic and under the siding. I only see a few come inside now.

They mainly afflict the areas of the country where there is much surrounding deciduous forest because their main food source is the aphids in the tree tops. They are so stinky and nasty that they have no real predators and thereby multiply. The birds want nothing to do with them.

Even vacuuming them up won't kill them, so if you do, be sure to dump the bag/canister or most of them will just crawl back out.

 

[chills]

eww gross ..
i have a university of CA website for bugs, they dont have a listing for Asian lady beetles, maybe they have not made it across the country yet??
still, eww..