Asian lady beetles

[watchdogps]

Are we talking about the same beetles? Orange, not red. Ours don't bite. I used to play with them all the time when I was a kid, and I've certainly had plenty of them on me recently too.

 

[Linn Bee]

There are three kinds of beetles that have been mentioned here. Lots of folks are confused about which is which.

1. Japanese Beetles. Not what is eating pine beetle larva - not dropped from airplanes. This is an alien insect that 'snuck' into the USA and has been slowly spreading across the fruited plains. It has a copper/green iridescent back covering. Doesn't bite or pinch, but it does eat just about everything that grows - at least around here. Lives as lawn grubs until mid June when it comes out and flies -- eating and mating and laying eggs in the soil.

My girls loved them. We went on JB hunts about 4 times a day. I picked them off the plants and the chickens gobbled them up.

2. Ladybird beetles. These are native - or at least have been in the USA for over 100 years. They are beneficial garden helpers that eat aphids and the larva of other garden pests. They don't bite or pinch and have a red back covering with black spots. I, too, used to play with them as a child. "Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home. . . "

3. Asian (ladybug) beetles. These are different shades of orange to yellow-orange with black spots. Same size as our beloved ladybirds. These were introduced by the US department of agriculture to control a number of destructive insect larva. . . pests on alfalfa, soybeans, pines, etc.

We had a USDA speaker telling us, also, that they don't bite. Hogwash! They land, they 'taste', and they walk or fly away. The bite is little more than a pinch, but since they are testing for food, I call it a bite.

Most of the year they are hardly noticeable, but come fall when the crops they were living on are harvested, they seem to swarm. They fly into eyes, mouth, clothing, skin where they land and taste. . . only once, but by then I've swatted them away so when they lands again they taste again. And when they get stuck inside your clothing? They BITE!

They stink when squashed. They stain when squashed. They stain when they poop - everywhere. They also congregate in the fall seeking a warm place to over-winter. Older houses often have cracks where they can enter the building and be a little irritation all winter long as they soil walls, lights, curtains. Nasty little buggers when they're not working!

And no! Chickens don't eat them. I don't know of anything that does since their natural predators would be in another country.

Love, Linn B (aka Smart Red) Gardening zone 5a - 4b in south-est, central-est Wisconsin

 

[Orchid]

Quote:
We have the Asian beetles here, as you do. We also have very few of our beloved ladybirds left.

I am in zone 3a in north central MN.

 

[CluckyJay]

My house literally fills full of ladybugs each winter. They cover the tops of my wall. As long as I don't touch them, they don't stink. I haven't noticed poopies either. Maybe mine are housebroken??

I just love them and cannot evict them, LOL. Were really organic with our gardening and they cover my gardens each year.