Any Box Elder Remedies?

Just mix some dishsoap in water and put it in a spray bottle and spray them. It really works well. On the good side though, box elder bugs don't cause any harm and are around a relatively short time. The biggest problem is they are ugly.

Good luck!
L.

1 mom found this helpful

Chem Wise Pest controll. They are enviormental, pet and kid friendly. Box Elders love the sun. We had them covering our front porch. They were getting into the house when my daughter was little. YUCK. We called them and the bugs were gone for two seasons. We just had them come again this year. They are very resonable and they come back for free if you find more bugs. Good Luck.

M. W.

Cut down your Box Elder tree. I did this last year and they haven't come back yet.
J

Soap and water. Take dish soap, like Jewel brand something that isn't anti bacterial, bleach filled whatever. Like the old fashioned green Palmolive, get one of those containers that fits on the end of a hose, like the Miracle Gro plastic containers, pour some soap in there, fill the rest with water, attach it to your hose and spray away. Those bugs are usually caused by evergreen bushes so spray the bushes and the side of your house. They hate soap. It worked for me, good luck! If you don't want to do the whole hose thing, get a spray bottle put the soap in there, fill it with water and hand spray it.

When we 1st purchased our house in Wood Dale, we moved in at the end of summer (Sept), the following year we had a few but nothing worth complaining about. However the following year there had to be thousands and like you I checked on line and they said nothing works. So it was a horrible spring/summer, they get in the house and are all over. Have you noticed the little tiny tiny red spider like things? well those are the babys and within weeks they are bigger and if I remember black, then in a few more weeks they get the red on the wings. Someone told me that dishsoap and water worked so I tried and it help a little but nothing took them away. I hated to do it but I ended up cutting down my 80ft I think 90yr old box elder, I swore I would not do another year miserable. We had it cut down in March and happily I report no box elders besides the occasionaly few that fly thru from someone elses box elder. Sorry I couldn't give you a 100% get rid of them remede, but try the soap and water it really did help.

D.

We tried several sprays for both lady bugs & box elders for two summers without relief. This year we called pest control and they sprayed inside and out. It took about 10 min. and cost $200. It worked they are gone. We took our toddler & dog for a 45 min. walk so the solution could dry. There is a 60 day guarantee.

If you are interested in some cleaning products without toxins for the kiddos, let me know. I would be happy to recommend some products.

Good luck-I hate them too!
M.
http://workathomeunited.com/marygoesgreen

We are battling cicadas at the moment, but had a huge box elder problem last fall. I couldn't deal with it, so I broke down and hired an exterminator. They basically sprayed a soapy mixture around onto the house. They said it was non-toxic, but I left for the day with my daughter just as a precaution. It worked.

I also every year get these nasty bugs. They literally cover the back of our house almost to where I cant see out the window. As far as I know we do not have any box elder trees that they seem to hatch from. If you do have any such trees in your yard you can remove it. I also read that you pretty much cant do anything to get rid of them but the past several years I have paid Orkin to come out and spray and they seem to all pretty much go away after a couple of days.

You can take a shopvac and vacuum them up. It would atleast cut down on them.