Well Beth- that's a great question and I'm going to answer it but first, I want to tell you about Boxelder Bugs (I'm just "evil" that way)!!!
Scientific Name and Nomenclature: Order Hemiptera, Family Rhopalidae, Boxelder Bug, Boisea trivittata (Say)
An adult and nymph on a tree leaf (Note the link where I found this picture has several other good pictures of Boxelders and other insects if you are interested in looking at "bug" pictures).
Pest Status: Boxelder bugs are often considered a "nuisance" pest since they enter homes and/or buildings (particularlly stone ones) in search of winter hibernation areas. They can be vacummed up to be removed from buildings. Remember that I have said before that if you use the vacumme method you MUST remove the bag from teh vacumme and throw it out immediately. Insects can survive in harsh conditions and your vacumme bag with lint, food, and air is a very nice home for them where they can reproduce.
Host Plants (places where they can be found): Boxelder,
Caddo (Florida) Maple, 
Silver Maple (sometimes)
The life stages of the Boxelder bug
Overwinter as adults. Emerge in midspring, mate, and lay eggs. In the spring adults and nymphs will feed on seeds and maple trees. This first generation of nymphs may feed on dead insects including their siblings. These nymphs will emerge as adults in early summer.
In the summer and fall, the adults and numphs will suck sap from new tree (usually boxelder) growth and may feed on weeds and other plants. This type of plant feeding is usually non-damaging but when they feed on stawberries it can be very damaging. The second generation will occur in late summer and will have adult emergence in October. This generation is the one that will overwinter ater the first frost.
Whew!! Now I will answer the question
Photo Credit
Yes, I think it's possible. Coccinellidae (Ladybug Family) beetles will feed on ANY arthropod that they can handle. So if there are lots of adults and nymphs around during the first or second generation of nymphs then it is likely that they will feed on them and consequently reduce the population. You can increase the number of ladybugs in your yard by making sure that you have plants that produce pollen, nectar, and honey dew for the adult insect to feed on. Another aspect to think about is what other beneficials (such as song birds, rodents, and/or other insects) do you have in your area.
References Used:
Cranshaw, W. 2004. Garden Insects of North America: the Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs. Princeton University Press, Prenceton, New Jersey. Pgs. 230 and 544.
Pedigo, L.P., Rice, M. E. 2006. Entomology and Pest Management, 5th Ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pg. 319.
Salsbury, G.A., White, S.C. 2000. Insects in Kansas. Kansas Department of Agriculture. Pg 100.
Thanks for the post. I'm just now finding it as I'm way behind in my blog reading! Wow, I need to encourage all the lady beetles I can! I get really tired of the boxelder bugs hanging around all winter. Anyway, thanks for all the interesting research you did on my question! I appreciate it! Beth
ReplyDeleteIs there any way to get rid of the boxelders without vacuuming? Any spray or anything? I have an infestation and would love advice on how to getbrid of them!
ReplyDeleteThis is beyond fascinating. I had NO IDEA that lady bugs are capable of such things! You learn something new everyday.
ReplyDelete*Goes to do further research*
We are coming across an abundance of tiny little red bugs (box elder came to mind first since they are common in our wooded area), and want to know if they could be nymph boxelder bugs? They are tiny-the equivalent of a baby spider but with red, round-like bodies and appear to have only 6 legs at this stage. They are way tinier than the boxelder "babies" we see coming out of the ground in spring. When squashed, they 'burst' into what looks like blood (kind of like a mosquito). They are all, always red w/ no visible black spots - so it's not a tick or the more mature boxelders, and they have the long antenaes in the front. They also tend to 'behave' like boxelders in that they are found around the window sills, and climbing the southern window glass. Is it possible they are boxelder bugs or could we be looking at something different all-together? I hope you can help & provide some insight - our concern is that it could be lice, different breed of tick, or something new brought on from the drought. And if they are boxelder bugs, does borax work as insecticide? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSorry for my late response; I'm working on writing my thesis so I have been lax in watching comments on my blog.
DeleteYour description leads me to believe that they are nymphs; unfortunately, nymphs of similar species and even between different orders, such as beetles and "true" bugs often look similar. However, I'm confident they are insects since you said they only have 6 legs. All insects have 6 legs but other arthropods such a ticks and spiders will have 8 legs which is one reason they are not insects. Lice are very species specific so they would be found near a host such as a dead animal or on humans in the case of head lice. Lice, also, have modified front legs which are shaped like claws so they can hold onto the hairs of their host.
Borax could work as insecticide; it is a detergent so it can kill anything you put in on like plants. However, I looked up Borax as an insecticide on the KSU libraries Agricola data base and only found one paper including the use of Borax. the researches used Borax mixed with orange oil and detergents in the TriCon formulation (Seal & Kumar, 2010). Seal and Kumar found that this combination suppressed "larvae" and adults. Their materials and methods are not clear about how they formulated the insecticide mixture.
I would suggest that if you try Borax that you read the back of the label on how to mix it and then spray in onto the surfaces where you want to reduce the insects and then check back daily to see if you find dead or dead appearing insects. You may also want to check the plants around the spray area to see how they are impacted. It is possible that using Borax could impact beneficial insects such as Lady bugs or other animals so please use sparingly and cautiously.
I hope this helps and please let me know what you find.
Simple mix of dish soap and water, more sudsy, has worked for us. They suffocate in the suds. Harsh, but they multiply so fast! We have no maple trees but they seem to be everywhere!
DeleteSimple mix of dish soap and water, more sudsy, has worked for us. They suffocate in the suds. Harsh, but they multiply so fast! We have no maple trees but they seem to be everywhere!
DeleteWill lady bugs also kill the aphids that like to devour my lupines?
ReplyDeleteFind Boxelder Bug information and control methods. Learn how to exterminate and get rid of boxelder bugs. Rely on us for all your Box Elder Bug needs.
ReplyDeletebox elder bugs control
This is a question more than a comment. I live in new I gland just outside of Boston. I live in a condo, an old Victorian home converted to 4 condo units 16 years ago. We've never heard of box elder bugs until this summer. We initially thought they were red spiders that we were seeing on our driveway, side of house fence and also on the two adjoining neighbors property. I'd describe it as an infestation. We have have contacted exterminators and no one is willing to come out to rid us of these bugs. I'm wondering if it's so hard to get rid of them. We have tried spraying with a homemade insecticide of oil, soap and baking powder which will kill them on contact but they keep coming back. We moved to commercial insecticides which will again kill them on contact but it does not get rid of them AT ALL. Now it's October and we have very large adults all over the outside of the house. We keep spraying but can't seem to get rid of them. We are worried they willcomeinside and reproduce. We know they will disappear when cold weather dents in but then they will just reemerge in the spring. What can we do to get them off of our property?
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