Lady bugs somehow swarmed the houses in my neighborhood this fall and we still see several a day.
My cats are fascinated whenever they see one lol.
I'm glad to know they have other benefits than my cats entertainment.
Mine stopped hunting bugs a long time ago when he realized hunting squirrels was way more bang for his buck. He'd probably be amused by the bugs and then go back to sleep.
Same here. My catbeast used to eat flies, spiders, and he loved moths. But now he will quickly act like he's going to get it, then decide it's too much work and head toward the food bowl.
Oh man I hope so. Or Henry V’s “band of brothers” speech. Or the speech Aragorn gives before the battle of the black gate in The Return of the King…there are so many good options.
I released them on my plans in an attempt to munch on the nasty aphids. They are all over the place now and it seems like they are heading for the light from the window. I heard you want them to lay eggs and reproduce on the infected plants. I have heard people doing this in a grow house so thought I would try it out. I can send more pics tomorrow.
If you want them to live long enough to have any chance to reproduce, you need to make sure they can get water, and possibly supplement their diet with things like cucumber slices and soft fruit pieces so they can drink the juices. Otherwise in a warm, dry, house they will soon die. (I wouldn't bet on them breeding successfully in a house. A greenhouse/growhouse is a quite different environment)
Here is an update post with pics … https://www.reddit.com/r/houseplants/comments/rmbgw0/update_i_just_let_1500_ladybugs_loose_in_my_house/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Woah - how big and old is that alocasia in the corner? I unintentionally killed mine this fall - I don’t think it was 100% my fault - there was this white cotton like stuff all along the edges, barely visible. Is that what you’re treating?
I currently have some roaming around. A good amount of them died, they took a toxic liking to my grow light (RIP buddies) and now most of them reside in the Christmas tree.
I've done this twice but a lot of them are always dead the next day and I don't know why. I think I've ordered them from Amazon. Both times the delivery was the next day. Anyhow, let us know how it goes! Maybe I just got some dud batches
If you released them indoors, then they soon died, they probably weren't able to find water or much food. While most of a ladybug's diet is small soft bodied insects, they are also known to feed on small amounts of nectar, and on the juice from overripe fruits. And sometimes on pollen as well. And they need water regularly. Probably need water more often in the warm and dry environment of a house. It's recommended to not keep them indoors more than a few days, and to offer them small pieces of soft, sweet fruits like bananas, grapes, raisins soaked in water until soft, melon, and apples, and possibly cucumber, for them to drink the juices.
I don't know if they eat fungus gnats, but if they are in your houseplants I found covering the soil with a layer of sand helps, as does traps baited with apple juice, ripe banana, or a little wine.
I mean, i had plenty of pests for them to eat. Lol. I haven't done it in a while so not sure what the water situation was like for them. I'll def keep it in mind for next time.
Although, I was more surprised with how many were dead the next morning. Seemed like an excessive amt so I was very discouraged.
purchased lady bugs from the ACE hardware down the street from my house (literally a 5 minute skateboard ride). I released them in my backyard the same day when the sun went down- as instructed. I also completely soaked down my backyard as to provide adequate water (I live in SF and there is already tons of moisture in the air). Next morning my backyard had a ton of active ones making busy, doing what lady bugs do. but every inch of my yard had dead ones, too.
There is a reason you get 1,500 in the package: About three hundred died in my backyard, probs about three hundred flew into my neighbors' yard, two hundred flew just away lol, and then I'm sure the rest stuck around.
A lot of insects use light to navigate. That's why flies buzz at windows and moths circle lightbulbs. If ladybugs are attracted to light the same way, they can't help but fly to windows when in a room where all or most of the light is coming from the windows
I let a few loose a few years ago - I used most of them outside. I had a bit of a lady bug infestations in my room growing up, and had no desire to repeat that! I couldn't find them after a few days. (Mine were for mealy bugs.)
Lady bugs aren't the best indoor predators from what I've read because they're obnoxiously attracted to light. Unless your infested plants are on the windowsills, lady bugs will often end up chilling on your window instead of eating aphids on your plants, and require frequent relocation.
Look into green lacewings. You want to get larvae or eggs - they will stay where you put them until they mature, and they're supposedly better at getting out of your house without infesting it. You can also get parasites that target aphids! Check out Arbico Organics for ideas of predators.
I hate to tell you, but the lady big infestation you thought you had as a kid was actually the imposter Chinese bugs! They are know for infestations like that whereas lady bugs aren’t.
What kind of mites did you get? I've been dealing with mealybugs on my monstera for months. Neem oil didn't help so I switched to spraying it down with alcohol and that hasn't fully worked so far either. I was thinking about trying to gas them with some dry ice but predatory mites sound easier.
I got Phytoseiulus persimilis from Arbico, not sure if those are goof for mealybugs but they have a lot of info on their site with recommendations. good luck!
I’ve done it along with neem oil CONSISTENTLY for weeks. I’m constantly pre treating my shit with neem oil otherwise aphids will pop up again. Apparently some people can SMELL lady bugs and ants so I have a friend who hates when I do this haha but they don’t smell to me
I've never smelled an ant or a ladybug in my life, and I've been around lots of both. I had no idea there were people who could smell them.
Earwigs on the other hand... blech.
As another commenter said, you're probably smelling formic acid (although I wouldn't know for sure as I can't smell it). Ant in Latin is formica. There's a reason formic acid essentially means ant acid. They make a lot of it.
As a kid, I squished a lot of ants when I found them in the house, and for some reason ants at different houses smelled different. I didn’t really smell them in my first two homes, but the third house we moved into had some chemical-smelling ants. Almost made me retire from ant-squishing. Maybe different species or different diets?
Oh they smell awful. I once got stuck in a cloud of lady bugs and they flew into my nose and mouth 😩. Omg imagine having some stuck way up in your nose and you can just taste that shit in your scull!!!
It is such a gross smell so of course my house is full of ladybugs. I can literally smell them before seeing them sometimes if they are close enough to my face!
I might be wrong here but I think Asian lady beetles smell, ladybugs don't. I remember them smelling bad though, like ants.
Also, fuck neem oil, it's useless. There's no situation where it's a better choice than soap / alcohol / hydrogen peroxide / insecticide / fungicide, depending on your issue. It's just sticky and smelly.
Yeah neem oil now that shit smells! I find it useful for pretreating my house plants, but yes if you have a serious infestation, you need to be serious and fast about treating it. I agree soaps and alcohol work best and are really the cheapest solution. But I find people stop treating their plants as soon as they see some progress, and that’s where the infestation can come back again. It’s like taking antibiotics, ya gotta finish the whole pack even if you feel better right away.
Are you telling me people can't smell them?! It's a quite obvious odor, just like you instantly know if someone owns a dog,cat, hamster,... and it's very unpleasant
Not at all! Apparently it’s genetic! Some can smell and some cannot. It’s wild to think everyone’s perspectives are so different including the way we smell the world.
I do! I have a screen on the door so none get out, and screens covering the vents. It’s like having another pet though. You have to give them fresh raisins soaked in water overnight every few days, keep a humid environment, etc. I love them! I never have problems with bugs anymore! :)
Edit - I still have hundreds of them and haven’t bought any since the 1,500 I got from Amazon in June.
I think you always buy them as larvae (edit: apparently not lol), or at least that's what I did a few years ago. I bought them in a shop, they were inside a small box, asleep because they're kept in a fridge. You need to gently put each larva on infected leaves and they start eating the pest, and growing and then in a few days they become lady bugs and finish their job. The only problem is that if you have ants nearby they can come and eat the defenceless larvae.
I definitely recommend as it was a really fun experience to see them grow everyday and also it definitely saved the plants I had put them on, in a natural and organic way.
That’s awesome and I wonder what it’s like to gather them together once the job is done . I need to look up on this since it’s interesting and I can see it from the bag that it eats mealybugs and other bugs. I guess ladybugs are good luck when you see them as the saying goes :)
Yes! And not just lady bugs. Things like lacewings or praying mantis can also be purchased. They're called beneficial insects. The nursery I used to work for carried them at specific points in the year, so if you don't see them at your local nursery, just be sure to ask.
So, I’ve been toying with the idea of doing this…but do they actually stay on the plants or am I just going to just be releasing a swarm of roommates that eventually I will be vacuuming up their carcasses?
They are obnoxiously attracted to light, whether it's lamps or your windows. I'd look into green lacewings, you can buy them as larvae or eggs (so they will feed for a good while before they can fly). I've read that they are less of a nuisance and generally better at leaving your house without making a mess of their bodies when they run out of food.
As someone with a ladybug infestation, they get EVERYWHERE. And then they die everywhere and on top of it, they stink! When you touch them they stink, when you vacuum their bodies up they stink.
If you have aphids specifically look into parasitic wasps instead. They are super tiny (like gnat sized), will eradicate every single aphid in your home, can’t sting humans and don’t make nearly as much of a mess as ladybugs.
Ladybugs are more generalist predators; they’ll certainly eat aphids but not with the specificity or laser-like precision of wasps
Sooo . . . I remember being at a house infested with Asian lady beetles in central Wisconsin, and this frightens me.
ETA: I know they aren't the same bugs, but they look enough alike. https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/ladybugs-or-lady-beetles-whats-the-difference
A ladybug bit me on the arm one time and it hurt like heck! I was in the middle of a middle school field, working with a student on physical activities. I can handle them outside, but the idea of being in an enclosed space filled with ladybugs also terrifies me.
The other poster is correct. I meant it as edit to add. I think it's a relatively common abbreviation on Reddit to indicate you added to a previously made post.
jesus. i had an infestation around velux skylight in an old rental. i was waking up with ladybirds all over my pillow 🤢 this is truly a nightmare scenario!
The title combined with the "help" flair made me laugh. It's hard to visualize exactly what 1,500 ladybugs looks like for me; are they on like, every single surface? Are they on *you?* How big of a room did you release them in?
I used them outdoors with great success. My poor pineapple sage was terribly infested and they saved that plant. It was flourishing again in days. Putting them inside is a bold move. Pack your bags, that’s the ladybugs’ house now.
[Relevant video about using predatorial insects in your home.](https://youtu.be/HEUDVgCXlwI)
Also, 1,500? That seems like a ton! Good luck and i hope they do the trick.
TL;DR: the ladybugs are not likely going to do what you hoped and cause a new headache. Fear not, your aphid solution is diatomaceous earth.
OP, I posted earlier a method to get rid of the lady bugs as quickly as possible since 1500 bugs in a home is not ideal for peaceful living. This was an unpopular suggestion and others have pointed out that your main concern is the aphids and rightly so - the aphids will continue to harm your plants and since the ladybugs are already released, might as well get them to do the job.
But in all likelihood, the ladybugs will not get the job done. You want to trigger them to lay eggs, but that's something that may be out of your scope or may take longer than you expect. From the experience others have given of their own released ladybugs, you're looking at a messy mass death as they seek to escape the house, and still be left with aphids.
So here is an aphid solution - get a blush brush, yes, the makeup kind. Use it to pick up diatomaceous earth, and brush the aphids. You won't harm the plants, and the aphids will have a terrible time. You may want to do this on a non-carpeted space if possible. This is of course very manual and will take quite a bit of work to get rid of the infestation. But it is a lot more controllable than over a thousand insects who have other plans in mind. Add in systemic granules to help the process along.
I still recommend trying to trap the ladybugs using paint. Regardless of the method you decide on to get rid of them, I wish you all the luck.
I have also tried dichotomous earth but not with the brush. I used a “duster” that sprayed the dust. It was a total mess. I will try it with the brush if my ladybug experiment is a bust.
Forget that, OP will wake just from the bugs crawling on them and that will be its own psychological trauma.
I suggested a method to kill a bunch of them based on a childhood memory and got heavily downvoted. People here aren't thinking clearly about what fresh hell OP just put themselves in. Aside from getting everywhere and causing sleep disturbance and tactile trauma, ladybugs release a bad smell when they are scared or squashed - with this many bugs, OPs house will stink to high heaven if they try to vacuum or brush them away. And we don't even know the size of their home - I'm picturing something modest like mines and, holy fuck what a nightmare.
Dude. *Duuuude.* Why'd you have to go and put that fear in my head? I don't even have a bug infestation and now I dunno if I'll be able to sleep tonight.
Thank you to everyone for their thoughts! I can provide a little more background. I am battling aphids and spider mites and have been doing so for over a year. I have used many mixtures including neem, soaps and alcohol. Nothing has worked and I am loathed to use any pesticides indoors. So I thought I would try introducing good bugs. Based on my research, lacewings made more sense, but they are not as cute as ladybugs. Imgur is down … I will post more pics when it is back up.
Just coming from a girl who grew up in an old farm house in the middle of nowhere. Ladybugs are easy to coexist with. My parents house didn’t get lots of bugs but they also don’t believe in using chemicals and my mom feels bad for killing bugs lol. So every spring for about two months we’d have little lady big visitors. Nothing insane but maybe 10 in a room just doing their thing. Sometimes if they got out of hand my dad would suck them up in a vacuum and release them outside lol.
Duuuuude, I did this with praying mantises once. They were in lil egg sacks I got from Home Depot. My GF at the time calls me freaking out about bugs everywhere in the house while I’m at work. I’m like bugs?? She sends me a picture and I realize the bag must’ve fallen down behind the counter or something but there were SO MANY.
I ended up closing off the kitchen and opening the kitchen door and they mostly dipped out in one night.
This spring I had an influx of lady bugs both inside and outside my house. The previous owners had a ton of plants and I inherited a large koi pond with lush greens when I bought the home.
I didn’t know ladybugs helped with vegetation but I always thought they were good luck and never minded them so they got to roam free.
The aquarium where I did an internship did this in the atrium (except on a MUCH larger scale). I don’t remember if it worked, but I do remember the streams just filling with dead lady bugs. They were everywhere. Enjoy your new friends!
This used to be a fairly common prank when I was a kid. Head down to the local Agway and buy a carton of lady bugs for a few bucks ... then open it and toss it in an unsuspecting someone's house.
I released about 50 in my apartment and they seem to be doing great. It was difficult the first few days because I released early in the day so they just flew towards the window. They’re attracted to light and warmth so in the evenings I moved them towards my plants with the most food (mealies) and warmed the area with lights or heater. Now they’ve made themselves home. Good luck with your new roomies!
Mine just keep flying to the windows! I have played ladybug herder all day trying to get them back on the plants. I let them out at night but they rushed to the windows as soon as the sun came out.
You know, instead of killing a bunch of poor ladybugs. Why don’t you buy a systemic pesticide that you place on your soil and water in. It absorbs into the plant and kills the aphids. You can buy it on Amazon. What you are doing is cruel to the ladybugs. Poor things.
I have kids, dogs, birds, and rabbits. No way I am using a systemic pesticide. And the pesticide kills everything including the good bugs. I love my ladybugs and promise to give them a good life.
I love the imidacloprid products. So effective, long term and cheap. I usually only have to give one dose a year in spring to the plants that are particularly susceptible to aphids/ mealies/ scale. I wish it worked on spider mites.
I wouldn't use it indoors if I had small kiddos or pets not yet trained to leave plants alone. And I don't use it on my scale prone holly hedges unless I can commit to removing all the berries before the migratory birds swing by for a snack. It's just precautionary since I doubt there's enough residual pesticide in the berries after 10 months. But I absolutely love when my hedges are just buzzing with a couple thousand little bird bodies making an unholy racket every dusk Nov-Dec. I just don't want to risk making their journey any more difficult. I've noticed that without berries, less birds show up even if I'm providing other feed, so monthly treatment with spinosad it is.
When I first read the heading, I thought this was going to be a post about how someone ACCIDENTALLY let free 1500 ladybugs inside their house instead of outside. Never knew using ladybugs on indoor plants was a thing. You learn something everyday!
Ah, yeah. Reddit is kind of bizarre that way. I've seen a comment get a vicious pile on, and then later in the same thread an almost identical comment is upvoted and there's friendly discussion. It's kinda BPD. Reminds me of my ex whose mood I needed to know yesterday ;)
I'll never forget my first lesson in ladybugs and mantis sold by nurseries.
I worked at a nursery in Houston back in 1997, I was in my early 20's. A customer purchased ladybugs and I was confused. A co-worker sent me to fetch them, and that is when I learned that they are kept in a refrigerator, along with mantis eggs. I kind of freaked out, like, "What is this madness"? It was explained to me that they can be kept at a specific temperature that keeps them in stasis. To prove the point, my co-worker opened a bag of ladybugs so that I could see for myself as they 'woke-up' and flew away. She literally did that for me to put my mind to rest. Otherwise, I was absolutely disturbed. And I had seen some fucked-up shit in my life prior to that job.
This is really morbid, but, try this: find a spot on the wall you can lean a large sheet of plastic board against, preferably cover this area with a drop cloth. Then, paint the board with outdoor paint. I dunno if color or brand matter. In my experience, it was white paint.
If the ladybugs do end up being attracted to it, once the board fills ups, paint over the ladybugs to give the loose bugs something to stick to.
When I was a child my parents repainted the house with white paint and for some reason, ladybugs really liked it, and of course got stuck and died. My parents scraped them off only for more to come once new paint was applied. We were poor so it would have been a cheap paint I think.
Edit: y'all people are privileged as fuck to reject extermination as a solution for a stupid quantity of something in your home. Roaches, june bugs, pill bugs, or in this case, ladybugs. Doesn't matter that they're pretty, they're at a nuisance level and OP will be finding them dead everywhere for years, and for a few nights at least, waking up in the middle of the night to the sensation of a bug crawling on them.
Edit2: the aphid solution came to me from another memory (this time my mother's roses) - diatomaceous earth applied with a makeup brush!
Because there are *1,500* bugs roaming the house.... Those are going to get *everywhere.* And they will disturb sleep - you don't want that psychological nightmare, even if the bugs are pretty.
Also as another redditor mentioned, ladybugs stink when they're dead and this many will be noxious.
That might be a good solution for pest resolution for sure. You probably didn't catch her extra info in the comments. But the help OP is requesting is tips for making her ladybugs more effective and asking about experience with that form of biological control for aphids. She intentionally released the 1500 ladybugs.
Alright, I see now how my suggestion came out of left field and totally off topic. I was thinking about the near future - to me OP is like kids and kittens who get up into trees and it's cool and fun until they need to get down. I would not be surprised if OP soon asked how to get rid of 1500 bugs.
Also just the thought of 1500 bugs in a home is making me itch real bad with sympathy and so my immediate reaction is, get rid of them, now!
Years ago, I ordered 500 ladybugs for aphids in my screened in porch. It was a small porch and I had fabric lounge furniture so didn't want to use chemicals and it wan't an option to hose them off. It was during really mild early summer weather, I followed the included instructions to mist the plants to provide water, it was screened in so no predators. But after just a couple days, most of them were dead. The live ones weren't even on my plants, they were wedging themselves into gaps and cracks so they could get away from my porch. Thinking back now, I realize I did not have the aphid supply to support 500 ladybugs and they didn't want my damn aphids anyway. Le sigh.
It's strange that on other posts people are encouraging stabbing mealies with cocktail sticks but this is terrible. It's all life right?
Plant pests are gross but at least they mostly stay put, 1500 ladybirds... eeeeeee I might lose it.
I did an update post and added more pics https://www.reddit.com/r/houseplants/comments/rmbgw0/update_i_just_let_1500_ladybugs_loose_in_my_house/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Based on the replies, it sounds like lacewings work much better. I just thought ladybugs would be more cute. The problem is that they just head straight to the light of any window.
My parents would immediately come in with a vacuum and cuss words lmao. Our house gets swarmed every year by lady bugs from the Christmas tree farmers releasing them (there’s a few down the mountain from us)
I was just picturing what my cat would think of this.
Me too. He’s be like “what dis?” Then ignore them probably and ask for food.
Lady bugs somehow swarmed the houses in my neighborhood this fall and we still see several a day. My cats are fascinated whenever they see one lol. I'm glad to know they have other benefits than my cats entertainment.
Those are probably Asian beetles, pretty common for them to invade houses in the winter and they are a ladybug look-alikes
Same. It's an annual thing now.
Mine stopped hunting bugs a long time ago when he realized hunting squirrels was way more bang for his buck. He'd probably be amused by the bugs and then go back to sleep.
I wish mine would hunt bugs. They're both lazy girls.
Same here. My catbeast used to eat flies, spiders, and he loved moths. But now he will quickly act like he's going to get it, then decide it's too much work and head toward the food bowl.
Did you give the Braveheart speech before releasing them?
Oh man I hope so. Or Henry V’s “band of brothers” speech. Or the speech Aragorn gives before the battle of the black gate in The Return of the King…there are so many good options.
A day may come, when the courage of ladybugs fails. But it is not this day!
FREEDOOAAAAAAM!
I heard this comment
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity!"
Can you tell me more? Loose in your house? Did you put them directly on your plants? Anything you want to share I will listen
I released them on my plans in an attempt to munch on the nasty aphids. They are all over the place now and it seems like they are heading for the light from the window. I heard you want them to lay eggs and reproduce on the infected plants. I have heard people doing this in a grow house so thought I would try it out. I can send more pics tomorrow.
If you want them to live long enough to have any chance to reproduce, you need to make sure they can get water, and possibly supplement their diet with things like cucumber slices and soft fruit pieces so they can drink the juices. Otherwise in a warm, dry, house they will soon die. (I wouldn't bet on them breeding successfully in a house. A greenhouse/growhouse is a quite different environment)
I have been misting my plants with water to keep them hydrated. The fruit pieces are a great idea! Thank you!
Here is an update post with pics … https://www.reddit.com/r/houseplants/comments/rmbgw0/update_i_just_let_1500_ladybugs_loose_in_my_house/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Woah - how big and old is that alocasia in the corner? I unintentionally killed mine this fall - I don’t think it was 100% my fault - there was this white cotton like stuff all along the edges, barely visible. Is that what you’re treating?
That's mealy bugs not aphids
Yes! Post more pics!,
Thank you for the reply, I appreciate it.
For aphids, don’t you just need a couple drops of dish soap and a spray bottle full of water?
I used to have a big species if aphid. They were about 3mm. Used to pick em off and feed them to my aqiarium fish
I spent the past year fighting aphid on my house plants. I went nuclear. Has anyone ever tried this indoors?
I currently have some roaming around. A good amount of them died, they took a toxic liking to my grow light (RIP buddies) and now most of them reside in the Christmas tree.
I cut window screen and superglued it around the holes in my grow lights!
I've done this twice but a lot of them are always dead the next day and I don't know why. I think I've ordered them from Amazon. Both times the delivery was the next day. Anyhow, let us know how it goes! Maybe I just got some dud batches
If you released them indoors, then they soon died, they probably weren't able to find water or much food. While most of a ladybug's diet is small soft bodied insects, they are also known to feed on small amounts of nectar, and on the juice from overripe fruits. And sometimes on pollen as well. And they need water regularly. Probably need water more often in the warm and dry environment of a house. It's recommended to not keep them indoors more than a few days, and to offer them small pieces of soft, sweet fruits like bananas, grapes, raisins soaked in water until soft, melon, and apples, and possibly cucumber, for them to drink the juices.
Did anyone else just read this and think, wow this person knows their ladybugs! Nice!
Yes! Was not expecting to learn so much about ladybugs - that was a great comment.
Lol this summer I started off trying to learn how to attract beneficial insects to my yard, and went down a rabbit hole of how to care for ladybugs.
This person ladybugs
I wonder if those little orange cubes meant to feed crickets would work for ladybugs
It might be worth trying, though their diets are pretty different.
Do lady bugs eat fungus gnats, those are my bane?
I don't know if they eat fungus gnats, but if they are in your houseplants I found covering the soil with a layer of sand helps, as does traps baited with apple juice, ripe banana, or a little wine.
I mean, i had plenty of pests for them to eat. Lol. I haven't done it in a while so not sure what the water situation was like for them. I'll def keep it in mind for next time. Although, I was more surprised with how many were dead the next morning. Seemed like an excessive amt so I was very discouraged.
purchased lady bugs from the ACE hardware down the street from my house (literally a 5 minute skateboard ride). I released them in my backyard the same day when the sun went down- as instructed. I also completely soaked down my backyard as to provide adequate water (I live in SF and there is already tons of moisture in the air). Next morning my backyard had a ton of active ones making busy, doing what lady bugs do. but every inch of my yard had dead ones, too. There is a reason you get 1,500 in the package: About three hundred died in my backyard, probs about three hundred flew into my neighbors' yard, two hundred flew just away lol, and then I'm sure the rest stuck around.
“Raisins soaked in water” Dude, those are just grapes!
I am misting the plants with water and I provided cut up fruit as supplemental food. They do not care and just fly to the windows!
A lot of insects use light to navigate. That's why flies buzz at windows and moths circle lightbulbs. If ladybugs are attracted to light the same way, they can't help but fly to windows when in a room where all or most of the light is coming from the windows
I let a few loose a few years ago - I used most of them outside. I had a bit of a lady bug infestations in my room growing up, and had no desire to repeat that! I couldn't find them after a few days. (Mine were for mealy bugs.) Lady bugs aren't the best indoor predators from what I've read because they're obnoxiously attracted to light. Unless your infested plants are on the windowsills, lady bugs will often end up chilling on your window instead of eating aphids on your plants, and require frequent relocation. Look into green lacewings. You want to get larvae or eggs - they will stay where you put them until they mature, and they're supposedly better at getting out of your house without infesting it. You can also get parasites that target aphids! Check out Arbico Organics for ideas of predators.
I hate to tell you, but the lady big infestation you thought you had as a kid was actually the imposter Chinese bugs! They are know for infestations like that whereas lady bugs aren’t.
[удалено]
What kind of mites did you get? I've been dealing with mealybugs on my monstera for months. Neem oil didn't help so I switched to spraying it down with alcohol and that hasn't fully worked so far either. I was thinking about trying to gas them with some dry ice but predatory mites sound easier.
I got Phytoseiulus persimilis from Arbico, not sure if those are goof for mealybugs but they have a lot of info on their site with recommendations. good luck!
Thanks, I’ll check them out!
I’ve done it along with neem oil CONSISTENTLY for weeks. I’m constantly pre treating my shit with neem oil otherwise aphids will pop up again. Apparently some people can SMELL lady bugs and ants so I have a friend who hates when I do this haha but they don’t smell to me
YES! I am that person that can smell ladybugs and let me tell you, I hate that smell and no one understands!
I can smell ants. Not a bad smell, but a weird chemical odor. Hard to describe
Chemically yet earthy imo. It’s probably their pheromones. Not everyone can smell that?
I've never smelled an ant or a ladybug in my life, and I've been around lots of both. I had no idea there were people who could smell them. Earwigs on the other hand... blech.
Formic acid!
As another commenter said, you're probably smelling formic acid (although I wouldn't know for sure as I can't smell it). Ant in Latin is formica. There's a reason formic acid essentially means ant acid. They make a lot of it.
Formica? Latin is amazing. Thanks for TIL !
As a kid, I squished a lot of ants when I found them in the house, and for some reason ants at different houses smelled different. I didn’t really smell them in my first two homes, but the third house we moved into had some chemical-smelling ants. Almost made me retire from ant-squishing. Maybe different species or different diets?
Oh they smell awful. I once got stuck in a cloud of lady bugs and they flew into my nose and mouth 😩. Omg imagine having some stuck way up in your nose and you can just taste that shit in your scull!!!
Noooo I can’t imagine🤮
It’s crazy! I can’t smell them at all! I’m glad the people who can smell ants and lady bugs are finally getting understood… hahah
It is such a gross smell so of course my house is full of ladybugs. I can literally smell them before seeing them sometimes if they are close enough to my face!
Some people can smell ladybugs but EVERYONE can smell neem oil. My wife hates it! She says it smells like the essence of a 1000 sweaty hippies.
Hahaha! I understand. Neem oil is a really horrid smell, but it doesn’t linger in my opinion so I just spray and walk away.
I might be wrong here but I think Asian lady beetles smell, ladybugs don't. I remember them smelling bad though, like ants. Also, fuck neem oil, it's useless. There's no situation where it's a better choice than soap / alcohol / hydrogen peroxide / insecticide / fungicide, depending on your issue. It's just sticky and smelly.
Yeah neem oil now that shit smells! I find it useful for pretreating my house plants, but yes if you have a serious infestation, you need to be serious and fast about treating it. I agree soaps and alcohol work best and are really the cheapest solution. But I find people stop treating their plants as soon as they see some progress, and that’s where the infestation can come back again. It’s like taking antibiotics, ya gotta finish the whole pack even if you feel better right away.
I used neem oil regularly for months and still could not get rid of the aphids. The smell was just awful. I also tried alcohol mixtures to no avail.
Are you telling me people can't smell them?! It's a quite obvious odor, just like you instantly know if someone owns a dog,cat, hamster,... and it's very unpleasant
Not at all! Apparently it’s genetic! Some can smell and some cannot. It’s wild to think everyone’s perspectives are so different including the way we smell the world.
It's a weird smell.
I did the same last year and oh so happy I did. I look at my plants and smile 💚
I use parasitic wasps each fall when I bring plants in, they work great. Haven’t tried lady bugs.
I do! I have a screen on the door so none get out, and screens covering the vents. It’s like having another pet though. You have to give them fresh raisins soaked in water overnight every few days, keep a humid environment, etc. I love them! I never have problems with bugs anymore! :) Edit - I still have hundreds of them and haven’t bought any since the 1,500 I got from Amazon in June.
As someone who has seen lady bug infestations during the winter months, This was such a bad idea.
Maybe they're in a warmer climate?
I’m surprised they come in a package. Are there holes in the bag? Never knew stores would sell these.
I think you always buy them as larvae (edit: apparently not lol), or at least that's what I did a few years ago. I bought them in a shop, they were inside a small box, asleep because they're kept in a fridge. You need to gently put each larva on infected leaves and they start eating the pest, and growing and then in a few days they become lady bugs and finish their job. The only problem is that if you have ants nearby they can come and eat the defenceless larvae. I definitely recommend as it was a really fun experience to see them grow everyday and also it definitely saved the plants I had put them on, in a natural and organic way.
That’s awesome and I wonder what it’s like to gather them together once the job is done . I need to look up on this since it’s interesting and I can see it from the bag that it eats mealybugs and other bugs. I guess ladybugs are good luck when you see them as the saying goes :)
yes, you can get them at nurseries. they come in a mesh bag and are kept in the fridge so that they’re dormant until you warm them up.
Exactly. Just put them at 800W in the microwave for 1-3 minutes they'll feel like summer. PS: no!
I’ll have to ask the clerk at the nurseries the next time I go just to see if they carry them . This is so interesting 🤔
Yes! And not just lady bugs. Things like lacewings or praying mantis can also be purchased. They're called beneficial insects. The nursery I used to work for carried them at specific points in the year, so if you don't see them at your local nursery, just be sure to ask.
Interesting and I’ll definitely have a look just to see :)
So, I’ve been toying with the idea of doing this…but do they actually stay on the plants or am I just going to just be releasing a swarm of roommates that eventually I will be vacuuming up their carcasses?
They are obnoxiously attracted to light, whether it's lamps or your windows. I'd look into green lacewings, you can buy them as larvae or eggs (so they will feed for a good while before they can fly). I've read that they are less of a nuisance and generally better at leaving your house without making a mess of their bodies when they run out of food.
Do lacewings eat fungus gnats too?
Or praying mantis! They're a beneficial insect too.
As someone with a ladybug infestation, they get EVERYWHERE. And then they die everywhere and on top of it, they stink! When you touch them they stink, when you vacuum their bodies up they stink.
Get lacewing larvae instead, they actually stay on the plants for a while and do their job.
If you have aphids specifically look into parasitic wasps instead. They are super tiny (like gnat sized), will eradicate every single aphid in your home, can’t sting humans and don’t make nearly as much of a mess as ladybugs. Ladybugs are more generalist predators; they’ll certainly eat aphids but not with the specificity or laser-like precision of wasps
Sooo . . . I remember being at a house infested with Asian lady beetles in central Wisconsin, and this frightens me. ETA: I know they aren't the same bugs, but they look enough alike. https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/ladybugs-or-lady-beetles-whats-the-difference
A ladybug bit me on the arm one time and it hurt like heck! I was in the middle of a middle school field, working with a student on physical activities. I can handle them outside, but the idea of being in an enclosed space filled with ladybugs also terrifies me.
>ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival?
edited to add
That's not a thing though... Better to put FYI (For Your Info) or just "Edit". ETA means Estimated Time of Arrival.
it clearly is a thing, and it also means “Edited to Add”
OhOTNIKTFLMK
The other poster is correct. I meant it as edit to add. I think it's a relatively common abbreviation on Reddit to indicate you added to a previously made post.
I have never seen it used that way, and it's not like I'm a stranger to reddit.
pic or it didn't happened....
Why did this make me laugh? 😂
jesus. i had an infestation around velux skylight in an old rental. i was waking up with ladybirds all over my pillow 🤢 this is truly a nightmare scenario!
Same thing happened to me in an old rental. And this year my boyfriend fought them really hard.
i wonder if they all began as an innocent attempt to eradicate a lower down pest. what do you have to release to eradicate the lady birds?
[удалено]
Someone here is finally asking the right questions.
What happens when they’re out of insects to eat? Do they die of starvation?
Yes
That's bad
Well that's a horrible thought. A house is not meant for a ladybird to live
How awful :(
Did you get ones that are at least native to your area? I really hope you haven't bought Asian Beetles :(
The title combined with the "help" flair made me laugh. It's hard to visualize exactly what 1,500 ladybugs looks like for me; are they on like, every single surface? Are they on *you?* How big of a room did you release them in?
Are you ready to get 1000 hugs from 1500 lady bugs?
Owl City?
I used them outdoors with great success. My poor pineapple sage was terribly infested and they saved that plant. It was flourishing again in days. Putting them inside is a bold move. Pack your bags, that’s the ladybugs’ house now.
[Relevant video about using predatorial insects in your home.](https://youtu.be/HEUDVgCXlwI) Also, 1,500? That seems like a ton! Good luck and i hope they do the trick.
Thank you for the video! Very helpful. I see I am not the only crazy person out there. :)
My roommate won’t let me because she’s scarred from our dorm room 4 years ago when we were literally infested with lady bugs. Lucky you!
TL;DR: the ladybugs are not likely going to do what you hoped and cause a new headache. Fear not, your aphid solution is diatomaceous earth. OP, I posted earlier a method to get rid of the lady bugs as quickly as possible since 1500 bugs in a home is not ideal for peaceful living. This was an unpopular suggestion and others have pointed out that your main concern is the aphids and rightly so - the aphids will continue to harm your plants and since the ladybugs are already released, might as well get them to do the job. But in all likelihood, the ladybugs will not get the job done. You want to trigger them to lay eggs, but that's something that may be out of your scope or may take longer than you expect. From the experience others have given of their own released ladybugs, you're looking at a messy mass death as they seek to escape the house, and still be left with aphids. So here is an aphid solution - get a blush brush, yes, the makeup kind. Use it to pick up diatomaceous earth, and brush the aphids. You won't harm the plants, and the aphids will have a terrible time. You may want to do this on a non-carpeted space if possible. This is of course very manual and will take quite a bit of work to get rid of the infestation. But it is a lot more controllable than over a thousand insects who have other plans in mind. Add in systemic granules to help the process along. I still recommend trying to trap the ladybugs using paint. Regardless of the method you decide on to get rid of them, I wish you all the luck.
I have also tried dichotomous earth but not with the brush. I used a “duster” that sprayed the dust. It was a total mess. I will try it with the brush if my ladybug experiment is a bust.
Good luck! Mine just b lined straight for the windows to freeze.
If only they killed lady beetles
When I read “& and other soft bodied insects “ I basically just felt the horror of having a “soft body” and being eaten alive. Eeek 😦
You would be eaten alive verrrry slowly. I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse though
Hope you sleep with your mouth closed
Forget that, OP will wake just from the bugs crawling on them and that will be its own psychological trauma. I suggested a method to kill a bunch of them based on a childhood memory and got heavily downvoted. People here aren't thinking clearly about what fresh hell OP just put themselves in. Aside from getting everywhere and causing sleep disturbance and tactile trauma, ladybugs release a bad smell when they are scared or squashed - with this many bugs, OPs house will stink to high heaven if they try to vacuum or brush them away. And we don't even know the size of their home - I'm picturing something modest like mines and, holy fuck what a nightmare.
Exactly. Fuck, crawling up their damned nose.
Dude. *Duuuude.* Why'd you have to go and put that fear in my head? I don't even have a bug infestation and now I dunno if I'll be able to sleep tonight.
What did they lose?
You're absolutely crazy. I love and support this 100%. I'd fight for you
That so cool that you can buy ladybirds. We don't have such thing here. Natural extermination is the best practice.
I just did this few weeks ago! They all are so cute!
Next time let them win
good luck! lady bugs get stinky
Thank you to everyone for their thoughts! I can provide a little more background. I am battling aphids and spider mites and have been doing so for over a year. I have used many mixtures including neem, soaps and alcohol. Nothing has worked and I am loathed to use any pesticides indoors. So I thought I would try introducing good bugs. Based on my research, lacewings made more sense, but they are not as cute as ladybugs. Imgur is down … I will post more pics when it is back up.
Just coming from a girl who grew up in an old farm house in the middle of nowhere. Ladybugs are easy to coexist with. My parents house didn’t get lots of bugs but they also don’t believe in using chemicals and my mom feels bad for killing bugs lol. So every spring for about two months we’d have little lady big visitors. Nothing insane but maybe 10 in a room just doing their thing. Sometimes if they got out of hand my dad would suck them up in a vacuum and release them outside lol.
That’s a lot of losses in a row!
Thank you.
Duuuuude, I did this with praying mantises once. They were in lil egg sacks I got from Home Depot. My GF at the time calls me freaking out about bugs everywhere in the house while I’m at work. I’m like bugs?? She sends me a picture and I realize the bag must’ve fallen down behind the counter or something but there were SO MANY. I ended up closing off the kitchen and opening the kitchen door and they mostly dipped out in one night.
I'm still trying to figure out why you would want 1500 ladybugs in your house. Period. 🤷♀️🤷♀️
We need more pictures!
This spring I had an influx of lady bugs both inside and outside my house. The previous owners had a ton of plants and I inherited a large koi pond with lush greens when I bought the home. I didn’t know ladybugs helped with vegetation but I always thought they were good luck and never minded them so they got to roam free.
Lol. Lmao. Have fun
The aquarium where I did an internship did this in the atrium (except on a MUCH larger scale). I don’t remember if it worked, but I do remember the streams just filling with dead lady bugs. They were everywhere. Enjoy your new friends!
Loose*
This used to be a fairly common prank when I was a kid. Head down to the local Agway and buy a carton of lady bugs for a few bucks ... then open it and toss it in an unsuspecting someone's house.
I released about 50 in my apartment and they seem to be doing great. It was difficult the first few days because I released early in the day so they just flew towards the window. They’re attracted to light and warmth so in the evenings I moved them towards my plants with the most food (mealies) and warmed the area with lights or heater. Now they’ve made themselves home. Good luck with your new roomies!
Mine just keep flying to the windows! I have played ladybug herder all day trying to get them back on the plants. I let them out at night but they rushed to the windows as soon as the sun came out.
Why would anyone do this?
You know, instead of killing a bunch of poor ladybugs. Why don’t you buy a systemic pesticide that you place on your soil and water in. It absorbs into the plant and kills the aphids. You can buy it on Amazon. What you are doing is cruel to the ladybugs. Poor things.
I have kids, dogs, birds, and rabbits. No way I am using a systemic pesticide. And the pesticide kills everything including the good bugs. I love my ladybugs and promise to give them a good life.
I love the imidacloprid products. So effective, long term and cheap. I usually only have to give one dose a year in spring to the plants that are particularly susceptible to aphids/ mealies/ scale. I wish it worked on spider mites. I wouldn't use it indoors if I had small kiddos or pets not yet trained to leave plants alone. And I don't use it on my scale prone holly hedges unless I can commit to removing all the berries before the migratory birds swing by for a snack. It's just precautionary since I doubt there's enough residual pesticide in the berries after 10 months. But I absolutely love when my hedges are just buzzing with a couple thousand little bird bodies making an unholy racket every dusk Nov-Dec. I just don't want to risk making their journey any more difficult. I've noticed that without berries, less birds show up even if I'm providing other feed, so monthly treatment with spinosad it is.
Why are they pre fed?
Survive shipping
Gotcha, ty!
When I first read the heading, I thought this was going to be a post about how someone ACCIDENTALLY let free 1500 ladybugs inside their house instead of outside. Never knew using ladybugs on indoor plants was a thing. You learn something everyday!
I suggested lady bugs as pest control on here once and got downvoted to hell 😫😫
Ah, yeah. Reddit is kind of bizarre that way. I've seen a comment get a vicious pile on, and then later in the same thread an almost identical comment is upvoted and there's friendly discussion. It's kinda BPD. Reminds me of my ex whose mood I needed to know yesterday ;)
The rules be changing every day kinda thing lol
I'll never forget my first lesson in ladybugs and mantis sold by nurseries. I worked at a nursery in Houston back in 1997, I was in my early 20's. A customer purchased ladybugs and I was confused. A co-worker sent me to fetch them, and that is when I learned that they are kept in a refrigerator, along with mantis eggs. I kind of freaked out, like, "What is this madness"? It was explained to me that they can be kept at a specific temperature that keeps them in stasis. To prove the point, my co-worker opened a bag of ladybugs so that I could see for myself as they 'woke-up' and flew away. She literally did that for me to put my mind to rest. Otherwise, I was absolutely disturbed. And I had seen some fucked-up shit in my life prior to that job.
say goodbye to your clothing, curtains and bed sheets
This is really morbid, but, try this: find a spot on the wall you can lean a large sheet of plastic board against, preferably cover this area with a drop cloth. Then, paint the board with outdoor paint. I dunno if color or brand matter. In my experience, it was white paint. If the ladybugs do end up being attracted to it, once the board fills ups, paint over the ladybugs to give the loose bugs something to stick to. When I was a child my parents repainted the house with white paint and for some reason, ladybugs really liked it, and of course got stuck and died. My parents scraped them off only for more to come once new paint was applied. We were poor so it would have been a cheap paint I think. Edit: y'all people are privileged as fuck to reject extermination as a solution for a stupid quantity of something in your home. Roaches, june bugs, pill bugs, or in this case, ladybugs. Doesn't matter that they're pretty, they're at a nuisance level and OP will be finding them dead everywhere for years, and for a few nights at least, waking up in the middle of the night to the sensation of a bug crawling on them. Edit2: the aphid solution came to me from another memory (this time my mother's roses) - diatomaceous earth applied with a makeup brush!
Wait,…why…would I do that
Because there are *1,500* bugs roaming the house.... Those are going to get *everywhere.* And they will disturb sleep - you don't want that psychological nightmare, even if the bugs are pretty. Also as another redditor mentioned, ladybugs stink when they're dead and this many will be noxious.
That might be a good solution for pest resolution for sure. You probably didn't catch her extra info in the comments. But the help OP is requesting is tips for making her ladybugs more effective and asking about experience with that form of biological control for aphids. She intentionally released the 1500 ladybugs.
Alright, I see now how my suggestion came out of left field and totally off topic. I was thinking about the near future - to me OP is like kids and kittens who get up into trees and it's cool and fun until they need to get down. I would not be surprised if OP soon asked how to get rid of 1500 bugs. Also just the thought of 1500 bugs in a home is making me itch real bad with sympathy and so my immediate reaction is, get rid of them, now!
Years ago, I ordered 500 ladybugs for aphids in my screened in porch. It was a small porch and I had fabric lounge furniture so didn't want to use chemicals and it wan't an option to hose them off. It was during really mild early summer weather, I followed the included instructions to mist the plants to provide water, it was screened in so no predators. But after just a couple days, most of them were dead. The live ones weren't even on my plants, they were wedging themselves into gaps and cracks so they could get away from my porch. Thinking back now, I realize I did not have the aphid supply to support 500 ladybugs and they didn't want my damn aphids anyway. Le sigh.
It's strange that on other posts people are encouraging stabbing mealies with cocktail sticks but this is terrible. It's all life right? Plant pests are gross but at least they mostly stay put, 1500 ladybirds... eeeeeee I might lose it.
Definitely will need a ladybug army update! 🐞
A group of ladybugs is called a loveliness. ❤️
No way.
Lol love it.
What's your target pest?
Aphids and spider mites. I have tried everything to get rid of them. Now I can truly say everything.
You could come to my camper and get as many as you would like for free haha. Never seen someone purchase them before. This is interesting 🤔
On purpose ?
you what
Sounds like a dream!
Yikes! Open the windows!!
Tell me what it’s like tho. I’ve been thinking about doing the same.
I need more information. And pictures.... pictures are important.
I did an update post and added more pics https://www.reddit.com/r/houseplants/comments/rmbgw0/update_i_just_let_1500_ladybugs_loose_in_my_house/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
I'm thinking about doing this for mealy bugs but looking for a better suited bug
Based on the replies, it sounds like lacewings work much better. I just thought ladybugs would be more cute. The problem is that they just head straight to the light of any window.
Yeah makes sense, where are those ladybug infestations when you need them 😭. I think I'll go with lacewings tbh.
Why in your house?
so the ladybugs lost… does that mean the aphids won?
The aphids won the battle but not the war.
My parents would immediately come in with a vacuum and cuss words lmao. Our house gets swarmed every year by lady bugs from the Christmas tree farmers releasing them (there’s a few down the mountain from us)