Grrrr the wood chips I got had box elder bugs.

[Mattemma]

I just noticed the bugs yesterday. I have no luck when it comes to getting soil or mulch. I have gotten ants,larve of something,and now these box elder bugs.

I tried to get the chickens to eat them but they just stared at them. I think today I will put them into water for the hens.That is how I got them to munch the japanese beetles.

Well I won't ever get wood chips. Just stick with the more expensive mulch,which heats up like a compost pile! Soil is a tough one .Trying to make mine better so I won't need to buy so much.

 

[lesa]

That stinks! What do they look like? What about getting some type of mulch and letting it compost away from the garden for a season? How is your own composting coming?

 

[digitS']

The Bt tenebrionis I used buy was supposed to work well for elm beetles. It took care of the potato bugs just fine.

Spinosad is the replacement for Bt tenebrionis (san diego). It is not only supposed to kill those beetles but earwigs and a whole lot of caterpillars too.

I'm almost looking forward to seeing a potato bug on my eggplant this year!

Steve

 

[patandchickens]

The only problem they can cause is if they're so close to your house that they try to overwinter in your walls (which is annoying in the spring when they all pile *out* of the walls and you've got lost boxelder bugs wandering all over your living room -- like what cluster flies and ladybugs and those apple-scented leaf-footed bugs do)

Properly-outdoors, they are just neutral "meaningless" critters, no need to worry about them.

If you are concerned e.g the mulch is right outside your house walls, you could try spraying the aggregations with Safer's soap (or, frankly, probably just plain dishsoap-water).

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[lesa]

Hey, I just goggled them- I've got a million of them in the garden! A bunch of them overwintered in my basement! They really don't seem to do any damage at all...

 

[journey11]

I didn't know what they were either. I got a big load of hardwood mulch yesterday from the stone yard and I love the way it looks and it seems to not be inclined to break down as quickly as that bark mulch I bought (and hated) a couple years ago. I was so busy trying to get it applied before the rain came, I never thought to keep an eye out for unwanted bugs...