Box elder bugs, Garlic mustard removal, Tree suckering from the bottom - Ask Extension
Hello,
I have three seperate questions:
1. I have a problem with box elder bugs, what is the best way to deal with them?
2. I have a lot of garli...
Knowledgebase
Box elder bugs, Garlic mustard removal, Tree suckering from the bottom #894859
Asked March 19, 2025, 10:37 AM EDT
Hello,
I have three seperate questions:
1. I have a problem with box elder bugs, what is the best way to deal with them?
2. I have a lot of garlic mustard I would like to get rid of in a wetlands area, is there a good way to go about this?
3. I have a tree, possibly some sort of Japanese maple, that is sending up many shoots from the bottom and is putting out different leaves than the tree above. How can I manage these, is it ok to cut them off?
Oakland County Michigan
Expert Response
1) Box elder bugs enter homes in the Fall in search of a warmer and protected area to spend the winter. They do not reproduce during the winter months. The best option to stop them is to seal any holes, gaps in the exterior. See here for more information: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/why-are-all-these-bugs-appearing-on-the-side-or-inside-of-my-home#:~:text=The%20exterior%20side%20walls%20of,interiors%20of%20our%20human%20dwellings.
2) Garlic mustard is one of the easier plants to hand-pull with its roots. Larger patches can be controlled with triclopyr in the spring. In a wetland, you would need a permit from the MI Department of Envt, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to apply herbicide in a wetland
3) The new coming from the ground could be from a different species such as mulberry, which is an aggressive spreader. Yes, Shoots growing vertically from the ground of a tree should be pruned. Even if from the same tree species, this is not a healthy form of growth and is the tree investing energy in trying to branch and leaf out quickly. It may require multiple pruning cuts in the same season to stop this growth.
If you have future ask Extension questions, please submit each unique topic as a separate question, as these are most easily handled by sorting to the appropriate content expert.
2) Garlic mustard is one of the easier plants to hand-pull with its roots. Larger patches can be controlled with triclopyr in the spring. In a wetland, you would need a permit from the MI Department of Envt, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to apply herbicide in a wetland
3) The new coming from the ground could be from a different species such as mulberry, which is an aggressive spreader. Yes, Shoots growing vertically from the ground of a tree should be pruned. Even if from the same tree species, this is not a healthy form of growth and is the tree investing energy in trying to branch and leaf out quickly. It may require multiple pruning cuts in the same season to stop this growth.
If you have future ask Extension questions, please submit each unique topic as a separate question, as these are most easily handled by sorting to the appropriate content expert.
