will ladybugs hurt houseplants???

I was just wondering if ladybugs will hurt my houseplants? I have ask a couple family members and friends and they all have different things to say whether it be that it will help with the aphnids or something like that to it will eat the leafs of the plant. Here is NC we have tons and tons of ladybugs and somehow no matter how much i seem to vaccum them up they keep getting in and love perched on my plants. i would love advice on what to do about this so-called problem.

Thanks,
Char

Char,
As far as I know, ladybugs don't touch the plants. They do love aphids and any other insects that eat your plants, so if you see ladybugs on a particular plant, and it seems like something is wrong with that plant, then there's probably something else attacking your plant, and the ladybugs are actually helping you out. As for the kind of bug that looks like a ladybug, but isn't ( I forget their name), I am almost positive they won't eat your plants, but I'm not sure if they eat other soft-bodied insects the way regular ladybugs do.
What to do about them? Enjoy them, and count them as good luck... you won't have any insect infestations in your houseplants!
-Mara

I've actually thought the lady bugs are good for my plants. I have 14 plants in my home and I have not had problems with any aphids or insects at all so I think they are a God Send. When I find one II put them in my plants.

Oh, boy....ladybugs, (Japanese Lady Beetles) I could rant forever on these suckers!
I have a new name, for them, too, but I'd better not reveal it! lol!

Here in Wisconsin we've had them by the *millions*, literally in the past few years....they start flocking to the house in the fall, looking for warm places to hide. (Our house is in the country in close proximity to a woods, and is a nice warm brown brick). They end up *everywhere*.....many of them die, but many survive for months!

In the spring, when the weather begins to warm, those that did find a place to hide during the winter begin to swarm about, looking for a way to get out.

Like you, we were vacuuming every mornining and every evening. I have a 5 gallon ShopVac, and the drum was literally 1/2 full a couple of times every week.

From what I've learned, they were brought to the US to combat Pecan aphids, and they did their job, but they've multiplied beyond anyone's wildest dreams!!

My personal opinion (regarding the ones we have here, anyway) is that they've evolved into a non-beneficial pest.

My house is full of plants....I have a few hundred.
Granted, my plants have no aphids (however, they didn't have aphids *before* the lady-beetle 'epidemic!) but the 'bugs' didn't help at all with mealy bugs, scale or spider mites, even when there was a beetle or two hanging out on the plants that had these pests!

So, no, the lady-beetles won't *harm* your plants, but if you've the same ones we have around here, they don't help them either!

I think they're a good "pest" to have around (for a bug, anyway!), but I agree w/Nan.......the endless ladybug cemeteries.....gee.........=0

mkj