Discussions

Wondering if anybody has come across a method that works well for eliminating these pests from your yards?  
 
We've used the dish soap and water method and while it works well, its incredibly time consuming to get at each individual bug- plus it seems like even if we kill hundreds one day, we walk out to hundreds more the next day.  
 
Its gotten so bad that I cant even take garbage/recycling out or get into my car without being swarmed by them- there are literally thousands of them thanks to the boxelder tree in our neighbour's yard.  
 
Unfortunately we don't have a lot of money in our budget to hire an exterminator so thought we'd take to Ebrandon to see if anybody else had any ideas so that we can get back to enjoying our back yard again before the snow falls!

Raid for flying insects will kill them. It's not listed as a bug that raid kills on the container but it does work very effectively. Spray them down and keep spraying daily or as needed and their numbers will be greatly reduced. Unfortunately it's near impossible to get rid of them entirely since they are pretty much everywhere, especially in mature neighborhoods. Luckily they don't bite or cause structural damage, they are just a nuisance. Good luck.

Talk to your neighbor since it's their tree causing the issue.

And have lived in this house for 12 years and never had a problem with these bugs until now. It's unbearable. What am i supposed to do, cut my tree down?

Same thing. Paulina has an excellent spray that works better than everything else. It’s a little pricey at $55 but it is a very large container that lasts s long time.

That should read Poulins

Windinthetrees said "And have lived in this house for 12 years and never had a problem with these bugs until now. It's unbearable. What am i supposed to do, cut my tree down? "

We just moved in last year and they were bad last fall, but this year's insane!!  
 
And it's a huge catch 22- we love having a nice big tree for shade and greenery, but we can't put any patio furniture near it because of the bugs. I know its something we're going to have to figure out how to deal with because having the tree cut down is the last thing I want.  
 
Will definitely need to check out some of the suggestions here- thank you everyone for the advice!

Just on the lawn, thousands of them. Is this because it's been so dry this year?  
 
Should I spray dish soap and water all over my lawn and house? I've read this will only kill on contact and will not repel them.

Dugr71 said "That should read Poulins "

I have seen Paulina use it too..LOL

Messed around with dish soap and sprays from the big box stores but finally went and got the $50 jug of spray from poulins and some insectiside powder for around the trees and foundation.  
 
Sprayed almost everywhere trees i:ncluded and they are almost all dead thank goodness!!

Ugh. Had a bad year two years ago. They made it in the house and everything. So horrible. Then I got the Poulins spray and it’s been so much better since. I reapply once every spring and no issues. The spray lasted us for two applications. So for about $25/year we got rid of those pests.

We also have quite literally, thousands of them around our place this year - finding clumps of them in several places daily.  
 
For what it's worth though, other than being a bit of a nuisance, they're harmless. They don't bite or sting, they don't do damage to property/wood/trees/structures at all. They feed on the sap and/or seeds of box elders, maples, etc., but no noteworthy damage to the trees themselves.  
 
So other than a bit of a creepy "ick" factor, nothing to worry about really! It'll be winter soon enough, and you'll forget they were ever here! ;-p

get someone in to spray your yard with Malathion and quick before they all move into your house for the winter