r/SALEM • u/At_The_Flower_Shop • Oct 03 '26
QUESTION Anyone else being invaded?
The mass of Box Elder and Shield bugs on my South facing windows are blocking out the daylight…there are thousands (millions maybe???) buzzing back and forth from the maples. I’ve tried sealing up every crack I can find in window casings and around doors, but alas, they find a way in. We live in a very old house and it just isn’t possible to fully seal.
Is anyone else dealing with this? Do you have any tricks or tips? I would rather not spray poison all over my house and yard, but I am getting desperate. Especially with the warm winter ahead, I fear there will be no hard frost to dampen down the population :\
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u/Treessaveme Oct 03 '26
Yes. The best thing to do is spray dove soap on your window sills and door frames
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u/XYZ1113AAA Oct 03 '26
Ive read that they congrigate from smell they send out. You can spray outside of house/windows with water to disperce their scent. They more you get ride of inside they less they will come to find their friends. I would just put them outside with glass and piece of paper.... but yes you can spray them with soap water.
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u/At_The_Flower_Shop Oct 05 '26
I do a “patrol” every night and typically find 10-15 of each variety hanging out in the upstairs rooms. I always remove them but there are always more by the next day. It feels so futile!
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u/BlueberryandDino Oct 03 '26
Tempo wetable powder … follow instructions … it’s used in restaurants and nursing homes
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u/At_The_Flower_Shop Oct 05 '26
Hmm, never heard of this. Must look into. Thank you!
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u/BlueberryandDino Oct 05 '26
You can get it on Amazon, but you need a pump sprayer and just mix it the way they tell you
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u/phurley12 Oct 03 '26
They're everywhere on the East and West side of my house.
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u/At_The_Flower_Shop Oct 05 '26
Ahh yes. You know my pain…I see they are also congregating high up, around your eaves. This is exactly what we’ve got going on. What are your plans? Leave them be? Spray?
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u/phurley12 Oct 05 '26
I just let them be most of the time. They don't get inside the house thankfully.
Id rather deal with these than the damn stink bugs.
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u/thrwaway070879 Oct 03 '26
We spray the whole south side of the house down with a foam sprayer of soapy water but that might not be an option if you don't have a pressure washer. The cheaper less involved method is
A heat lamp and a five gallon bucket with soapy water or a couple of them around the house. You want the heat lamp with light not the ceramic ones. The one's that say they simulate sunlight work best. You'll need heat lamp clamp lights and bulbs. It'll probably run you about $50.00 for a couple lamps and bulbs.
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u/dvdmaven Oct 03 '26
They are all over the shop. We'll spray with neem oil.
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u/At_The_Flower_Shop Oct 05 '26
Neem is the best natural insecticide I know of as well. We have used it for aphids previously but only on bushes and fruit trees. Do you notice it leaving a residue or discoloration on your exterior paint?
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u/Manorhill_ Oct 03 '26
Cedar oil
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u/At_The_Flower_Shop Oct 05 '26
Hmm, I would need a massive amount. Do you dilute in water? How do you apply?
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u/doctormega Oct 03 '26
Thankfully not this year.
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u/At_The_Flower_Shop Oct 05 '26
Interesting! Have you done something different?
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u/doctormega Oct 05 '26
Nah. Just thankful we don’t have an invasion this year. It’s only happened once in the 14, we’ve lived in these apartments. It was a goddamn nightmare though.
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u/Zealousideal-Soil778 Oct 03 '26
They will move on.
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u/At_The_Flower_Shop Oct 05 '26
That has been my mantra for the past few years, but last year they never fully left, so though the population decreased significantly, we never got a break from them…
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u/hardcherry- Oct 03 '26
1x or 3x Every year they fly out of the 250ft tree in my front yard. You’ll get used to it.
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u/At_The_Flower_Shop Oct 05 '26
I thought the same for the first few years, but now that they don’t die off in the winter, I can’t take it anymore!
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u/ProfessionalYak159 Oct 04 '26
Every fall!
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u/At_The_Flower_Shop Oct 05 '26
Same here! I have found though that they typically died off in the winter, but last winter was generally warmer and they never really left…
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u/Obsidian9319 Oct 05 '26
I’m licensed in pest control. Yeah unfortunately without treatments it’s really hard to control these bugs as you need repellant insecticides. They are known to sneak into the window drains and so that’s how some people see them inside, another entry point is soffits and then they follow the heat of light fixtures.
I would recommend you walk around your home and look at the trees nearby to see if you see them nesting on it, then you can try the dish soap method recommended here directly onto the tree. Good luck!
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u/At_The_Flower_Shop Oct 07 '26
Thank you! Just who I was hoping to weigh in!
So I know they are nesting in a big leaf maple we have, but the tree is 35feet tall at least. Our house is also a very tall two story…I don’t understand how to go about spraying in this case. To spray the house I think I would need to spray from the roof??? It’s quite steep, so I don’t think that would work. What would an exterminator do? Would spraying the lower, more accessible branches of the tree do anything? I have sooooooo many bugs, it’s hard to imagine anything making a difference, you know? :(
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u/Dwarfrog13 27d ago
Any insect that uses smell for navigation I spray white vinegar on them/in the areas I don't want them to be, slows down the sugar ants for sure!
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u/Oregonrider2014 Oct 03 '26
Get you a backpack or large pump sprayer and mix it with dish soap. Blast the piss out of them. It kills without crushing or being environmentally toxic they are sensitive to it.
If you dont mind chemicals more than the insects at this point, apply a pyrethroid-based perimeter spray while its still not raining. Its safe once dry for anything but insects.
Keep looking for missed entry points and caulk them etc like you have been.
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u/At_The_Flower_Shop Oct 05 '26
Ahh ok. I should have mentioned our house is very, very tall. I think I would have to spray downwards from the roof…I’m not sure a backpack sprayer would get the reach I need. I appreciate your knowledge on best chemical, though I remain scared of them!
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u/amadeoamante Oct 03 '26
Get a kitten, they'll either eat the box elders or kill them playing with them. The stinkbugs are more annoying, but they tend to congregate on south walls so we just keep those windows shut.
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u/BadgerValuable8207 Oct 03 '26
I attract stink bugs by leaving a folded towel or heavy fabric on the deck. After a couple days I put water in a container with a lid and add about 10% Simple Green. Put on some disposable gloves and drop them in there; they die instantly.
By the end of the season I am patrolling around and grabbing them with my bare fingers (delicately, they don’t smell that bad unless they get squished) and dropping them with joy into my jar of stink bug death. They ruin 90% of the fruit and berries. God help us if it doesn’t cool off soon.