Boulder mobbed with ladybugs, other insects
Spring rains bring out critters in force
By Jean Spencer and Laura Snider, Camera Staff Writers
Monday, July 13, 2009
Ladybugs swarm an area near the summit of Green Mountain in Boulder over the weekend. Ladybug and other insect populations surged in the wake of a soggy spring that dumped a combined 11.7 inches of precipitation from April to June.
BOULDER, Colo. — As Jim McNeil and his daughter sat at the summit of Green Mountain, enjoying an apple with their view, they noticed something odd.
“It was under a pine to the right,” he said. “My daughter said, ‘Is that bark moving?’ We looked at it and said, ‘Oh, my God.’”
The pine was sheathed in ladybugs — more than McNeil had ever seen in his 23 years in Boulder — turning the tough brown bark into a crawling red carpet.
Ladybug and other insect populations surged in the wake of a soggy spring that dumped a combined 11.7 inches of precipitation from April to June, and folks are noticing the buggy summer.
“This is the most I have ever seen. (Ladybugs) are everywhere,” said Jack Anderson, who lives near Green Mountain at 6264 Flagstaff Road. “They are in the garden, in the bushes, on the windows. There might be two or three or four ladybugs on any window in the house.”
The ladybugs are a result of the large number of aphids, said Deane Bowers, a professor of biology and curator of entomology at the University of Colorado.
Boulder’s wet, cool spring helped aphids nest and provided them with healthy, juicy plants to munch on. Aphids are food for ladybugs, so a large population of both species has developed, Bowers said.
Boulder’s Lois Ward, who keeps a garden, said she’s excited to see the abundance of ladybugs that serve as a natural pesticide.
“Ladybugs are the good bugs — they eat the other insects,” she said.
This year, ladybugs may act as a stronger pesticide than normal.
“Once the aphids are crushed, the ladybugs will move on to eat all sorts of other things, so I think a lot of pests will be suppressed this year,” said Whitney Cranshaw, an extension entomologist at Colorado State University.
Slugs, snails and mosquitoes, which also thrive in humid, wet environments, are also out in force.
In fact, despite Boulder County’s routine summer mosquito sprays for both adult and larva populations, residents here are contributing to “a large number of calls reporting high numbers of mosquitoes,” said Joe Cox, a biologist at OtterTail Environments Inc., Boulder County’s spraying contractor.
OtterTail most recently sprayed Boulder County for adult mosquitoes July 8.
Boulder pest-control services — such as Pestrite and Enviropests — also report a significant rise in complaints about pests, including mosquitoes and small insect-eating animals, this year.
Steve Anderson, of Enviropests, said the number of pest-related complaints is up 25 percent from last year, with the most common being mosquitoes, ants and mice.
However, not all bug species are thriving.
Hornets, paper wasps and bee populations, which are usually plentiful in the middle of summer, are lagging in numbers because of the rains, Bowers said.
Bowers also warns gardeners to look out for other summertime pests that may have boosted populations because of the damp spring, such as cabbage white caterpillars, cutworms and grasshoppers.
“The rain has made really healthy plants, and the insects are just loving it,” Bowers said.
The Denver Post contributed to this report.
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