Anybody have a way to get rid of box elder bugs?

[Sheepdog Gear]

They usually show up come fall and hang out where the sun shines. Beginning of spring, and they're already here.

They have yet to come inside the whole time we've lived here, so I'm thankful for that. They are just really annoying....

 

[Crbn79]

The only thing I found that works is Defense SC. You mix one measured dose into 1gallon of water in a spray container.

http://www.amazon.com/Control-Solut...TF8&qid=1426424861&sr=8-1&keywords=defense+sc

 

[dusty88]

I'm not completely sure what triggers them, but my experience is they are only plentiful on warm days that occur right after the cool days..... so both spring and fall here but only random days. They are annoying, but usually just in rare clusters. I'm not sure if poultry eat them or not, but I just Shop-Vac the clusters that get by our garage door (alive or dead).

 

[Porter]

They congregate by the thousands on the back of my house ( where the sun shines most of the day ) I would love to get rid of them but they really don't hurt anything just a nuisance when going in or out.

 

[findingZzero]

Last year was the first time hey invaded my house in droves. Usually just ladybugs.

 

[littletommy]

I was told the only way to get rid of them was to get rid of the box elder tree, so last November, we had it taken out and the stump removed. Have seen a few lately, but not near as many as in years passed. A cew years ago I found a cluster of em, must have been 10000 of em, doused it with kerosene and threw a match on it! Hate those things.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Live and let live, I say.

They don't bite, they don't damage your garden, they aren't a danger to pets, and they cause no harm to your home.

I thought real men just ignored creepy crawly things.

 

[Sheepdog Gear]

The only thing I found that works is Defense SC. You mix one measured dose into 1gallon of water in a spray container.

http://www.amazon.com/Control-Solut...TF8&qid=1426424861&sr=8-1&keywords=defense+sc

Thanks! I'll give that a shot.

I'm not completely sure what triggers them, but my experience is they are only plentiful on warm days that occur right after the cool days..... so both spring and fall here but only random days. They are annoying, but usually just in rare clusters. I'm not sure if poultry eat them or not, but I just Shop-Vac the clusters that get by our garage door (alive or dead).

Last fall I resorted to going around the house at least once a day with a flyswatter.

I was told the only way to get rid of them was to get rid of the box elder tree, so last November, we had it taken out and the stump removed. Have seen a few lately, but not near as many as in years passed. A cew years ago I found a cluster of em, must have been 10000 of em, doused it with kerosene and threw a match on it! Hate those things.

We have three maples, one oak, and one pine. I'm thinking there must be a few box elder trees in the neighborhood, which is obviously something I can't control.

Live and let live, I say.

They don't bite, they don't damage your garden, they aren't a danger to pets, and they cause no harm to your home.

I thought real men just ignored creepy crawly things.

I would ignore them, but my wife is seriously anti ANYTHING creepy crawly.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I read that soapy water in a sprayer works well also. It doesn't kill on contact, but the soap coats their body and suffocates them in a short time. I've used it on other insects with good results. And the good thing is that you don't have to worry about pets and kids getting into it.

 

[Sheepdog Gear]

I read that soapy water in a sprayer works well also. It doesn't kill on contact, but the soap coats their body and suffocates them in a short time. I've used it on other insects with good results. And the good thing is that you don't have to worry about pets and kids getting into it.

I've also read this. My plan was to use this method, then apply something around the perimeter to keep them from coming back.

 

[littletommy]

We have three maples, one oak, and one pine. I'm thinking there must be a few box elder trees in the neighborhood, which is obviously something I can't control.

My next door neighbor offered to pay half of the tree removal, he's an older guy, nothing much to do, and he enjoyed watching the tree crew work. We didn't take him up on the offer, as we had been wanting to get rid of that tree for several years.

Weird thing is, the bugs just showed up out of the blue. We had never seen them before, ever, until about 5 years ago. Went from zero to hundreds of thousands in less than a year.

After the first year of dealing with them, I had a friend who is in pest control come by and take a look, he sprayed the whole area in back where the most of them seemed to be, and for a few months, they were all but gone, then, pretty much overnight, they were back in full force.

 

[Leadeye]

Permethrin.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

My next door neighbor offered to pay half of the tree removal, he's an older guy, nothing much to do, and he enjoyed watching the tree crew work. We didn't take him up on the offer, as we had been wanting to get rid of that tree for several years.

Weird thing is, the bugs just showed up out of the blue. We had never seen them before, ever, until about 5 years ago. Went from zero to hundreds of thousands in less than a year.

After the first year of dealing with them, I had a friend who is in pest control come by and take a look, he sprayed the whole area in back where the most of them seemed to be, and for a few months, they were all but gone, then, pretty much overnight, they were back in full force.

The hard part about dealing with insects that invade your house for over-wintering is that they have chosen your house because it has the characteristics that suit their needs, for temperature, sun exposure, humidity, and other things. Even if you kill the bugs that come one year, other bugs will always come to your house because it's the nature of the site that attracts them, and some will travel for miles to get there.

 

[littletommy]

The hard part about dealing with insects that invade your house for over-wintering is that they have chosen your house because it has the characteristics that suit their needs, for temperature, sun exposure, humidity, and other things. Even if you kill the bugs that come one year, other bugs will always come to your house because it's the nature of the site that attracts them, and some will travel for miles to get there.

Yep. Our (and our neighbors) house has several large walls with lots of unhindered southern exposure. We had several dangerous trees taken out last year, so we're currently in the planning stages of planting some shade trees to relieve some of the blazing sun. Those elder beetles love the back of the house! It's 62 and sunny right now, and as of a few minutes ago, there were no beetles, hopefully they've moved on to a more hospitable environment.

 

[Hardscrable]

We have three maples, one oak, and one pine. I'm thinking there must be a few box elder trees in the neighborhood, which is obviously something I can't control.



We have zero box elder trees but numerous varieties of "soft" maples. 2 of these maples attract mass quantities of box elder bugs. They differ from all other our other maple trees in certain characteristics.

 

[Harleyrider_50]

We have three maples, one oak, and one pine. I'm thinking there must be a few box elder trees in the neighborhood, which is obviously something I can't control.



We have zero box elder trees but numerous varieties of "soft" maples. 2 of these maples attract mass quantities of box elder bugs. They differ from all other our other maple trees in certain characteristics.

......'At IS.....the trees attract'n the BE bugs.....female tree o' the 2 species......an' at's the 1 attracts'em.....the FEMALE tree.....

 

[Sheepdog Gear]

......'At IS.....the trees attract'n the BE bugs.....female tree o' the 2 species......an' at's the 1 attracts'em.....the FEMALE tree.....

Looks like you misquoted. I didn't say that, Hardscrable did.

 

[Harleyrider_50]

Looks like you misquoted. I didn't say that, Hardscrable did.

I might'a....
ANYways.....it the FEmale box elder ....'at holds the bugs.....peel some the loose bark away......an' it'a be lousy with'em. ARE.....consider'd part the 'maple' family
ash- leaf maple....... some call it.......

 

[Sheepdog Gear]

I might'a....
ANYways.....it the FEmale box elder ....'at holds the bugs.....peel some the loose bark away......an' it'a be lousy with'em. ARE.....consider'd part the 'maple' family
ash- leaf maple....... some call it.......

Ok. Tomorrow, I'll start ripping off some bark and see if I find any surprises. Thanks!

 

[femurphy77]

VEPR 12 gauge should do the trick!!