The Dreaded Box Elder Bug

[Cyndi B.]

I don't know if you guys have any of these bugs but you can tell it's fall when these guys start fly and crawl everywhere. They usually get worse in the Fall and they like the sunny side of the house. Sometimes they can coat a whole wall, crawl into places you wouldn't think and magically come back to life so it seems. They have no purpose that I know of other then to poop and there are too many for the birds to control.

[Kevin K]

Spray the buggers with dish soap. -----> This Kills them .

[joelh]

About every other year, we are overrun with them. The Farm supply place sold me a product called Talistar that seems to be working very well. I think I am going to cut down the tree they seem to like to get rid of them.

[Cyndi B.]

We started out with dish soap. I took that and the hose away from my husband when I no sooner had the windows washed I turned around and he was hosing the house. Since he won't offer to help pry off the screens that an SOB to get off I use Home Defense by Ortho.

[jack maloney]

Reminds me of a long-ago trip we took to the Black Hills, when we discovered a truly remarkable missed opportunity in marketing. In the town of Box Elder, South Dakota, there was a foreign car dealership. The name of it was (drum roll) 'Box Elder Volkswagens.'

[Cyndi B.]

And let's not leave out the stinking, biting Asian Beetle.

[Doug Arthurs]

Those box elders have been swarming my garage door for a couple days now. Drives me nuts.

[Cyndi B.]

In Iowa we usually see a dramatic increase when the soybeans start getting harvested. You think a wasp is after you and it ends to be one of them.

[Robin G]

The dreaded Box Elder Bug! I hate them! Saw our first one this afternoon. Here we haven't had many over the 5 years we have lived here, but when we lived up in Glenwood Springs and in Montana we had millions of them. Just like you said, a sunny wall and they will cover it.

In Glenwood, I used dish soap, In Montana the man who owned the business next to our Rv park would walk around with a stick and kill them! (he was such a weirdo ) But I loved him for keeping them out of my home and the park buildings . He was the King of eradicating the box elder bug on our property! LOL.......

[Joe Z]

Originally Posted by joelh

About every other year, we are overrun with them. The Farm supply place sold me a product called Talistar that seems to be working very well. I think I am going to cut down the tree they seem to like to get rid of them.

We are over run with "Asian Stinkbugs" here and heard a lot of talk about Talistar Pro like you stated with really good results..... waiting for it to come in the mail. But in the meantime i was told to try about 1/8 to 1/4 cup dawn dish detergent per gallon of water in a tank sprayer and i have to say i am having very good results with that and the population has gone way down on the house but it has to be done everyday.....sometimes two times a day.
The talistar pro has to be sprayed every seven days and is safe indoors with pets and babies after it is dry or outdoors.
Joe

[Michel, Bouchard]

Farmers around here that have apple tree fields are using them to prevent plant louse invasion, so every fall when leafs are changing colour they're leaving the fields and you see them everywhere.

[Cyndi B.]

Michel,

When I worked at Seed Saver's Exchange we were able to control aphids for free in the greenhouses instead of buying the common ladybug. Now we know why she's called a lady.

[RSchleder]

The box elder bug used to be our biggest problem in the fall. Now they are 2nd to that dang Japanese beetle. I hate them, I hate them--settle down, Ron, winter is coming and, and what?- they'll be back next year. Dang it!!

[Cyndi B.]

Got home from 2 weeks away from the house to a crap load of Box Elder bug bodies, a blown water heater and a grumpy Postal employee. I forgot that the sound of a vaccum motivates the little red pooping, biting, stinking, I want to crawl on you, bugs to suddenly disappear. I like to see them squirm in the dust buster. Having been a Government employee I know how to skirt her and I will have a very nice water heater attached to my very nice new boiler.