There’s no doubt we’re having a mild autumn thus far. How many times do we go into the second half of October with overnight temperatures remaining above freezing or just barely freezing?

And daytime highs, on select days of course, have been “hot” for this time of year, especially when the sun is shining. We’ll take it, right? We love an extended summer here on the northern Great Plains.

But, there’s one problem with this scenario. On sunny days we see box elder bugs plastered on the sides of our houses. It’s the downside of having a mild fall.

Some years the bugs are worse than others. You may have your own opinion, but it seems like this year is worse than recent years.

Some people will argue that box elder bugs are harmless…. and they are. Unfortunately, they are quite annoying and if you take a close look at them, creepy.
They are attracted to box elder and maple trees, as you might imagine. So, if you take away their habitat, you’ll get rid of the bugs, right?

I don’t think so! I recently visited someone whose yard only has evergreen trees surrounded by farmland and the side of their house looked like a scene from a Vincent Price movie.

But it is true these bugs, sometimes called maple bugs, feed on the trees and the leaves. If you remove the leaves, it won’t get rid of them, but will most likely reduce the population on your property.
Box elder bugs never used to be a bother to me until one day one landed in a cup of coffee I was holding. That did it and since that time, I’ve used numerous means to get them out of the house and off the property.

There are all kinds of ways to declare war on these bugs. According to Cornell University, pyrethrin pesticides are among the best ways to stop the bugs. Keep in mind, chemicals can be expensive, but seem to work long term.

If you don’t want to use chemicals, there are some home remedies. Most notable is a cocktail of Dawn dish soap, vinegar and water. One part soap, one part vinegar and the rest water will surely stop the bugs you are seeing.
This concoction will kill them on contact, but not the ones hiding under foliage.

Straight vinegar also works well, especially when it’s concentrated. If you’re using regular household vinegar, you’re wasting time and money. Household vinegar is rated at 5 percent acetic acid and cleaning vinegar has 6 percent acetic acid.
There are much higher percentages available, such as 30 percent acetic acid. Mac’s Hardware and Home Depot both carry the 30 percent in gallon jugs. It’s sold as a cleanser and it works really well for that purpose, but it also works quickly to take out the box elder bugs.

However, not seeing the results I’ve wanted, I went online and found a 45 percent version of acetic acid. This is nearly half acid and it is quite powerful. If you use it on bare skin, it will cause chemical burns. It fried two layers of skin on one of my fingers from spraying it on the bugs.

The good news is, there are no longer a lot of little dark spots on the south side of my house on sunny days after using the soap/water/45 percent vinegar solution.

Box elder bugs aren’t harmful in nature. They don’t bite, they don’t carry disease, but because winter is coming, they’re looking for shelter, meaning they’re going to try to get into your house or garage.

And if you think a hard frost will knock them out, guess again. As long as we have nights in the upper 20s and daytime highs in the 60s and 70s with sunshine, we’ll continue to see these creepy creatures.

Have you ever had one land on a plate of food in front of you, crawl around on your neck or find one crawling on or in your bed? Makes you want to wish for winter so that kind of thing doesn’t happen since consistent cold will certainly stop them.