PLYMOUTH, Minnesota — John Henning can't escape the boxelder bugs.
They're flocking to the siding of his home, but they're also crawling all over the windows of his greenhouse at Dundee Nursery Landscape in Plymouth.
"They're crawling into the store, too," Henning said. "The doors open and they suck right up in there."
Many of you have reported boxelder bug invasions on social media, with one user calling it "the worst I've ever seen at my house."
The question is, why is it so bad this fall?
"It's hard to answer that," said Erin Buchholz, an integrated pest management specialist with the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. "Boxelder bugs are hard to predict. Some years, they are not terrible. Other years, they are very, very heavy. Just because it's very heavy this year does not mean that next year will be this heavy."
Buchholz said the bad years seem to come in cycles, every four or five seasons.
"Our nights are getting colder. They're nearing the portion of their lifecycle where they need to be warm," Buchholz said, "so they will actually seek out buildings."
These boxelder bugs may be annoying, but they won't damage your home, experts say. They also won't breed or carry any disease.
But how do you get these things away?
"Prevention is the first step. Make sure you check your doors, check your windows to see if you have any gaps. Try and seal those best you can. Check on your siding as well," Buchholz said. "If they do get inside, get a Shop-Vac if you don't already have one. Just suck them up and you can dispose of them like garbage."
Don't worry: The Minnesota winter will put an end to the boxelder bug threat.
Until then...
"A big nuisance is what it is," John Henning said.