Back after the battle

[Acebird]

Ah, pretty tough to kill box elder by just cutting it down and the lot is full of them.  And then there is the boost that my hives get from them in the spring.  There is also 100 pounds of sunflower seed shells that are composting directly under the deck.  Do you suggest I tell the wife she can't feed the cardinals anymore?  No point in going there.  For the most part the bugs are bothering my wife.  I just don't like them flying on my head and crawling through my hair.

[BeeMaster2]

Brian,
Had to look up what a box elder beetle looks like. Looks like they are about the size of a small cockroach. No wonder you hate them.
Here is a link.


Jim

[BeeMaster2]

Well that did not work. If you just type in "box elder beetle" lots of pictures show up.

[texanbelchers]

Ace - Mineral oil is good in the bottom pan.  It doesn't get rancid like vegetable oil when left.  Neither evaporate like soapy water, so you don't have to visit too often.

I keep fighting with myself on oil traps.  They are extremely effective and not difficult to maintain on a few hives.  However, I want to grow and it doesn't seem reasonable to handle 40+ oil traps.  Plus, they really need to be very level for best effectiveness; throwing them on a couple concrete blocks in a rough field won't do.

[Acebird]

Looks like they are about the size of a small cockroach. No wonder you hate them.

Actually they are a colorful bug but they do resemble a roach.  They don't bite or carry any disease.  They do tickle when they get in your hair.  Wife just freaks out with many colorful words and she is not a woose.

[Acebird]

Ace - Mineral oil is good in the bottom pan.  It doesn't get rancid like vegetable oil when left.  Neither evaporate like soapy water, so you don't have to visit too often.

Ok so the tray is about 5/8 deep.  How much oil do you put in the pan?  If I don't visit the hive in two or three weeks there is going to be a lot of crap besides the beetles in there.  And then what do you do with the oil and crap in the pan?  Do you strain out the oil and reuse?  Right now if I don't put anything in the pan I can just feed it to the chickens but that means visiting the hive every day or two otherwise they just fly back up into the hive.  Actually the crap is the bait they like going down in the crap that falls in the tray.

[Beeboy01]

I have used micro fiber unscented dusting pads for SHB control. It hasn't caught on yet around here but I believe they have microfiber pads in the new Dadant catalog under SHB control which does the same thing.
  My routine for a hive inspection that has SHB's is to open the hive, check the Beetle Blaster traps, kill any that I spot crawling around then put a 1/2 duster sheet in opposite corners of the top box.  After that I fill the tray with soapy water and come back one or two days later to check and clean the tray. If there are only a few dead SHB's I won't refill the tray. If there are a lot I keep checking and refilling till the number drop. After a week or ten days the duster pads get checked and replaced. I don't like leaving them in any longer, the bees will cover them with propolus which defeats their purpose.
  Don't know if my routine would work for a larger beeyard, I only have three hives right now and they are easy to get to behind the shop. Keeping a hive strong is one of the best SHB controls, they are opportunistic and wait for the hive to weaken.

[BeeMaster2]

Ace - Mineral oil is good in the bottom pan.  It doesn't get rancid like vegetable oil when left.  Neither evaporate like soapy water, so you don't have to visit too often.

Ok so the tray is about 5/8 deep.  How much oil do you put in the pan?  If I don't visit the hive in two or three weeks there is going to be a lot of crap besides the beetles in there.  And then what do you do with the oil and crap in the pan?  Do you strain out the oil and reuse?  Right now if I don't put anything in the pan I can just feed it to the chickens but that means visiting the hive every day or two otherwise they just fly back up into the hive.  Actually the crap is the bait they like going down in the crap that falls in the tray.

Brian,
I just put enough oil in the tray to cover the bottom. I would leave the oil in the tray for about 30 days. Just pour the oil in the bushes where you are not going to step in it. Vegetable oil does not bother the plants like petroleum products do. If you have a lot of SHBs, the trays will be solid black in 30 days. If you put it in a bunch of hives you will kill a ton of them and eventually seriously decrease your local population of SHBs.

[Acebird]

30 days!  I could handle that.

[Hops Brewster]

Ah, pretty tough to kill box elder by just cutting it down and the lot is full of them.  And then there is the boost that my hives get from them in the spring.  There is also 100 pounds of sunflower seed shells that are composting directly under the deck.  Do you suggest I tell the wife she can't feed the cardinals anymore?  No point in going there.  For the most part the bugs are bothering my wife.  I just don't like them flying on my head and crawling through my hair.

Yes sir, it is.  I still have box elder suckers come up every spring that I need to cut out and curse at.  THat's why I call them weeds.
Now I wouldn't suggest anything to your wife.  I might hint to her that she's crazy for hitching up to a beek though 

[Acebird]

I might hint to her that she's crazy for hitching up to a beek though 

Ha, she's crazy for hitching up to me!

The wood rots fast so if you keep up with the suckers and keep digging up the rotted trunk it will give up.

[Beeboy01]

Box Elder Beetles, I remember them. We had an invasion of them early one spring when I lived up north. There must of been thousands of them gathered in and around the front porch, had to sweep them out of the way with a broom. ICK !!!

[Dallasbeek]

Ah, pretty tough to kill box elder by just cutting it down and the lot is full of them.  And then there is the boost that my hives get from them in the spring. 

Yes sir, it is.  I still have box elder suckers come up every spring that I need to cut out and curse at.  THat's why I call them weeds.
Now I wouldn't suggest anything to your wife.  I might hint to her that she's crazy for hitching up to a beek though 

Google "Extractigator" and watch videos of these things in action, pulling up saplings by the roots.  Pretty amazing.

[Acebird]

That might be useful for saplings that I can't get my tractor next to.  Normally I let the sapling grow to 1-2 inches and then wrap a chain around the trunk and pull it out.  The bigger problem is a 2-3 ft dia stumps.  Suckers will grow out of the stump and keep the roots alive so you have to keep cutting them off.  It took me about 6 years of constant whittling at a 5 ft stump with my tractor bucket to finally win the battle.  They rot fast but that won't happen if you don't cut off the suckers.
We have a lot of sumac that is a real pain because of the root system.  But I don't think the trunk is strong enough to pull out a sapling with that extractigator.

[Dallasbeek]

Yeah, those things are made for young saplings up to 2 inches in dia, not suckers from big tree stumps.  But for saplings, they seem to beat trying to dig out roots and all.