Asian Beetle Swarms

Anyone else getting swarms and swarms of the Asian Beetles this year? We had masses of them the other day and couldn't even open the doors without lots of them coming indoors. Luckily they don't come out when it is raining like today. Is there any way of getting rid of them? They must be all mouth cause when they bite it sure does hurt.

We got them too. You wait and wait for the sun to come out and then these nasties appear. I used to vacuum them up, but now I use barn spray. Just a metered shot in each of the sunny windows where they hang out. In a couple hours you'll have a morgue, then I vacuum them up. It even gets the ones that are hiding in the cracks. I'm sick of them staining my white curtains and the ceiling too. A big thanks to the US Department of Agriculture for importing these non-hibernating critters. Better living through government intervention! NOT

In years past, I woudl actually invite many inside. They help keep the insects populaiton down on my house plants. But, now I have a newer, better bug spray so they would just die anyways.

I think there's a thousand dead ones on my back porch. No joke. I have to sweep them out every day. I keep the back porch sprayed because the porch is the gateway to my kitchen. I find them in my coffeemaker. Yum, coffee with bug juice, who needs creamer. We get hit really hard because we live in the middle of corn and soy bean fields where they live all summer. When they start cutting the crops then we get invaded. One good thing is the boxelder bugs aren't around this year (knock on wood). They leave black spots on everything.

I haven't seen any of the box elder bugs either now that I think of it. That's a good thing. Yup, I've been keeping the dust buster by the kitchen sliding doors just to vacuum up all these nasty beetles. We've had days of rain now so haven't seen them lately but the sun is supposed to make an appearance this afternoon. They're nice entertainment for our dog... she loves watching them on the windows.

Yes, very few Box Elder bugs this fall. Juncos showed up this week. A sign of things to come.

We've hardly had any ladybugs. It actually worries me a little that maybe the "landscapers" are spraying something nasty in the common areas. There were a ton last year. We didn't have any problem with staining or getting in food so I just left them in their corners in the window framing around the windows above the doors. Then shooed them out in the spring when they came down and hung out on the inside of the patio doors in the afternoon. And it gave the cats some entertainment.


edit: Checked and found a small cluster above the front door. It's dark blue and faces west so that's where they come in. Still not nearly like last year.

This message was edited Oct 24, 2009 3:41 PM

I've had the lady bugs / asian beetles... though not as bad as in other years. I don't kill them as they are beneficial bugs... though the dang beetles to bite every now and then.

the Box Elders - which i have found have zero reason for being ... those i kill, but i have not seen one of them this year.
Our old house, which was wooden -- we'd have them by the millions.

One thing about Box Elders, you can kill them with soapy water. If we get invaded, I fill my garden sprayer with soapy water and spray the whole outside of my house. They drop like flies. It doesn't work with Asian Beetles though. Darn! Several years ago we had an old broken clothes dryer in the basement. When my DH finally decided to take it to the junk yard, we opened the dryer door and it was filled with dead Asian Beetles. Yuk!

that is what i do too. 20 yrs ago, DH would go thru many cans of Raid or whatever, and it really seemed NOT to have an effect on them... then a friend of his came over [he lived on Box Elder Lane - believe it or not] and he told us about soap and water... i've been using is ever since. I have my Qt spray bottle marked "Bug Water".

Good to know about the soapy water. I knew that worked on the earwigs but not the box elders.

I use it on ants too. OH and Jap Beetles. I have found it works on almost all bugs... some spiders I have found it does not kill.... and i know, i shouldn't kill them... but those BIG ones that hang out at my back door just give me the willies.... I have been more tolerant though, and will move them away from the door... but they still give me the willies.

The main idea behind soapy water is exposure. Many animals, insects will not get wet if you spray them with water, but do if it is soapy water. Now, given it is cold out, they die from exposure. I have seen people kill entire flocks of Starlings this way. If it is 70 inside your house, this may not have any effect. Unless, some other chemical is also present in the soapy water.

This message was edited Oct 26, 2009 3:02 PM

Inside or outside, soapy waters kills Box Elder bugs. It does something to their respiratory system.

Yay!!!!!! So glad I stopped by here!!!!! While nowhere near as bad this year as last... I HATE those yucky box elder bugs. The last few years we had millions of em. They get everywhere. YUCK YUCK YUCK. Soapy water here I come ;D Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Now if I could just find a way to get rid of the wasps. I know I shouldn't but am allergic. Better a dead wasp than a dead me I guess....

try the soap and water on them too... just may work.

I may just do that..... but from along way away. Will have to look for a long shot sprayer. Was up in Lk Delton the day after the dam broke hope everything is getting back to normal for you up there ;D

oh yea... thanks. they got it all back, lickity split. Road was fixed by first week of Dec. Lake was full again by April. thye are currently in a "restocking" phase for the lake... that is supposed to take 3 yrs til the fishes are big enough... I dont fish, so that doesnt effect me.

Did go see Tommy Bartlett show this past summer... they were just dying without the lake.

Trivia: Soap minimizes the surface tension of water. The "wetter" water drowns the bugs.

~Sharon

Not very many boxelder bugs or the asian beetles this year. I am seeing more ladybugs finally!

Bizarre. We got almost no lady beetles of any kind. A few years ago there were tons, which I noticed when they came into the house, or landed on and clutched my neck in the yard (YOW!). I have found perhaps five total in the house.

I must say that I miss them.

Donna

I haven't seen too many lately in my house. It's been too cloudy and cold. As soon as we get a sunny day they will show up on my south facing bay window. I know they are clustered inside my walls waiting for sun/warmth.

The last few years I've hardly seen a ladybug. I left all my garden stalks standing this year in hopes that they will find a good place to overwinter. Last spring I found them in the hostas.

Donna, i kinda miss them to. Hopefully they're just hiding well and I'll be singing a different tune in spring when they're all over the inside of the patio doors. Maybe I'll try to put out some of that lady bug "food" to keep them around 'til the aphids show up. They did not earn their keep at all last spring.