All pronged attack to get rid of box elders?

They’re everywhere in the house, all year round, what do I need to do to cut down the population?

TIA!

So as you probably already know, fall prevention is the only defense on these guys. I live rural, southwest of the cities in Carver County. Asian ladybeetles and box elders are prevalent and September/early October is the time to go into battle. What works for me (as well as professional exterminators) is a product called Bifenethrin. It’s sold under the name Bifen IT or Talstar…same product. You can get it on Domyownpestcontrol.com and it’s an easy 1oz/gallon water mix. Now the disclaimer…it is a pesticide that you can legally only apply on your own property and you will want to follow all instructions and wear proper PPE. The drawbacks are you need to spray all your eaves/soffit area, around windws and doors…I also spray my foundation. Its water based so it doesn’t stain but the solution is a milky white that will require you to wash windows after as some will get on the glass (but it cleans easily). I have a Stihl backpack sprayer for it but you can go the Hudson sprayer route, just a lot of ladder work as the soffits are most important. It does kill EVERYTHING insect related including bees so beware of “environmentalists” and “tree huggers”…they’ll hate you. You can also hire a professional to spray it as well…I guarantee that’s the product they’ll use.

Tempo is what I use in the same manner as above. We have a log house so it keeps termites, spiders, boxelders, asian beetles etc. I do ours in the spring after it warms up and again in late summer. I go around the windows, doors, soffits and anyplace they can get in and it does the trick. Any bug that touches where it was sprayed is dead.

2x Tempo and can pick up at Fleet Farm.

Interesting…never heard of that product till now. Good to know there’s an alternative. Of course, my local Fleet Farce would undoubtedly be out of stock if I ever wanted to get anything. They’ve really gone downhill since their buyout IMO.

Best product I’ve found so far. Keeps killing for quite awhile.

Harris ladybug and box elder

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I get a few after my normal bug protection I do. Some soapy water outside and a canister vac inside take care of them. Although no more than I get outside. I don’t worry about usually.

I used ortho home defense in the red and white bottle from Home Depot, seems to work great, very few bugs or anything else around anymore.

I use soapy water. Kills them in about 1 minute but wouldn’t have residual effect like a pesticide. Each time it warms up coming out of winter I’ll see some in the house. My dog tracks them crawling across the floor. I have an old Ortho hose end jet sprayer that I spray the second story of my house with.

Tempo is no joke. I used to get it free from a farmer but have since found it online. I only spray the outside of my foundation and all the inside bugs are gone – but it is safe for inside use if you need with pets/kids once it dries.

Good advice above. I’ve also had good luck with Tempo. However depending on the size of your house and how much time you are willing to sink into it will determine the effectiveness. I finally handed it over to a pro last year. They had a power sprayer and used over 30 gallons. Honestly the cost was not all that much more than DIY and much more effective.

Norsky wrote:

I used ortho home defense in the red and white bottle from Home Depot, seems to work great, very few bugs or anything else around anymore.

That is what I use lasts a long time and works great. Spray around the outside of the house windows doors and the bugs start to pile up.

Dawn dish soap and water works good for me.

This stuff is what I’ve found to work amazingly well. I was purchasing some pre mixed stuff at a store and the guy behind highly recommended it! So I went to ace and got it and boy I’m glad I did! We’d have them pretty much year round at our place, my sons room upstairs was always bad, pretty much one treatment of this stuff drove them out and kept them away! It’s probably very similar to tempo as that is what everyone else recommended also!

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I do not get Box Elders in the house I currently have. This said, in a prior house, they were terrible, and those Asian Beetles that try to look cute like Lady Bugs. At the advise of an older neighbor, I mixed Borax and liquid dish washing detergent (Dawn, Palmolive, etc.) with water in a sprayer and sprayed the house. It killed some and they vacated. This did leave a film on windows, but that was not hard to clean off after the bugs left. One treatment would last while, and then I would repeat. This did not hurt my flowers, etc, in case you are worried about that.

What kind of flowers??

Tom P. wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Norsky wrote:</div>
I used ortho home defense in the red and white bottle from Home Depot, seems to work great, very few bugs or anything else around anymore.

That is what I use lasts a long time and works great. Spray around the outside of the house windows doors and the bugs start to pile up.

I use that Ortho stuff too. Works well, but we have a 2 story house and it takes a lot of ladder work to spray the whole house on all 4 sides, top to bottom with that stuff. I told myself last summer/fall was it, I’m going to hire it done this year. I’m done with being up there on a ladder all masked up and getting that chemical stuff blowing back at me, etc.

Last fall up at the farm the side of my shed was almost SOLID Asian bugs. Never seen anything like it. Just millions and millions of them on the south side of the shed especially, but also the west. I sprayed the whole outside of the shed with that Ortho stuff and for the rest of the season, there was just a black pile of dead bugs at the base of the walls, all the way around the shed. No kidding, it had to be a million of them if there was a one. I’m sure other people have seen it worse, but that’s the worst issue I’ve had with those bugs.

The ortho stuff is bifenthrin. Tempo is cyfluthrin. Other products listed here are deltamethrin. They all work.

Remove the nearby box elder and maple trees.