Please also refer to the methods and steps recommended under the tab Infestation
Box elder trees are the main source of food for box elder bugs. Remove the female trees, which bear the seeds the box elder bugs eat, from your property. Eliminating their main food supply should greatly reduce the box elder bug population. You can cut down the box elder trees yourself using a hand saw or chain saw. Check ahead of time to make sure the tree has a clear landing path before cutting it down to avoid any collateral damage. You can also hire a professional service to come in and remove the trees for you.
Home Protection
You can take steps to ensure box elder bugs don't invade your home by removing debris located close to your home's perimeter. Box elder bugs like to burrow beneath leaves and logs during the winter and can easily migrate from these hiding places to your home. Placing logs or organic piles far away from your home will discourage the box elder bugs from relocating to your property.
Prevention is your best defense when it comes to box elder bugs. Repair or replace window and door screens, seal openings such as cracks or the space around your cable wire, move piles of wood or other items from the base of your house (they're tempting wintering locations for box elder bugs), and install door sweeps or rubber liners on the bottoms of all entry doors (including your garage door). Using caulk to seal any crevices or gaps in your home's exterior, as well as weather stripping your doors and windows, will also help keep box elder bugs from finding ways to enter your home.
If box elder bugs are congregating on an exterior wall of your home, use your hose to spray them away. A hose isn't going to keep them from coming back, but this measure may minimize the numbers that enter your home.
If you're interested in a long-term prevention method, consider planting a tree that will eventually provide shade on the sunniest walls of your home. Box elder bugs tend to swarm on the sunniest, warmest walls, so a shade tree can help. (Just don't plant a box elder, maple or ash tree!) A retractable sun shade can also help.
Please be sure to read our How To Use article to learn how to treat the inside of your home as well.
Use a Vacuum
A shop vac is a simple but effective tool you can use to rid your home of box elder bugs. Connect a hose attachment to you shop vac, switch on the vac and vacuum up any box elder bugs you find indoors. Discard the dead box elder bugs in a wastebasket or outside when you are done.
Soap and CEDAR-AL cedar oil
Try to eliminate as many of the bugs as you can by using a soap solution about 4 percent dish soap to a bowl of hot water. Poor the solution into a spray bottle and spray the solution on the box elder bugs. Contact with the solution should prove fatal to the bugs, but will not harm any plants in your lawn or garden. Then spray your windows thoroughly with CEDAR-AL cedar oil. This will prevent them from returning. Continue as often as you think necessary. You will notice, along with the preventative steps mentioned above and on our website, they will relocate their residence.