What is your stink bug strategy - here's ours

[spncity]

It's that time of year again.

This practice has saved my sanity.

We do this for our fifth wheeler and for our house and vehicles.

Use the "Residual strength" mix of D-Fense SC (deltamethrin) in a sprayer that pumps up for pressure.

Generously spray exterior areas where stink bugs like to congregate and where they like to enter. For us, this is our rooftop and chimney (they like the warmth as the weather cools) along with window edges, door edges, any vented soffits, door edges on vehicles, window and door edges on RV, perimeters of slideouts, undersides of slideouts, any other edges or potential entrance areas.

Use Delta Dust or Deltamethrin Dust in the attic. The dust only needs to be done once every few years.

Follow all precautions. Use a mask and gloves.

We use the spray at this time of year every two weeks (total of two or three times).

This is not intended for fruits and vegetables.

We get our supplies from www.DoMyOwn.com (no affiliation; only a customer). You can read all about the safety for pets and kids. They are also very helpful about answering questions over the phone.

They also recommend Bifen IT for stink bugs, which is less expensive.

Not available to ship to a few states depending on your state's regs.

What is your stink bug strategy?

 

[euro]

Fortunately, we don’t seem to get totally overrun by them and so far we have managed to just catch them one by one and “expel” ( maybe 20-30 units per year). They sure do stink if you accidentally squash them though....
We have a far bigger ladybug problem, and while they are not as unpleasant as the stink bugs, they do get annoying in huge numbers. Is your preventive measure likely going to work for ladybugs too?

 

[fosterscik]

I'm guessing you are actually seeing asian lady beetles.
https://www.housebeautiful.com/life... called Asian Lady,cons far outweigh the pros.
We had a huge problem with them when we lived in MS. As the article suggest the only way we rid ourselves of them was to seal every joint in the house. For us caulking the (tiny) gap between the tile floor and shoe molding in bathrooms and kitchen, and casings around all the windows made a huge difference.

 

[Fermion]

We have a species here in eastern Washington that just invades in the fall in the rural areas. On our mountain land, I have opened the door to the shed and found over 1000 of them on the shelves and floor.

Now I just wait for them to get all comfy for winter and then set off two bug bombs in the shed and kill all 1000 at once.

Probably doesn't make a dent in the population but it feels good. Then I shop vac them up.

 

[spncity]

Is your preventive measure likely going to work for ladybugs too?

I am guessing it would go a long way toward helping fight any insect that squeezes into those places after they are treated. But take a look at www.DoMyOwn.com and call the number. See which chemical they recommend for your situation.

After it dries, the chemical is not harmful to animals or children.

I forgot to mention that we annually spray around the base of the house and two or three feet outward on the ground. This seems to keep out occasional ant forays. We're in a rural area with lots of natural woods around.

The first year stink bugs came around everyone seemed clueless on how to deal with them. Hundreds of them got into our locked Suburban! Crazy~!

I'm so glad they are not "sting" bugs....

 

[euro]

@fosterscik, Yes, it is the Asian lady beetle for sure.

 

[spncity]

My cousin has a dog that eats any stink bugs in her house.

I asked her, "How's the dog's breath?"

She said, "Not good...!"

 

[euro]

I'm so glad they are not "sting" bugs....

Good point! Same is true for the lady bugs, although these ones actually can (and do) “bite” on occasion when cornered. Never had one break skin though so it’s more a pinch rather than a bite....

 

[sengsational]

Caulk (exterior cracks between siding) solved my lady bug issue that came about a decade ago... haven't seen one since. And this season I solved an ant problem by caulking behind the stove. Lucky we don't have stink bugs that get inside.

 

[NYEXPAT]

Never heard of a stink bug. My strategy is to live in a place that does not have bugs!

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Good point! Same is true for the lady bugs, although these ones actually can (and do) “bite” on occasion when cornered. Never had one break skin though so it’s more a pinch rather than a bite....

The lady beetles I encounter this time of year are ravenous and will try to dine on any fauna they can get their jaws into, including people. Yellowjackets behave similarly except that they have a broader interest in food types, such as soft drinks. Of course, I'd rather be bitten by a lady beetle than stung by a yellowjacket.

We see a few stink bugs up here, but their population doesn't seem to have taken off as it has in other areas. We keep the fall bug invasion at bay by having a pro spray the eaves of our 2 1/2-story house with permethrin. It costs $140, but better than me hanging off a ladder way up there.

 

[euro]

Never heard of a stink bug. My strategy is to live in a place that does not have bugs!

I'm going to venture a guess that every place will have some bugs - maybe no stink bugs in Peru, but surely some other creepers and crawlers?

 

[bjorn2bwild]

In the hotter, dryer parts of the west we have the Pinacate or "stink beetle" - more of a solitary creature, not necessarily a pest, although they will 'let you have it' if provoked.
This year we are having a cricket (hopping cockroaches) plague. I found the Hot Shot ant baits ($2 at Home Depot) work quite well. I cut the top open to allow the cricket access, they love the stuff.
We don't have pets, if we did, I would place the bait deep into a 6" section of PVC pipe and place in an inaccessible location along a wall.

 

[RobbieB]

Over 30 years I have a pretty good population of lizards here, see them every day, front yard and back. Lots of little lizards too, so they are multiplying.

Don't have a lot of crawling bugs -

 

[MissMolly]

Never heard of a stink bug. My strategy is to live in a place that does not have bugs!

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!

 

[NYEXPAT]

I'm going to venture a guess that every place will have some bugs - maybe no stink bugs in Peru, but surely some other creepers and crawlers?

Peru is loaded with bugs of every shape and size. I was talking about the district where I live and more specifically my condo. I live in the 15th&16 floor Penthouse. On ground level I occasionaly see a cockeroach and in outdoor restuarants the occasional fly. I have a 600 sq ft terrace overlooking the Pacific Ocean and city of Lima. I have a lot of plants and trees on the perimeter of the terrace. In the dirt there are very tiny ants and some sort of translucent water bug, but they only come out if you leave food on the ground. Other than that I occasionally see a butterfly and sometimes a honey bee or two. No screens on our windows except the kind to prevent children and animals from jumping out.

My terrace also has a large gazebo that has screening, but we have never used it. Probably, because we live in the desert, with no rain or standing water?

 

[pacergal]

Ugh! I do not like stink bugs. We have the brown mamorated ones and this year, I have seen two one the green ones.
We have a pest service quarterly, so we are not seeing too many of them now. The ones that get into the house get caught and flushed.

 

[braumeister]

DW is super cautious around stink bugs, and we generally have a number of them on the deck in spring and fall. She tells me they have a horrible smell when you smash them, but I can't smell them at all. Must have a lucky gene!

 

[Dtail]

We got the love bugs here in FLA twice a year invasion. Can be annoying and takes some work to get them off the car.

 

[RunningBum]

I fill a quart gatorade bottle partway with water, and I hold it just under the stink bug. When I touch the bug, it almost always falls straight down, into the bottle. Works especially well on a screen. Then I cap the bottle and shake it. When it starts getting too full or too stinky when I open the cap for the next one, I dump it outside.

 

[Walt34]

When they first appeared here in northern WV we were inundated with them but the past few years they've all but disappeared. Maybe the local bird population developed a taste for them? Whatever the cause, we just don't see more than perhaps a dozen at most outside.

 

[RunningBum]

When they first appeared here in northern WV we were inundated with them but the past few years they've all but disappeared. Maybe the local bird population developed a taste for them? Whatever the cause, we just don't see more than perhaps a dozen at most outside.

I'm wondering that too. I saw two yesterday, first time in awhile. Might still be a bit early? I remember the first year they got bad around me was 2010. I remember the time of year well because I ran my fastest marathon on 10-10-10. Stayed overnight in Gettysburg PA and there were a bunch of them in the motel I was staying at and some guests were freaking out. I was just starting to get used to them at home, so I think they did come in Sept that year. Maybe started earlier in the month though. I hope you are right.

 

[Fermion]

Ours eat tree sap from the ponderosa pines and logepole pines and I think it is this greenish sap that birds don't like (and probably what makes them stink).

I thought they had been around longer than 1998 though.

 

[rodi]

Over 30 years I have a pretty good population of lizards here, see them every day, front yard and back. Lots of little lizards too, so they are multiplying.

Don't have a lot of crawling bugs -

Same here. Lots of lizards, not many bugs.

As a bonus the lizards attract the local owl and cooper hawks - which then hang out and clean up any mice/rodents. It's all good in our backyard.

 

[NateW]

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).