Many residents in the Carbon and Emery County area have seen those pesky Elm Seed Bugs around their house the last couple of months. Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Extension Assistant Professor, Steven Price to talk all things Elm Seed Bugs.

“So for those that have lived in the county a long time, there was a time you didn’t have to deal with these. So these are actually insect, they’re native to the Mediterranean, they were first found in the United States in about 2012, they were found outside of Boise, Idaho. They now kind of spread, first time we saw them in Utah, confirmed was 2014. Now they kind of spread throughout the pacific northwest and they’ve made their way through most counties of Utah at this point,” said Price. The bugs thrive on Chinese Elm and or a Siberian Elm tree. The younger bugs will feed off the seeds, while the adult bugs will feed off the foliage. They are a relative to the Box Elder Bug but are a lot smaller.

After elm seeds drop from the tree, nymphs become mobile and may be found crawling in large numbers on the trunk, ground, and in and on structures. “So during years that we have really high seed load on those trees, we’re going to have more feeding access, more feeding sites, for those young to develop. Once summer hits they’re looking for a place to get out of the heat. That usually starts in July and continues clear through August. Then like you seen, you get these aggregations where the adults are finding little places to kind of hide out, get out of the heat, and then that’s when we have the nuisance issue with them coming into the house,” said Price.

There are precautions homeowners can take to protect their homes. “Primarily the best tactic to start with for any pest management program is prevention. There’s not anything you’re going to do to the tree to get rid of them. But number one, get rid of some of those seeds as they’re dropping. That can help the number of bugs that are actually making it to maturity, so getting out the leaf blower, mulcher or whatever getting rid of those can help,” said Price. Other things that you can do to help prevent bugs from coming into the home is seal windows and doors tightly, caulk or seal openings. To reduce elm seed bug entry, apply a perimeter barrier treatment around structure foundations, windows, doors, vents, under roof overhangs and in cracks and crevices using an appropriately labeled pyrethroid insecticide.

To learn more about Elm Seed Bugs visit the USU Extension website at https://extension.usu.edu/pests/index or call the USU Extension Office at (435) 636-3235