Got Stink Bugs? Here’s How To Get Rid of Them
Stinkbugs are an invasive pest that show up unannounced this time of year. Learn what to do about these creepy bugs invading your home or garden!
Has this ever happened to you: You’re gazing out the window when you spot a creepy brown bug that looks like something from a sci-fi action thriller clinging to your screen. If the critter in question has a broad, shield-shaped body with stripes around the edges and on the antennae, long legs, and a comparatively tiny head, you may have a stink bug on your hands.
The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
The brown marmorated stink bug (Eocanthecona furcellata) or simply “stink bug” for short, is an invasive pest that is native to China. It was first discovered in the United States in the late 1990s, in the state of Pennsylvania. Stinkbugs have since spread to 40 states, as well as parts of Canada, though they are still most plentiful in the Mid-Atlantic region, including Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware.
Stink bugs range in size from half an inch to an inch in size, but their most notable characteristic is the one that gives them their name. When stink bugs are frightened, disturbed, or killed by crushing, they emit a pungent odor that some describe as skunk-like. Some say it smells like the foliage of tomato plants.
Stink bugs are becoming an increasingly problematic agricultural pest—the herbivorous insects inject their sharp, pointy mouths into fruit and other crops, leaving behind rotted areas that make them unviable for sale as fresh produce.
To the average homeowner, though, stink bugs are mostly harmless. They do not cause any structural or other damage and, unlike roaches, ants, and other common household pests, stink bugs are solitary creatures and do not travel in colonies. While you may find a group of stinkbugs together in a garden, these are simply individuals drawn to the same food source.
Spring and Fall Pests
Stink bugs emerge in the spring to feed and reproduce. Late July and August are the most common times to see damage to plants. And in the fall, as the weather turns colder, the bugs start invading homes in search of a warm place to spend the winter. Stink bugs typically gather on warm, west-facing walls and enter buildings via cracks and crevices.
But they have been seen at all times of the year, in all regions.
Get Rid of Stink Bugs In Your Home
So what do you do if you encounter a stink bug, and how do you keep them out? Here’s a quick primer:
If you find a stink bug, or a few, in your home, do not panic. They are harmless to humans, structures, and fabrics. Whatever you do, do not crush a stink bug. As its name suggests, a threatened or crushed stinkbug will release an unpleasant, skunky odor. The easiest way to get rid of stink bugs is to vacuum them up. If you have a Shop-Vac or a little-used spare vacuum you keep in a garage, use it to prevent the smell from infiltrating your home. Be sure to replace the bag immediately, or clean out a bagless model with vinegar.
Some people like to catch stink bugs and flush them down the toilet. While effective, this method also results in a lot of wasted water if used too frequently.
Keeping Stink Bugs Out
- To keep stink bugs from invading your home in the first place, make sure everything is sealed up well. Fill in cracks around windows, doors, siding, utility pipes, chimneys, and underneath fascia with good quality silicone or silicone-latex caulk. Repair or replace damaged screens on doors and windows.
- Sprinkle food-grade diatomaceous earth both inside and outside, targeting areas where they may be getting in (windows, doorways). It acts as a natural, abrasive barrier to crawling insects and is harmless to humans and pets.
- Stink bugs are repelled by garlic. Crush a few garlic cloves and put in a dish on a windowsill and at entryways.
Get Rid of Stink Bugs In The Garden
- While stink bugs pose no real threat to homeowners, they can be incredibly destructive pests for farmers and gardeners. They feed on a wide range of tree fruits and seed pods as well as many vegetables including tomatoes, peppers, beans, and sweet corn.
- To keep stink bugs from devouring your garden, you can purchase commercial stink bug traps that will capture adult stink bugs. Planting sunflowers and marigolds will also help by attracting beneficial insects that will eat stink bug eggs and larva.
- Sprinkle food-grade diatomaceous earth beneath growing watermelon, cantaloupe, squash and all fruits and vegetables resting on the ground, as well as on plant leaves.
- Stink bugs also dislike the smell of mint. Consider planting it in your garden, or crushing a few leaves and scattering them around the base of other plants.
- While the above remedies are deterrents, you can also make a solution of mild soapy water with dish soap, and spray directly on the bugs to kill them.
Is It A Stink Bug? Meet The Lookalikes
Squash bugs and Western Conifer Seed Bugs are often confused with stink bugs. Here’s how to tell them apart. Additionally, many people report getting “bit’ by stink bugs but this is highly unlikely. True marmorated stink bugs’ mouth aren’t designed for biting. The only food source they’re interested in is plant material and nothing related to mammals.
Jaime McLeod
Jaime McLeod is a longtime journalist who has written for a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including MTV.com. She enjoys the outdoors, growing and eating organic food, and is interested in all aspects of natural wellness.
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Jaime McLeod#molongui-disabled-link
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Jaime McLeod#molongui-disabled-link
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What about neem oil spray ? it works against them darned Japanese beetles !
Can we stop with the hippy dippy safe-and-sane Racheal Carson approved remedies, what do farmers actually use? You know something with a chemical name the plebeians can’t pronounce and irrationally fear. Something with a chemical name so large you need to abbreviate it, like DDT. Something with warning labels, not “deterrents” that are food safe. Something that you have to dilute while wearing gloves. Something that is banned in Commiefornia but I can buy online anyway. That’s the kinda anti-stink bug poison I’m looking for. I have a serious NEW invasion over 4 acres of profitable crops.
Once the soapy water is sprayed on the plant, is it necessary to rinse the plant off? And can I add diatomaceous earth to the mix?
Diatomaceous earth needs to be dry to work
So what commercial poisons kill them in the garden?
I have tried many things on these little buggers since they invaded our area 10 ish years ago. Not much has worked very well till last year I started spraying my yard with cedar spray for earwigs, fleas, ticks, misquotes. Well guess what I now see very few stink bugs, it use to be you could hardly open the door without one coming in.
Oh thanks for sharing Judy! We will give it a try!
What is cedar spray. How do I get it. I have an invasion of earwigs
They are a pain, in both garden and house. What we found works best inside is a 14 oz. veggie can, rinsed clean, then add about a full teaspoon of cheap dish soap, then about 1/2 can fuilled with water. I use a stiff, plastic-coated piece of junk mail to scoot them into the can. They died within 15-30 secs., without stinking. Also works well for the Ladybug invasions. They die 10 – 20 secs. When there’s a good bunch collected, flush away. Other thing helping around doorways is store-bought Lemon-grass spray. And there’s always chickens, but can’t get past the thought of eating eats made by stinkbug-eating chickens.
It’s bad luck to kill ladybugs.
I believe Ed is referring to the uglier invasive & annoying Asian Lady Beetles
those brown ones are just bad luck in themselves…nasty buggers. Don’t kill the true red lady bugs.
Oh my goodness??? n
I live in the Caribbean and stinky bugs are eating the leaves to my black sage trees. Recently I noticed them on my pigeon pea trees this year. I sprayed them with some homemade lemon rind water, but that did not help. I will try the garlic and salt water. Garlic does not grow very well in my neck of the woods, but I will scatter the garlic skins around the plant. So far they have not found my tomato plants. Hope they never do. I have tried catching them to place them in a soapy liquid, they always fly away.
I sure would love to know suggestions for getting rid of the new and disgusting Aedes mosquito from Asia. (I live in So CA.) It is literally eating us alive!
We had stink bugs since I was a kid in the 60s. You mentioned them coming from China in the 90s. Is that a different type? They look very similar except ours were gray.
We usually get cedar beetles. AND way too damn many of them! Soapy water kills them dead
A quick and easy way to get rid of stink bugs and many other bugs that invade your garden. It also is environmentally friendly. You get a 24 oz spray bottle fill it about halfway up with water, put two heaping tablespoons of salt in, and then add Dawn dish soap. I don’t know exact measurements but what I do is I squeeze enough in to change the color of the water. Shake it up until the salt dissolved.
This stuff lasted me all summer. It just depends on how much you use it. I used it for flies and such on the patio.
Terrific!
I have a screened porch off my bedroom and in the spring/early summer sooo many stinkbugs! My method — I use a “mixing” size bowl half full of water/dish detergent and flick them into it. They drown, no smell.
Jamo – actually the bug you may be talking about is the kissing bug that causes a disease called Chagas and became pravelent in Texas in the 50s. It is still around and many Texans are infected. https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2018/06/25/texas-has-11-types-kissing-bugs-and-all-carry-deadly-chagas-disease/695370002/
This is totally different from stink bugs or the assasian bug – they look similar if not side by side. If you see the very large wheel bug with similar color to stink bugs but different shape/size, etc – don’t kill it. It is our largest terrestrial bug. At the moment, it is the only natural killer of stink bugs we have. Though it can leave a bite worse than wasp or hornet and it sometimes eats ladybugs and bees – it consistently looks for stink bug eggs, young, and adults too. They pierce the skin of their prey similar to stink bugs do on fruit, vegetables, corn, soybeans, etc. But wheel bugs mostly are meat eaters and also prey upon soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars, Japanese beetles, the cabbage worm, orange dogs, tent caterpillars, and the Mexican bean beetle,
See below brief statement of how bad stink bugs are to food crops..I can tell you – they ruin the taste of whatever they bite and because it causes rotting where it bites – you might think you can save the part not yet affected…not so – they are quite an issue for us on east coast and they are quickly spreading – by now are probably in all states. In 2012, it was reported in 40 states and into Canada, pretty fast for a bug that was first seen in 1998 in PA (most likely came from China or Japan in packing crates or with machinery parts).
“The brown marmorated stink bug is a serious agricultural pest that has been readily causing damage to crops across the Eastern United States. They feed on a wide array of plants including apples, apricots, Asian pears, cherries, corn, grapes, lima beans, peaches, peppers, tomatoes, and soybeans.This makes them extremely versatile, as they do not require a specific plant on which to feed. To obtain their food, stink bugs use their stylets to pierce the plant tissue to extract the plant fluids.In doing so, the plant loses necessary fluids, which can lead to deformation of seeds, destruction of seeds, destruction of fruiting structures, delayed plant maturation, and increased vulnerability to harmful pathogens.While harvesting the plant’s juices, the stink bug injects saliva into the plant, creating a dimpling of the fruit’s surface and rotting of the material underneath.“
Question: I have heard that if you squash a stink bug, the smell will attract other stink bugs, true or false?
From what we’ve read Faith, squashing a stink bug should not attract others. It seems to be a myth.
Definitely True???