Pestimism Dims With Return of Ladybugs : Gardening: The beloved red insects, oddly absent for two aphid-plagued springs, are landing in Orange County yards.

They’re cherished by adults as guardians of gardens. They’re adored by children for their freckled, shiny red wings.

They’re ladybugs. And they’re back.

After two years of a ladybug drought in Southern California, the tiny beetles have re-emerged en masse.

A welcome sight, they are, especially for people with rosebushes. Ladybugs munch a swath through pesky aphids, those destructive lice that literally suck the life out of plants.

In the spring of 1990, ladybugs were oddly absent. Nor did they have much of a showing in 1991.

Some entomologists blamed the bugs’ disappearance on malathion sprayings--then frequently used for controlling Mediterranean fruit flies. Other insect experts surmised that weather conditions could be the culprit.

Whatever the villain, ladybugs overcame adversity this year and jetted back into the Southland. Susan Manzer first noticed them a couple of weeks ago while weeding the garden outside her Lake Forest home.

“They’re here in force,” said Manzer, a housewife and part-time employee at Rose Petals florist in El Toro. “I’m thrilled. I think it means that things are getting back into a natural order.”

Like many other Orange County residents, Manzer fought a losing battle against aphids two years ago. The infamous aphid attack was attributed in part to the ladybug void.

“When you spray malathion, you kill more beneficial bugs than you do the bug you’re aiming at,” said Lester Ehler, a UC Davis entomologist who has studied the effects of malathion on beneficial insects. “You leave yourself vulnerable to an outbreak of pests.”

Aerial sprayings in both Orange and and Los Angeles counties ceased in late 1990. The moratorium followed a public outcry against the massive dissemination of insecticide. However, the California Department of Food and Agriculture continues to apply localized ground treatments--and reserves the right to spray again as a last resort.

The California ladybug, whose proper name is the convergent beetle, hibernates in the mountains during winter months. Come spring, they migrate to lower elevations to reproduce, said Ehler.

“After the winter rains, fresh plant growth abounds, which attracts aphids,” he explained. In turn, the aphids attract ladybugs.

Two springs ago, however, aphid-hungry ladybugs were zapped by malathion, Ehler added: “The natural migration of lady beetles was thrown out of kilter.”

Apparently, the 1 1/2-year break since the last sprayings has afforded ladybugs enough time to regroup. “Although malathion is toxic to a broad range of beneficial insects, they can rebound quickly,” Ehler said.

“The important thing is to learn from our experience and stop Medfly infestations (through small applications of poison) before they reach crisis proportions,” he said.

Other entomologists speculate that the ladybug vacuum was mostly due to the drought in 1990--and that the current glut could be owed to late-winter rains.

“Rains cause a lot of vegetation and an increase in the aphid population,” said Richard Cowles, an entomologist with UC Riverside. “There’s a possibility that the ladybug shortage and malathion sprayings are connected, but it’s not well documented.”

Cowles also finds questionable a link between the aphid plague in recent years and the coinciding lack of ladybugs. “When a plant is highly stressed by drought conditions, it may mobilize amino acids, which allow aphids to reproduce much faster,” he said.

Whether ladybugs temporarily vanished because of malathion sprayings or because of the drought, everyone can agree that the little critters make a delightful springtime guest.

“My aphids are under control this year, thanks to ladybugs,” Manzer said. “And my kids love to catch the ladybugs and play with them.”

Why are ladybugs such a universally beloved insect, in a world where most bugs get little respect?

“Because of all the childhood stories and nursery rhymes we grew up with,” Manzer said. “Plus, I love any insect that eats things that eat my flowers.”

Offered Cowles: “People easily recognize them as one of the good guys. Like butterflies, they are a lovely member of nature.”

Charles Hogue, curator of insects for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, said everything about ladybugs is positive. “They don’t bite. They don’t carry diseases. They eat garden pests. They’re red. And they’re cute,” he said.

And not only are they adored by the human race, they are despised by would-be predators. “As is the case with many brightly colored insects, they taste terrible,” Hogue said. “A bird will learn from eating one that the red color means, ‘Keep away.’

“Pop a ladybug in your mouth sometime,” Hogue suggested, in all seriousness. “You’ll find it very bitter.”