What is your stink bug strategy - here's ours

[rjsob58]

I use a spray bottle of vinegar, dish soap liquid and water. Found the recipe on-line and works pretty well.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Here in SW Virginia they also don’t seem quite as bad as a few years ago but they’re bad enough. I used to get the vacuum cleaner and suck them up. Ten years ago I once got 35 on the small sun porch. Now we just grab them gently in a tissue and flush them.

 

[NateW]

Here in SW Virginia they also don’t seem quite as bad as a few years ago but they’re bad enough. I used to get the vacuum cleaner and suck them up. Ten years ago I once got 35 on the small sun porch. Now we just grab them gently in a tissue and flush them.

I like that. I just bought a Dyson V-10 stick vacuum. Gotta try sucking up stink bugs. I collect moths on the screened in porch that way. I'm in Winchester and stink bugs seem to be extra numerous this year.

 

[Montecfo]

Stink bugs are a fairly recent phenomenon in the US:

Where Did Stink Bugs Come From?
The brown marmorated stink bug, native to Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea, was first discovered in the United States in eastern Pennsylvania in 1998. Since then, the stink bug has migrated to other states such as: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia.

In recent years, there have been reported sightings in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

They first started showing up here in KY about 10 years ago. Ugh!

In my experience, they are not new. We had them in Texas when I was a kid. Looked the same as the brown ones except green. Same stink.

 

[gerntz]

I'm sitting in my living room this evening and notice a stink bug about 12 feet up on the wall, near the vaulted ceiling. He was on the move, going higher. Normally, when I find a stink bug in the house, I sneak up behind it and put it in a water bottle and screw on the cap. Not wanting to bring in my 8 foot stepladder to capture the trespasser, I taped a water bottle to a long Swiffer handle and on the first try, bagged the little bugger by poking the bottle opening right at him near the ceiling. He can now keep is friend company in the bottle. (I captured another one earlier today).

I use the Swiffer pad at end of handle to stun them to floor from skylight wells & wrap in paper towel & flush. Three-4 years ago were really bad, maybe 20/day, but now not too many. One in last month or so. Hang out on light shades in evenings. Easy catches. They're always seeking light/heat.

 

[Qs Laptop]

What about box elder bugs? Here in Minnesota, after the first frost or two they come out of wherever they are hiding during the ensuing warm days and swarm in the sunshine on the south side of my house. The conventional strategy is to get a squirt bottle filled with soapy water and spray them down. That really doesn't do much.

 

[spncity]

Call the experts at www.DoMyOwn.com and ask them about your bugs.

 

[spncity]

I like that. I just bought a Dyson V-10 stick vacuum. Gotta try sucking up stink bugs. I collect moths on the screened in porch that way. I'm in Winchester and stink bugs seem to be extra numerous this year.

Is this a sacrificial vacuum that will not be kept in the house? Depending on how many you have, the stink may stay in it......

 

[Walt34]

What about box elder bugs? Here in Minnesota, after the first frost or two they come out of wherever they are hiding during the ensuing warm days and swarm in the sunshine on the south side of my house.

OMG yes! We used to have that issue big time, drove poor DW nuts, it didn't bother me all that much since they're harmless. We tried all sorts of things, even jumped at the chance to cut down a box elder tree when it died (of natural causes, really). Nothing helped until we gave up and called a pest control company. They spray some stuff, I dunno what and frankly don't care, but the box elder bugs are gone and DW is happy. That is worth whatever it is the pest control folks charge. I forget exactly how much it is they charge but it isn't much.

 

[Al in Ohio]

The photo of the bug on this post is not a stink bug. It’s some kind of beetle. Stink bugs are brownish and very flat. Anyway, yes I see them more and more on our window screens trying to get in. I wouldn’t want to use any of those chemicals in and around my home anymore. I have come to learn their use is worse than any benefit. Human autoimmune diseases are spiking due to their use.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Is this a sacrificial vacuum that will not be kept in the house? Depending on how many you have, the stink may stay in it......

I have a central vacuum and the canister in the basement holds quite a lot. I never noticed any residual stink.

 

[spncity]

I have a central vacuum and the canister in the basement holds quite a lot. I never noticed any residual stink.

That's good. Maybe it depends on how many are vacuumed.

 

[Montecfo]

The photo of the bug on this post is not a stink bug. It’s some kind of beetle. Stink bugs are brownish and very flat. Anyway, yes I see them more and more on our window screens trying to get in. I wouldn’t want to use any of those chemicals in and around my home anymore. I have come to learn their use is worse than any benefit. Human autoimmune diseases are spiking due to their use.

Agree. That was a beetle. Stink bugs are brown or green. Google "green stink bug" if curious about green variety.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

The photo of the bug on this post is not a stink bug. It’s some kind of beetle. Stink bugs are brownish and very flat. Anyway, yes I see them more and more on our window screens trying to get in. I wouldn’t want to use any of those chemicals in and around my home anymore. I have come to learn their use is worse than any benefit. Human autoimmune diseases are spiking due to their use.

Agree. That was a beetle. Stink bugs are brown or green. Google "green stink bug" if curious about green variety.

Reading the text accompanying the photo can save a lot of hyperventilating.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I uncovered the grill at lunch and found about two dozen stink bugs huddling under the black cover in the sun. Thankfully none were inside.

 

[SALTedOut]

I so thought this post was going to be about something else that "stink bug" referred to like a really bad market downturn or unwelcome relatives who showed up at your door. But come to think of it the unwelcome relative probably is pretty close to a real stink bug.

 

[Walt34]

But come to think of it the unwelcome relative probably is pretty close to a real stink bug.

In one respect the stink bugs are easier to deal with. No one gets upset if you kill them....

 

[SALTedOut]

In one respect the stink bugs are easier to deal with. No one gets upset if you kill them....

 

[Al in Ohio]

I have squished quite a few. Some really don’t emit much of a smell, while a few smell a bit like strong parsley to me.

 

[Dash man]

We’re in SE PA and used to see a lot of stink bugs. But they’ve nearly disappeared the past couple of years and have been replaced by the Spotted Lantern Fly that causes a lot of damage to trees. I’d rather have the stink bugs!

 

[mountainsoft]

We had our first stink bugs show up a couple years ago. I had never seen them before that, but last year we had several come into the house. Thankfully, if I hold a card or piece of paper they'll usually walk onto it so I can relocate them back outside.

This year the first bug appeared last week. I've seen a couple since then, but nothing in the house yet.

For me, the smell is really mild when I do squash them, but if you get it on your hands it does linger a very long time. Washing your hands doesn't seem to remove it.

 

[2cheap2eat]

No stink bugs in North Texas but plenty of small lizards and big American cockroaches that always try to get inside. Hard to treat for either.

 

[Jeb-NY]

We had a bad infestation 5 years ago. Did a lot of caulking and I spray the eaves with Bifen IT when I see the first sign of them outside. The combination has reduce them to a few a week inside instead of dozens per day. We also use the plastic bottle with a little water and Dawn added to catch them when they are in a spot I can get to, paper towels the rest of the time.

Was hoping for better solutions, oh well, the war goes on.

 

[NH Hiker]

BugZooka - it can quickly suck up the ones that make it inside. Plus it is very satisfying.

 

[maingram]

Stink Bugs

Here in SW Virginia they also don’t seem quite as bad as a few years ago but they’re bad enough. I used to get the vacuum cleaner and suck them up. Ten years ago I once got 35 on the small sun porch. Now we just grab them gently in a tissue and flush them.

Thankfully here in Central Pennsylvania, I have noticed a big decrease in stink bugs this year. I also have used a vacuum cleaner to suck them up but they still stunk so a few years ago I came across a gadget on Amazon called Bugzooka. Handheld with extension device that sucks up the bugs and seals them in so you don't get the smell. I keep one on each level of our home. Works beautifully!