Lady bug invasion! What to do? ...

[Sage Hermit]

Cry your self to sleep. Well, that's what I did. Went to do some outdoor maintenance on my tomato crop and was thoroughly bitten and pee peed on by hundreds or little swarming/ looking for shelter lady bugs.

( massive exaggeration; I was bitten and secreted on enough to T me off)

Please help me better understand this annual clustering of these bugs and how to treat them. When they started bitting me I started crushing their bodies and that proved to be pointless as they all ganged up and forced me to go on a killing rampage. Once I calmed down and moved on I wondered what they were doing and if its at all beneficial. They are lady bugs right or are they not? That smell doesn't bother me but I need to know more.

What I understand is they eat aphids and are natural pest control but what about when they go into your old barns? do they dammage the structures or are they just hybernating there?

Thank you very much

[Kisal]

Any ladybug is capable of biting, but from what I've read, it's the Asian species of ladybug that is most prone to do so. They are also the ones that congregate and enter homes and outbuildings to hibernate. Here is a link to an Ohio State article about them (pdf format):

https://www.ipm.osu.edu/lady/Am%20Ent%20Kovach-2.pdf

The main page ... https://www.ipm.osu.edu/lady/lady.htm ... contains instructions for building a trap for them, but you can also buy traps to catch the critters.

[Sage Hermit]

That guy's hand was messed up. I will have to bring them all to justice.

[Sage Hermit]

[url=https://www.ipm.osu.edu/lady/L.T.instr.htm]Yes[/url]

Lol vacuum!!!!!

[Toil]

assassin bugs will bite this time of year too, just because.