Suddenly they are everywhere: ladybugs are increasingly found at the house and in the garden on autumn days. We reveal what this means and how you can help the little lucky charms.
In large swarms, the ladybugs sit on house walls and on window sills in the autumn sun. Their appearance as a group unsettles many homeowners and garden owners, some suspect a kind of plague, others see it as a good omen.
The reality is more unspectacular: in years with particularly warm and dry summers, ladybugs can reproduce well. In autumn then the lucky beetles look for a suitable place for hibernation. To do this, they join together in large groups to hike to warmer regions or to seek shelter here. In between, they take small breaks on house walls or on the window sill.
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Ladybugs in the garden
To make it easier for ladybugs to search, you can provide suitable winter quarters. Popular are, for example:
- Foliage heaps: Here the ladybugs are often found in large numbers.
- Wood stacks and deadwood corners: Ideally this should not be moved during the winter, so that the beetles are not crushed.
- Ladybug house: A straw-filled little house with horizontal fly-in slots placed in a sunny, dry place. You can buy a ladybug house or easily make it yourself.
- Inflorescences, stalks and perennials: Do not cut back their garden plants completely, because the dry inflorescences, leaves and stems not only provide a winter quarter for the ladybugs, but also protect the rootstock of the plants from the cold.
In an untidy garden, ladybugs generally find more opportunities to hibernate, for example under moss, in dry stone walls, in old trees or under their bark. So consider not taking the autumn plaster in the garden quite as strictly. In addition to the ladybugs, many other beneficial ones benefit from this.
With all these measures, you are not only doing the ladybugs a good turn, but also yourself: On the one hand, enough hibernation places mean that you can look forward to a large number of spotted insect killers next spring. On the other hand, you prevent the beetles from simply moving in due to a lack of housing.
But in the home?
One or two ladybugs are quite nice, but when a larger group of ladybugs enters the apartment, it quickly becomes unpleasant. In addition to a large shelter offer, home remedies can also prevent ladybugs from entering the apartment:
- Sounds simple, it is: The best way to keep the apartment ladybug-free is not to let it get inside. An insect grid stops the animals.
- Certain fragrances also act as a deterrent. These include, for example, vanilla, bay leaf and lavender. Either place the herbs and spices directly on the window sill or place a little essential oil on the window.
- Once the beetles have entered the apartment, carefully collect them with a sweeper and shovel and bring them outside. If there are too many beetles, the sock trick is a good thing: put an old sock over the vacuum cleaner tube and suck the animals at the lowest level. So you can collect all the beetles comfortably in the sock and bring them outside.
Under no circumstances should you let the beetles hibernate in the warm. They do not otherwise fall into winter rigidity, which means an increased energy consumption, while at the same time they do not find enough food and thus starve. Therefore, always bring the beetles outside and place them in the vicinity of a suitable sleeping place.
