Stink Bug – The Garden Lady

How to Kill Stinkbugs, One of the Newest Pests in the U.S., Without Releasing Their Odor

Halyomorpha halys, or more commonly known as the stinkbug, is a fairly new pest to the United States. First appearing in September of 1998, itâ€™s believed to have entered the country in packing crates from China or Japan. Since then, the stinkbug has multiplied at an astonishing rate, and the infestation is at critical levels throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Many consumers are finding it hard to keep these pests out of their homes. These bugs can enter houses in a variety of ways â€¦ by hitching a ride in on clothes, crawling through unsealed cracks in doors, flying in through open doorways, and more.

As part of the Pentatomidae family, stinkbugs get their common name from the vile odor they emit through holes in their abdomen. This foul smell is a defense mechanism that makes the bug less appealing to birds and lizards. It also makes them especially nasty to get rid of. No matter how carefully you try to kill stinkbugs, any jostling, cornering, injuring or removing can â€œset them offâ€. As the infestation continues to rise, more and more people are looking for an effective way to kill stinkbugs. One of the best solutions is an indoor insect killer that can eliminate them on contact, without releasing the bugsâ€™ odor.

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Brown Marmorated Stink Bug by e_monk

Last week my son had lunch with a friend who is an emergency room doctor in a New York hospital. They got around to talking about some of the more numerous insects in New York. One of those insects seems to be found in nightmare numbers. But the interesting thing about this insect is that, though creepy and an insect that no one wants in their house or apartment, it is not known to cause any real diseases to people. It does bite people and can make you itch. Yet scientists have never found this insect to carry any disease. But this young doctor says he is seeing many people in the emergency room because of the insect. Why? Because people don’t want the insect and have been buying toxic chemicals to spray or spread in their apartments. The people are getting sick from the chemicals they are using to try to get rid of this insect. The saddest thing is that mostly all the chemicals that they are using that are poisoning them are ineffective in getting rid of the insect they want to kill. This young doctor told my son that he is seeing numerous cases of poisoned patients.

There is another insect that is considered benign that has been coming into people’s homes in great quantities to over winter. This is an insect in the stink bug family known by scientists as the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug – Halyomorpha halys (see here). Most other stink bugs overwinter in dead leaves, but the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug discovered that it can get into your house through numerous cracks or through window air conditioners and be comfortable hiding in a warm comfortable house. You really don’t see that many until it warms up outdoors and they want to leave in the spring because they are starving after a long winter of no food. Sometimes they are fooled into thinking that it is spring when lights are on indoors. Though this bug is considered a nuisance more than a disease carrier, no one likes finding them in the house. Have you ever been to a dinner party when they came out and in their confusion dive bombed the guests? TheGardenLady has and it wasn’t pleasant.

So how does one get rid of them?

Continue reading “How to Eliminate the Stink Bug”