Oh no! They're back and just plain obnoxious...

It's that time of year again and there has been an explosion....
that is of Boxelder Bugs. These little guys are just bothersome. Not as bad as the biting Japanese ladybugs but obnoxious just the same.

Yesterday when I drove into the garage, hundreds swarmed around me... I was in the Miata with the lid down and they love hanging out on that warm south facing dark green garage door. I guess winter didn't discourage their population growth. We have never experienced this many. When I looked at the garage door mid afternoon, I should have gone for my camera as there were colonies of hundreds huddled together that made the garage door appear to have giant moving spots. Today there wasn't such a multitude but it looked like random adventurers on the garage door. They like their ladybug friends don't have any natural predators to get rid of them either.

Apparently one bug got squished in the garage door as it reclosed and his buds decided that he would be good for dinner. YUM. So once they are dead, I guess they like each a lot.

They really don't cause any harm to their host (the boxelder tree, imagine that! But can be found in other trees and they like chewing on my garden plant leaves...) So it wouldn't be practical to try to treat every tree. But if they decide to move inside, they tend to leave their droppings even if their life span is only a couple days. If you squish them, they stink and are a nuisance as they land on you. Therefore if I find them inside, I pull out the big trusty shop vac and suck them right up. ( Oh BTW I noticed there was an earthy smell in the shop vac and GOOGLING said just place one of those hotel coffee packets and it will absorb smells. SUCCESS)

Anyhow, for the houses's exterior, just take the hose with a forceful spray of water and displace the undesirables, drowning them. Die suckers die. I am thankful we don't have as many ladybugs yet. It could and might still be worse but for right now, we are just going to have to coexist with them in the End of the Rainbow Valley...