Comments on: How to Get Rid of Boxelder Bugs Permanently (2022)

By: Nancy

Nancy — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 23:24:54 +0000

We have cathedral windows and both ends of our house are covered outside with Boxelder beetles. This occurs every October when we have 80*+ hot days before the frost. It is like a plague. Any lasting solutions???

By: stephanie

stephanie — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 18:29:11 +0000

we have a box elder bug issue and they seem to be way worse than last year my dad makes this mixture of water, dawn dish soap, vinegar, and Epsom salts and it kills them right away he puts the mix in a massive sprayer and they dropped dead almost instantly might be a good solution to try for everyone

By: SHERRY

SHERRY — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 23:38:55 +0000

In reply to Becky Biggin. We also have them in the garden. We did not get any raspberries last year because the bugs were swarmed on them. And they got into our corn also. I would like to know how to keep them from the edible vegetables and fruit. I tried dawn soap and diatomaceous earth to no avail.

By: Dominick

Dominick — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 05:20:02 +0000

I set out last spring to eliminate these bugs before they became an issue. I sealed up what I could find around the house, including foundation, utility wire entrances, anything I saw or could think of. I then took the battle to them, I cut down four huge box elder trees, After that I started to rack out our back wooded area that had many years worth of ground cover. Which ended up being a long process. I figured all the hard work would be worth the reward of not having to deal with the thousands of box elder that gathered on the entrance door side of our house.
Removing the ground cover is when I started to take notice of just how many of these bugs were hiding in the fallen remnants of leaves, twigs, pine needles, etc that had piled up over the years. In one small 3ft by 3ft area I took the top layer off, and it looked like an alien invasion was about to take place. There were thousands of these things coming from every direction. And I am not exaggerating. We filled up buckets filled with soapy water and I had the kids bring out their super soaker squirt guns and we attacked these colonies. If i could guess we killed in excess of 10,000 of them, and didn’t even make a dent. Every day when the sun hit its peak the wall of our white home was black/red. And everyday we took the power washer connected to dispensers of soapy water and spray the wall, not stopping until they all had fallen. The next day same routine. This went on for a couple weeks. By that time our State was experiencing a pretty serious drought so we had to conserve our water supply for essentials only.
Our one line of defense that was working sort of working was no longer an option, and the bugs took over. With summer drawing close to and end and fall right around the corner they were coming into the house from everywhere, we could open the windows. There was nothing we could do to stop them we were being over run, and that is when nature answered the call.
I am not joking one afternoon I walked out of the house and it looked like a WW2 aerial battle. There were wasps everywhere and they were attacking the box elder. It was so thick with wasps and elder bugs I had to have the kids climb through a window on the opposite side of the house to get inside. I am not a big fan of wasps but I will say this they kicked box elder butt. This went on for about 4 days. And when it all cleared it was time to clean up the bodies. The wall stayed white the rest of the fall, leaving us to deal with hundreds not thousands as winter set in…With the snow now melting, and warmer weather on a daily basis we are again starting to prepare for another long summer, and I am hoping we can take care of this problem before they start their breeding. Fingers crossed that this summer they don’t come to to our home.. I wanted to thank this website for all the great information, I promise you we will be trying quite a few of these ideas. So thank you, I know I will be checking back to see if anyone else came up with ways to eliminate these bugs, and I will post some if we come up with anything new that work.

By: kathy

kathy — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 22:12:59 +0000

I spray them in the house with Febreze and they die fast from this.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 00:49:44 +0000

Keep on writing, great job!

By: Lucy

Lucy — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 21:20:13 +0000

I have raised a wide variety of birds over the years including chickens, ducks and geese. None of them will eat boxelder bugs (dead or alive, I’ve tried both). Don’t raise birds thinking they will help you deal with boxelder bugs!

By: Susy

Susy — Sun, 17 Oct 2021 21:11:57 +0000

In reply to Sarah. Oh my! Ive got one thats still young. Bout 1.5 ft. Maybe repot it? They may be in the soil too. Then while you have it out, clean the roots with gentle spray on hose. Maybe spray leaves with MILD concentration of dawn, water. Other than that idk. I wish you luck. Those plants are a treasure.

By: Paul Baadsgaard

Paul Baadsgaard — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 00:04:42 +0000

I had forgotten that soapy water does the trick. You do have to be careful about the type of soap being used with the water and soap mixture. Some soaps have a fragrance/ color additive that stain darker house paints like a dish detergent. Soapy water spray takes a few passes but it does work. We’ve got two maple trees so it is a recurring problem for us. This season it’s been much drier than the norm and made it much worse.

By: Clyta Dillon

Clyta Dillon — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 19:40:50 +0000

In reply to Sarah.

Our boxelder bugs appeared early this spring and were mating abundantly. I first used BUGGSLAYER INSECTICIDE in a spray bottle on them, their hatches, and my south-sided outside walls, which is supposed to keep them from multiplying, but I got blisters on my hand from spraying so much. Then I tried borax— emptying my hardware store shelf. It was OK around the edges of my house until it rained. By mid-summer, the bugs were everywhere—in the grass, leaves, and my WOODPILE. Then I got the soap treatment using a tool that mixed soap with water hose. This I loved!! I could spray the whole yard, wood piles and trees. But there were sooooo many thousands!!! I’m going to repeat the soap treatment, and then when rain is not in forecast, I’m going to borax the foundation edges again. I’m AT WAR against the bugs!!! I smash every one I see, red stain and all. I hate them. (sorry God and Mother Nature)