Market Farming

["Pat Jackowsky" <3littlepigsmkt AT bellsouth.net>]

 We have been overtaken this year by them, even now and we've had a good bit
of very cold weather. Not as many as summer and they are moving slower but
still lots of them around.  I didn't complain about them because we really
need them here but I really didn't like sharing my afternoon cup of coffee
with them. :)

Pat
 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: Paul Range
Date: 01/10/05 07:06:29
To: Market Farming
Subject: [Market-farming] lady bugs
 
There are a lot of them here but are welcome in my greenhouse. Paul Range
Asian Lady Bugs Becoming Nuisance in Texas 
 
Sun Jan 9,11:29 AM ET Science - AP
 
 
WACO, Texas - Swarms of Asian lady bugs, introduced in this country to
control pests, have themselves become a nuisance on golf courses and in
homes and gardens around Texas. 
 
The insects are beneficial in the summer, but in the winter they infest
houses — unlike native lady bugs, which prefer to stay outdoors. 
Agriculture experts say the Asian bugs deposit waste and shed skins that
become allergens inside homes. They can also leave blood stains on curtains
and clothes. 
"You hate to say lady bugs are terrible, but they've been terrible for about
60 days now," said McLennan County gardener Doug Quicksall. "They were
swarming all around us like houseflies ... and the little rascals stink too.
They have a distinct odor about them." 
Quicksall has been using a vacuum to get rid of the lady bugs in his house. 
Another avid gardener, Ila Jean Carothers, said she has clumps of them in
her husband's workshop and they seem to gather around golf courses. 
"They land all over you while you're playing. I've never seen them like this
before," she said. 
Carothers has been using paper to scoop up and get rid of the insects. 
The United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service
released thousands of the bugs around the country in the late 1970s and
1980s as a defense against tree aphids. 
They showed up in Texas in 1992 but had not been causing problems until
lately. 
"A lot of people still don't know what they are and why they are a pest,"
said Michael Merchant, an entomologist at the Texas A&M Cooperative
Extension Center in Dallas. 
"They are nothing to panic about," said Merchant, "but if they get in your
house, it's best not to spray with insecticides. They'll just pile up in
your walls and smell." 
 


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