Inviting Asian Beetles to Spend the Winter

I thought I was done with my series on hospitality, but last week the Asian Beetles showed up for their annual fall hunt for a winter home.

We had them winter with us a several years ago and it was not a pretty sight. I could handle them for a couple of weeks, but all year was too much. I tried everything to get rid of them. I started with natural ways and moved on to insecticides when nothing else worked.  They bite, they stink, and they leave yellow stains on carpet, walls, and drapes that does not come out with anything I’ve tried.

This is an excellent article on them and covers most of the things I’ve tried.

After reading this I put dried sage leaves in one window and whole cloves in another window to see if they would deter them. I found them sitting on the sage leaves and nestled among the whole cloves. I don’t think it works, but the cloves do smell nice.

Here is how we’ve managed to keep them at bay.

• Seal all the cracks you can as thoroughly as you can. They don’t need a very big spot to get into your home.
• Watch for them to appear – usually on a sunny warm October day.
• Then it’s war! My husband sprays the outside wall of the house with insecticide.
  • We finally found one that works through Family Handyman Magazine. It’s called Spectricide Bug Stop.
  • I don’t like using insecticides any more than anyone else does, but I like having Asian beetles infest my home even less. This one is almost odorless and doesn’t stain the wood. I don’t have young children so you would want to check that out if you use it. We do have cats and dogs and it hasn’t harmed them.
  • Each day I vacuum up all the beetles I can find and spray the window ledge where it opens and we can’t seal it or we wouldn’t be able to open our windows. If I get nothing else done, I do this. It’s been several years since we’ve had them over the winter.
    • Your vacuum will smell like the bugs so get my husband to empty it often. After the beetles are gone for the season I put in a new bag.
  • I can deal with them for a few weeks in the fall as long as they live somewhere else.

What has been your experience with Asian Beetles, or other things that can be household pests?

And now for our linkup

It was challenging to pick just one favorite this week, but I finally choose this one.

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