Maybe they've arrived in time.

I've always wondered how the lady bugs find the aphids. Somehow, though, they do it.

Same here too, Carol and Dawn! Lady bugs in droves, like the calvary! I would even sacrifice some of my stuff just to see them multiply and enjoy their own harvest. I'm SO glad I haven't used anything that would kill them off while trying to attack the bad guys.

By the way, speaking of bad guy bugs, offhand, what are those things that look like red ants with creepy spider like legs that seem to congregate in groups? Not sure, but I think they've been sucking some of my cantaloupe and making hole like indentations on my Old Time Tennessess's. I sprayed with Neem and Spinosad both last night for powdery mildew on those melons, and some damage I noticed where those weird bugs were congregating.

Barbara

Send some my way. I've had tons of aphids this year and the ladybugs are having trouble finding them. I've seen three I think. Someone forgot to invite them to the party.

Dale

Barbara, The red bugs could be the nymphs of leaf-footed bugs. I'll link a photo of them below and you can see if yours resemble the photo. They usually show up in my garden in late July or early August and are a real pain in the neck. If they are leaf-footed bugs, they behave much like stink bugs in terms of the damage they do.

Dale, It is an odd lady bug year. I normally have them all over the place and haven't seen many since about early July. I guess we had a bug shortage and they had to move on to find something to eat somewhere else. I hope they find their way back here....I have lots of yummy spider mites for them to eat.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful:

Could these late arrivals be the Asian beetle lady bug. My sis in Iowa has them so bad they cover the siding on her house...they also can get in.

Here is a link about them. I have had a few here too, but so far this year, haven't seen any.

glenda

Here is a link that might be useful: Asian Beetles

Glenda, come autumn ladybugs start looking for places to hibernate for the winter. Human homes are warm and therefore attract them. The problem with ladybugs trying to spend the winter in our homes though is that most of our homes do not maintain sufficient humidity in winter for ladybugs to survive. If they are getting into your sis' house, other than by flying in whenever the doors are opened, chances are she has some cracks or gaps around doors or windows or siding that she should seal. If the ladybugs can get in so can cold air.

One way to discourage them from coming into your home and yet keep them around for the winter so they are already present come next spring is to either make or puchase a ladybug house. I'm attaching a link at the bottom to some simple instructions for building your own ladybug house. Also, if you do a web search for ladybug houses you'll find plenty of places that sell them already made.

If you can successfully install a ladybug house and attract them to it then when spring comes you'll already have them in your garden!

Debra

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Build a Ladybug House

Debra,

I have a lady bug house and the lady bugs won't use it. They do try to overwinter in our barn-style garage, our screened-in back porch (we cover the screening with greenhouse plastic in winter to turn it into more of a sunporch) and our laundry room (I vaccuum them up and relocate them back outside).

I have found that lady bugs follow the food. They'll be in my garden as long as there are bugs to be found, but once they eat everything they like to eat, they move on. You can't keep them around in a mostly bug-free garden because that is un-natural. They have to follow their food supply.

Some years we have enough pest-type bugs around in the pastures to keep some of the lady bugs around, but that has not proven to be true this year. So, when late-season pests, like spider mites, showed up, I didn't have lady bugs around to eat them. I guarantee you, though, that before the first frost they'll return to overwinter in their usual places. I'll have to have a little chat with them about why they abandoned our garden this summer and didn't come back in time to help with the mites.

I could have bought and released more, but those usually are the Asian lady beetles and they do like to come inside the house and are a colossal nuisance because of that.

I love the lady bugs and often have them all over the place, but this was apparently a bad lady bug year here.

Dawn

Is the mildew actually mold? Do you see little white aphids flying or floating? I have that and it is called (basically) "Asian Woolly hackberry aphids". To be precise, mine are Woolly sugar maple aphids. It is a terrible problem, and I wonder if others have it. I intend to post about it in awhile, but I thought I would ask you if that is what you have.

The white aphids fly around the trees. Their soot lands on leaves and makes them moldy. The droves of ladybugs follow, but they are yellow. First you see the early stages of them before they turn yellow. And guess what???? If all of that is not bad enough, the ants have arrived to protect the aphids.

I will write more later, but I saw your post and thought I would ask about yours.

Sammy