An invasive bug from Northern Europe has made its way to the Okanagan

OKANAGAN – There’s a new bug in town.

It looks like box elder beetle, stinks like a stink bug and it has wings. It doesn't appear to cause any real damage, but ask anyone who has found them and you'll know why they're remarkable — they want in your home. 

Lynn Grey noticed an infestation of little grey bugs near her Peachland home this summer.

“You cannot keep them out of the house,” she says. “After the exterminator was done spraying, there were hundreds of them laying on the deck below the window.”

Budget Pest Solutions owner Kurt Wollman says they’re Elm Seed bugs, new to Canada from Northern Europe.

“They like the cold,” he says. “When it’s very hot out they seek cooler air, that’s when they start getting into condos. Our summers are too hot.”

They’re called Elm Seed bugs because they eat the seeds of the elm tree. They don’t damage the tree and reproduce once a year. They were first found in Idaho seven years ago, but Wollman says he’s getting more and more calls to spray locally for them. He’s seen them in Penticton, Kelowna and Vernon.

“It’s going to get worse and worse. It’s become a big problem in Idaho,” he says. “They’re just a pest. We can treat houses… and make the problem less of an issue, but because they fly it’s very difficult to control.”

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