How to Rid Your Home of Asian Ladybug Beetles

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Many invasive plants were brought to the United States intentionally for lots of reasons. But as far as I can tell, only one invasive insect was purposely released by the thousands – the Asian ladybug beetle. It out-eats our native ladybugs and does a great job at controlling aphids and scale. Sadly, instead of acting like our native ladybugs and overwintering in protected spots under leaves and such, these creatures prefer to come inside usually on the part of the house that gets afternoon sun. Use a vacuum to capture them; if you put a knee-high stocking inside the vacuum tube, you can tie that off and throw them away – otherwise, they just walk right back out. Don’t pick them up – they emit a nasty smelly and staining yellow fluid.