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72,000 Ladybugs Released Inside Mall of America On Earth Day In Place Of Pesticides
http://www.ibtimes.com/72000-ladybugs-released-inside-mall-america-earth-day-place-pesticides-photo-1212811 ^ | April 24 2013 | Rebecka Schumann

Posted on 04/25/2013 7:33:32 PM PDT by Daffynition

What sounds like an April Fools’ Day prank was actually intentional -- the Mall of America celebrated Earth Day on Monday by voluntarily releasing 72,000 ladybugs into its indoor shopping facility.

The ladybugs were released in the Minneapolis mall in an effort to protect the large amounts of the mall's greenery, which are usually plagued by aphids.

Mall of America Senior Manager of Environmental Services Lydell Newby told Kare 11 that the bugs take the place of commonly used pesticides to control pests that would otherwise eat away at the mall's tropical plants.

(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Gardening; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: ladybug; sourcetitlenoturl
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To: MortMan
Swat teams are standing by.


41 posted on 04/25/2013 9:48:12 PM PDT by Daffynition (Stand Your Ground)
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To: JimSEA

42 posted on 04/25/2013 9:52:11 PM PDT by Daffynition (Stand Your Ground)
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To: anymouse
What could possibly go wrong?


43 posted on 04/25/2013 9:57:18 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: Daffynition

Yeah but the little punks stink and bite.

I like my good old fashioned bugs.

:)


44 posted on 04/25/2013 10:02:28 PM PDT by Salamander (Freeps With Boas)
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To: Daffynition
Are there enough aphids in the Mall of America to support 72,000 ladybugs? If not then they've condemned a lot of ladybugs to starvation.
45 posted on 04/25/2013 10:20:31 PM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah, so shall it be again,")
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To: fella
Here we go....it's for the children.


46 posted on 04/25/2013 10:57:43 PM PDT by Daffynition (Stand Your Ground)
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To: the OlLine Rebel

The box elder bugs only come where there are box elder TREES and if you don’t control them, the south side of your house will be red with them in spring. Horrid ugly prehistoric looking bugs. Had lots in MT.
Never buy a house with a box elder tree in the yard, or in the neighbors’ yards.


47 posted on 04/25/2013 10:59:19 PM PDT by tinamina
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To: Salamander
I like some of these:

There are quite a few old wives tales or superstitions centered around the cute little ladybug. Here is a rundown on the different believes throughout history and even today on the ladybug.

The Norse believed that the ladybug came to earth by lightning and was connected to the goddess of love and beauty.

Weather and Harvest:

Love, Marriage and Children:

Good Luck:

Bad Luck:

New items:



48 posted on 04/25/2013 11:04:16 PM PDT by Daffynition (Stand Your Ground)
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To: Daffynition

There are lady bugs and then there are asian imposters which were imported by our government which did not know the difference. Th asian ones were released everywhere as a good aphid killing alternative to pesticides.
The problem is, these bugs are not climatized to USA so what they do is come inside and hibernate in your attic or other warm spots in your house, especially on the South facing side. Once they move in they will always remember your house and I have been in houses where whole inside walls are covered with them. They fly around and they stink, leaving your home with a distinctive odor. They come back every year in fall, come out in the spring to torment your household while hatching youn ones, and then do their job outside in the summer.
I hope the mall and all their customers will not be plagued by the recurrence of this problem for the next umpteen years.
Unintended consequences for sure.


49 posted on 04/25/2013 11:10:35 PM PDT by tinamina
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To: Valpal1
I bought ladybugs for my garden one year and they never left, year after year.
That was a great investment.
50 posted on 04/25/2013 11:12:35 PM PDT by MaxMax
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To: Daffynition

‘Bad Luck: Killing a ladybug is believed to bring bad luck.”

Hence the many years that zillions of them have over-wintered in an aquarium I prepared for them.

They really enjoy diluted raw honey.

The imposters just come in to die on the window sills, apparently.


51 posted on 04/25/2013 11:41:42 PM PDT by Salamander (Freeps With Boas)
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To: tinamina

Every October, what seems like a bazillion of them congregate on the south side of my house.

A few come in but they seem to be just stopping over for several days before going elsewhere.

It’s freaky.


52 posted on 04/25/2013 11:43:52 PM PDT by Salamander (Freeps With Boas)
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To: Daffynition

53 posted on 04/25/2013 11:53:54 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
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To: Salamander

54 posted on 04/25/2013 11:55:50 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
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To: JoeProBono

She ain’t no lady!

:D


55 posted on 04/26/2013 12:00:46 AM PDT by Salamander (Freeps With Boas)
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To: Salamander; Daffynition


56 posted on 04/26/2013 12:06:52 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
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To: JoeProBono

That is very disturbing.


57 posted on 04/26/2013 12:08:00 AM PDT by Salamander (Freeps With Boas)
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To: Daffynition

This the kind of idea that could spawn a whole new horror movie franchise.


58 posted on 04/26/2013 12:10:01 AM PDT by clearcarbon
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To: Salamander

I hate to tell you to beware because they probably are in your attic or siding during winter. Seems to happen most often in houses with cedar shake roofs or some easily available crevices. My sister has swarms of them every year and one fall I was staying in her upstairs bedroom with the window open, screen in and the uglies came in and covered the south wall inside. She vacuumed them up but I wasn’t convinced they were dead. It seems they have pheromes? that they leave behind to mark their place so they know where it’s safe. YUK


59 posted on 04/26/2013 12:50:32 AM PDT by tinamina
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To: tinamina

This sounds like my uncle’s places. But where are pictures of these different bugs? What are the species so we might look it up? I’ve never experienced a ladybug biting me as many are claiming, so I can’t use that as a sign.


60 posted on 04/26/2013 7:16:41 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Technological progress cannot be legislated.)
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