[Kentucky Tim]

I don't have problems with roaches getting in my beehives, but when I put swarm traps out in the early Spring, they seem to get infested with roaches. Does anyone know of a way to keep them away? I thought about spreading boric acid around the bases of the trees where the traps are at, but boric acid takes awhile to kill a roach and they could take it into the trap with them. Thoughts?

 

[Bee Arthur]

Tim, I don't know of a safe way to avoid roaches chemically without also posing a risk to bees. So my tactic is to wait until bees are clearly swarmy before I put out my traps. At least that minimizes the time for roaches to infest them before swarms have a chance to move in.

 

[JClark]

Are you sure they are roaches? Seems like an odd behavior to me--especially for your temparate location. If sitting on the ground then I could see it but still odd.

Boric acid around the base of trees will not help as they can fly. Might be better to get a proper ID first so we could come up w/ other mitigation ideas. My first thoughts would be they are bark beetles or even a plant feeding hemipteran like box elder bugs. In this case, tree species selection may help.

If you can get a pic, post here.

 

[Kentucky Tim]

I haven't put up the swarm traps yet. As Bee Arthur suggests, I want to wait until the bees are swarmy around here. I hope to in a week or so. But they are definitely roaches. I'll get a pic once I put the trap up and give it a few days for the roaches to start to collect.

 

[JClark]

I'd be interested in a pic. Only ones I can think of would be parcoblattid wood roaches but I am assuming they stay down in the leaf litter. Not really sure what their habits are so maybe they do congregate in tree cavities and the like.

Are your traps hanging near street lights or anything like that? These can attract flying roaches at night so I could see them hiding out in a swarm trap if close by.

 

[Kentucky Tim]

Nope, no street lights. We live way out in the country, and I don't have a safety light on here. There are lots of roaches around here. My stacked wood piles (for stove heat) are full of them. They congregate anywhere dark they can hide. I'll post some pics after I hang the traps and they get in them.

 

[JClark]

Certainly sounds like Parcoblattid wood roaches to me. They are notorious for hiding out in wood piles and live in the leaf litter and rotting logs--anyplace w/ adequate moisture. They are not home invaders like your normal run of the mill ****roaches (which are actually tropical in origin). Only males fly, adult females just have wing pads. When they start congregating in the traps try to see if they are all winged or not. If both maybe hanging traps higher would help (I know, easier said than done). Could use a tractor bucket or something for some lift. Or make stands for them and put them out in a field instead of in the trees.

 

[Jim Braun]

I seem to often have roaches usually above the inner cover. The bees that hang out there seem to ignore them. This is good enough for me so I ignore them also.

 

[Kentucky Tim]

JClark, I think you are probably right. And I will try to get them at least a little higher this year.
Jim Braun, I've noticed the same thing. The roaches don't seem to stop the bees from going in. Maybe it's just my disgust factor at seeing roaches in there.