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Perennials Vegetable Gardening Integrated Pest Management

Box elder bugs

10 months ago

last modified: 10 months ago

There is a bumper crop of box elder bugs this year -- I kid you not there's a thousand if there's one out there. Unbelievable. They're on and around pretty much everything in the vegetable garden except the squash, but I've noticed the largest congregations of them ON the pepper plants and around the green beans. I haven't noticed any plant damage, though -- so I'm wondering if I actually need to do anything about the situation or just leave things be. I have some spinosad, but I hate to spray if I really don't need to, especially since I'd have to spray pretty much everything - plants and ground.

Similar situation when I first moved into this house 7 years ago, it was fall and they numbered in the hundreds on a window. The back wall of the house was crawling with them. I bought a small shop vac for use as a bug vac, but I can't really vacuum them up from the garden, the mulch would get sucked in along with the bugs and I might damage the plants. Works great on the house and windows, though. I wonder if it's cyclical or something, they haven't been this bad since then.

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Comments (3)

davez7anv
10 months ago
harmless but annoying. They hang out in leaf litter-and if you have maple trees-their favorite dish-you pretty much just have them.
robert567
10 months ago
I read that spraying them with simple soapy water is effective, though killing them in mass leaves a stinky mess which I assume would wash away in the rain. They are native "stink bugs", hopefully they don't suck on the peppers like the invasive stink bugs.
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I've seen this bug too but all the sites say they are not harmful to plants. I'm in San Diego too and There aren't many of us on this site. So far I haven't seen any racoon or rabbits but something is sure taking it's toll on my roses. This is the first year I haven't used organics including fish emulsion, egg shells, kitchen scraps ect. hoping not to attract the whatevers as in the past and atleast the cats next door are staying out of the garden.
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I've been battling these things for years. I wait for a nice warm sunny day when they've congregrated on large groups and I splash them with warm sudsy water (I just use dish soap). I found this idea online somewhere and it said the detergent degrades their wings and the water drowns them. All I know is it works, it's harmelss to the environment (I think) and I have a clean deck/house after I hose away all the remenants. (Inside the house I suck them up with the vacuum or flush them down the toilet)
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I have used Bugg Slayer and it works great. Unlike soap, it doesn't work on contact, but it does have lasting residual effect. A few years back, at a different house, we had them terribly. They live near female box elder trees and live on the seeds (I think). When we had trouble, I called an exterminator and they were kind enough to educate me on how these bugs live. In MN, our summers allow them to have about 3 life cycles. First the adults come out of their warm winter hiding spots (usually our attics), glue their butts together, lay eggs (clusters of red dots, no bigger than a grain of salt). The eggs hatch and the wingless- nymphs run around and feed. The key is killing the nymphs before they develop wings. If you're diligent with Bugg Slayer and soap, you can make a substantial dent in the population and greatly reduce your winter squatters. I keep a spray bottle at the ready on the front porch and back deck so that I can spray any cluster of these annoyances I find! It really helps to drench their "sunning spots" with Bugg Slayer since it does have lasting residual effects. In my yard, those sunning spots are on the East side of my house (in the morning) and the west side of my garden as the sun comes over the top!
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Thank you for your responses. I'm not kidding when I say these bugs (and they are definitely box elder bugs) are covering our entire backyard. I'm not just talking about a few (or 50 or 100) bugs here and there. We literally have thousands of these things taking over our outdoor living space. Like I said in my original post, our kids don't want to go outside anymore. Heck, I don't even want to go outside anymore! I can't say for sure that the tree in my neighbours yard is a box elder tree, because I am not familiar with this species of tree. It is in the middle of their yard, and even when I stand at the fence, I have a yard time getting a good look at any of the distinguishing features of the tree, besides the millions of red bugs crawling all over it. Our neighbour is a single mom with 5 kids, and while we have met and our children play together, I haven't seen her or her kids outside since the invasion began. I doubt very much that she could afford to have a tree of that size removed, and I certainly can't afford to have it removed for her. My husband seems to think we are making a dent in the population. I think they are just finding warmer spots to hang out (ie, underneath the shingles on our roof). The whole situation really is just disgusting...
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 months ago
I haven't noticed any plant damage, though -- so I'm wondering if I actually need to do anything about the situation or just leave things be

==>>

IPM.. integrated pest management dictates that if there is no harm.. then there is no reason to poison the earth fixing that which not is broken...

and the converse would be.. if you cant find the bug.. dont slather on remedies either ...

both time i took the master gardener course.. they beat into our heads.. that the biggest polluters are the home gardeners.. poring on cures and remedies on postage stamp sized gardens.. mostly for no reason at all.. beyond marketing mumbo jumbo...

DONT FIX THAT WHICH ISNT BROKEN...

ken

ps: i lost a 60 foot box elder to the ice storm this winter.. i had hoped..that the population would be down.. it appears not this year... they have blanketed my pole barn for 20 years.. some years worse than others.. and the only thing that pissed me off about them.. was that apparently they had.. and are having.. a better sex life than me.. lol ... facing bipolar away from each other.. when you startle them.. they cant really run either direction.. lol... now maybe you will be more interested in them.. lol

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