We've been swarmed! - Montana Owners Club

jrgwdenner · 10-19-2006, 03:44 AM

It was a beautiful day in Indiana yesterday, almost 70 degrees after a cool spell. Every ladybug in Indiana decided that they would enjoy the sunshine and decided to visit our camping site. The LR slide was covered, we had to remove ladybugs from ourselves before we could enter the rig. We continue to vacuum bugs from inside the rig where they enter through the vents and the air conditioner. At least now they are hibernating in the cold and out of sight.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 10-19-2006, 04:04 AM

Judy,

Doubt those are REAL ladybugs, but more likely their Oriental counterpart, which by the way, BITE! They are orange in body color, not red. They are a pain as you have discovered, are there any soy bean fields near you?? They live there all summer, and then when the crops are harvested, out they come. I have heard that they can smell nasty too, if you smash them. They love "sunning", and we have seen thousands of them cover the sunny side of Tana. What a pain.

jrgwdenner · 10-19-2006, 04:18 AM

They are the orange variety, Carol. There weren't any fields right near the campground which was set down in a wooded valley, but they may have come from the field a mile away. They were certainly enjoying the day.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 10-19-2006, 04:29 AM

HAHA, Judy

Their enjoyment, our misery!

Keep cleaning, you may be finding them for quite a while, I believe we even toted a few all the way to the RGV, they woke up when they felt the warm air!

They cover our house here too, they manage to get into the house, some via open doors for sure, but there are some, errrr, MANY, that I find in one of the upstairs bathrooms, year after year, gotta be an entrance there somewhere we have not located!

Got any elder bugs (not sure that is spelled correctly). From Box Elder trees??? Love them too (NOT!!!)

Joyce H · 10-19-2006, 04:48 AM

Just remember if you vacumn these little critters up to empty your vacumn cleaner immediately. As Carol said they can really smell bad and this smell is also evident if you let them die in your vacumn or dust buster....learned the hard way. After capturing the bugs failed to empty vacumn and next time I turned on the vacumn YUKKKKK.... Now I use a dust buster which is much easier to empty after each use.

jrgwdenner · 10-19-2006, 05:17 AM

Glen vacuumed the first batch, put the vacuum away without emptying it and was surprised to find a healthy bunch of bugs in the filter. We're using a handheld Shark vacuum which reaches the ceiling nicely.

Carol, we saw a few box elder bugs which brought back lots of memories from growing up in Illinois. Fortunately they were all outside.

Fordzilla · 10-19-2006, 05:39 AM

We have them here in Iowa as well, Judy. Around here they are called Asian Beetles. I guess they were brought in from Asia to help kill another bug that was hard on plants (maybe soybeans). Now they have done what they were brought over here for send them back across the ocean. Good luck getting rid of them.

mfoss · 10-19-2006, 09:11 AM

Go get some Osage oranges (also known as hedge apples) and set them around the camper. Probably some in the basement area. Box elder bugs and spiders sure don't like them! I buy some every fall and put on my basement window ledges and it's just amazing the difference they make. They just don't come in. I think I've captured about 20 live ones so far and that's it. On a warmish day the south side of the house is teeming with them.......ick!

adelmoll · 10-19-2006, 12:06 PM

Judy, you could have been a real friend if you had taken them with you but no, you had to leave a whole bunch behind for us. LOL. The funny thing is that when we left Minnesota a couple of weeks ago the lady bugs and box elder were driving us nots there. Seems they have followed us the whole way

Helen

jrgwdenner · 10-19-2006, 12:52 PM

Helen, now I know how they got to Indiana! They were hiding in your rig!

mfoss, that's an interesting fact about the hedge apples. I believe that the Creator has a purpose for everything but never knew a good use for hedge apples. Now I know.

So far it seems like we've got them under control but then maybe the Asian beetles have gone to sleep for the night.

bsmeaton · 10-19-2006, 02:09 PM

Dryer sheets

LonnieB · 10-19-2006, 04:17 PM

LOL, might as well try it Brad, they seem to work for mosquitos, and other flying pests. mfoss, where do you find hedge apples?

jrgwdenner · 10-20-2006, 02:20 AM

Lonnie, hedge apples grow wild along the fenceline in the Midwest. They were present all over the Midwest when I was growing up but now that the farms don't have animals, they don't have fences. The 'apples' are about the size of a grapefruit, green, and more wrinkles. I'm sure they're still growing in some areas. They were generally considered an undesirable bush, I think. Now they have a purpose.

BillE · 10-20-2006, 02:26 AM

Don't want to make light of the 'pain in the toosh' that Asian bettles can be, they do bite, they hurt and they stink.

That being said...we had friends here from Seattle a few weeks ago. When they got home I get an e-mail thanking us for all the 'lady bugs' they are STLL sucking up out of their trailer.

Bill

Wrenchtraveller · 10-20-2006, 02:27 AM

On the lower mainland in BC, the greenhouse industry is booming and they use lady bugs to eat the aphids on the plants they grow. No pestisides but it has increased the number of these little critters and we see a few of them over on Vancounver Island now. Some escape.

LonnieB · 10-20-2006, 02:53 AM

jrgwdenner, I've seen something like you describe around FT. Worth, they were on trees rather than bushes though. I wonder if it is the same, and the bush just got BIGGER as things supposedly are in Texas.

On Edit - Thank you for the information, I've been wondreing for awhile now what they are.

jrgwdenner · 10-20-2006, 02:56 AM

Anything is possible, Lonnie. With all that warmth and sunshine, they'd probably grow into trees.

My mother used to slice the apples and dry the slices in the oven, then use them like dried flowers.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 10-20-2006, 03:18 AM

Did not know what they were either, those apples! Was gonna ask, can I buy them in the grocery store, HA HA HA, guess not!

True ladybugs are terrific little creatures, pretty RED and very useful in bug control. These little Asian creatures apparently do work on the soy fields, but, yikes, no friend after the crops have been harvested. I am always cleaning them up, in the house and in Tana. Find little DOA's in the smallest little spots and even after I think I got it clean, there are more. SIGH

jrgwdenner · 10-20-2006, 04:38 AM

Well, it sounds like we won't be traveling alone for quite some time. At least we're down to two visible visitors as I type.

mfoss · 10-20-2006, 05:15 AM

I buy them (hedge apples) at the grocery store! I think they may still be available--see them mostly in August and September. Up here (ND) I paid $.89 each. They shrink and get ugly looking but it doesn't alter their effectiveness. I never throw out any! On some window sills I have 4----just add a new one each year. I set it on a small piece of aluminum foil. Marilyn

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