Boxelder Bugs

Just want to say I'm with you...they cover the south and west side of my house. They're already out in droves, and we still have snow all over the ground! We also do not have a box elder tree.

Oddly enough, I live in a duplex and they only like OUR side. It's like someone's drawn a line where "our" side is, and they don't cross it.

I called a local nursery...they have a spray in both concentrated and ready to spray form that is supposed to get rid of them. Haven't tried it yet...but I feel your disgust and pain!

Oh my gosh we have them horrible too!! I watch the damn things mating like crazy in the perimeter of our yard where we have river rock and it just disgusts me! They used to only be in the far end of our yard (we are in a tract but have a huge back yard) and now they are everywhere! Even crawling up our house. I don't know what a boxelder tree is but all that is around here is Palm Trees and citrus trees. Have you tried the hot shot natural? It is a wintergreen type smell. I don't know if it will work for them but it works for black widows so it might.... I will be keeping an eye on your post.

We have a white house and the boxelder bugs LOVE the south side of our house--nice and sunny and warm. We don't have any boxelder trees. I'm assuming SOME ONE has to have one, though, otherwise we wouldn't have so many of them. Out of all the houses around us, they seem to like US the best. There is one specific corner of the house where they congegate--it is absolutely disgusting how thick they can get/how many can just pile up on top of one another.

Take a spray bottle, pour in some dishsoap (you don't need a lot), and fill with water. Then go outside and spray it all over the bugs. Spray lots and lots--literally DOUSE them with the water/soap mixture. The soap gets inside them and kills them off. You say you did that and it didn't help--really? I've done that for the past 14 summers, and it always kills mine. I even use an organic dishsoap called 7th Generation. Perhaps you're not putting enough dish soap in? *(DISH SOAP, not laundry detergent. I've never heard of using laundry detergent.)

I don't like killing critters, but even I can't stand getting swarmed with hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of those critters--and they sure know how to make many more babies!

I feel this is one of the more humane ways of getting rid of them, and you're not using nasty pesticides or other toxic means of getting rid of them.

It's warm here today, and all the bugs are climbing out of the woodwork as well. Depending on how bad things get, I'll be getting my own spray bottle out momentarily. This morning, we had flies all over the outside of the house. It was amazing, actually, to see that many all in one place.

Oh! And I don't think I'd try the shop vac idea. I have a feeling that enough of them would survive that they'd just climb right back out of the machine. And then you'd have to start all over again...

My cousin lives out in the country, and has them. There are so many, they are oozing all over the outside and inside of her home. I bought and gave her a bag of diatomaceous earth, from Home Depot. She sprinkled it all over the foundation outside of her home. She also sprinkled it along the inside wall of her home, and it seemed to lower the box elder population quite a bit. I don't think she will ever get rid of them completely, unless she is really vigilant with that stuff--but she has lots of pets, and it's not poisonous. Organic diatomaceous earth is made of the fossils of freshwater organisms called diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae which are crushed to a fine powder. Completely safe for all animals, it is deadly to fleas, ticks, lice, bed bugs, and other insects. You don't want them breathing the powder, so you still need to be careful not to leave piles of it where pets or kids will inhale it.

I grew up with those horrid bugs. I hated them, and they gave me a bug complex! Luckily they don't bite, but they do fly. I remember getting freaked out by the dead ones in light fixtures. Ugh!
My mom had a female boxelder tree, and the problem got so bad that we cut the tree down. That was 25 years ago. And to this day, she still has those bugs crawl on the side of the house some years. Granted, it's not the swarms it used to be, maybe a hundred or so. But yet, they live on.
Boxelder bugs don't need a boxelder tree. They also live and lay eggs off other trees- like maples and ash.
The best way to rid of them is to vacuum them up when you see them congregate, so you are not far off. But they will be back, so controlling the numbers is really your best defense. Traditional sprays are just a waste of money.
Good luck!