I do something similar. I use a cup with a heavy dose of dish soap in it. When they hit the soapy water they don't release the stink. They just sit there and die. Don't even need a lid. I only use that inside.
What is your stink bug strategy - here's ours
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Montclairbobbyb
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Operation Stink Bug...
Our house gets hit pretty hard with stink bugs in late Sep through Oct. Some days there can be 50 on the sunny side of the house at a time, clustering around the screens. They are TENACIOUS, and once they find a chink in the armor (so to speak), they exploit it and bring a parade of buddies with them. MOST IMPORTANT is to completely seal access via windows and doors. They can squeeze through tiny cracks.
Second front in the war (and this works best with a slightly OCD/sadistic attitude)... You hunt and kill them. We're at least lucky enough to live in a ranch, where we have access to the areas where they most congregate. I use a plastic Folgers coffee container filled with a little water and soap suds. Like previous posters claim, stink bugs are among the easiest to catch (THANKFULLY!!!!), as their natural defense is to "drop and roll"... I just hold a container under where they sit, and 'coax' them with a fly swatter... they drop and drown. We've added the hunt and destroy routine to our (many) fall yard work tasks...just a fact of life. Am I making a dent? Don't know, but hopefully I'm minimizing the numbers I have to chase down INSIDE my home over the winter. I have YET to eradicate them completely, but I can assure you, IF I DIDN'T DO what I'm doing, our problem would be MUCH WORSE. It's a learning process... I feel I'm getting better at it each year.
Third front is to accept that at least a few WILL likely breach your defenses... Doors for example... The CAN and WILL exploit door cracks, since it's virtually impossible to completely seal these. You'll find them hidden on the hinge side of the storm doors when you open them; just knock em down and gather or crush them... the smell isn't SO SO bad... just annoying, and it WILL dissipate.
Once inside, stink bugs will eventually be attracted to your indoor lights, and we sometimes hear them buzzing around our living room, where we quickly hone in on their location, waiting for them to land on a surface before removing them. You get much better at catching them over time. It's no big deal.
Someone mentioned Spotted Lantern Fly... we're STARTING to see them... they're a whole nuther challenge... BUT, like the stink bug, they have a similar (albeit more challenging) defense mechanism that helps to catch them. They SPRING straight back at you (with great force) when alarmed. I use an old plastic apple juice container with a big hole cut on the side. Filled with a little water and soap, it serves the same purpose. You approach directly from behind the lantern fly, and press the hole around them. They will snap back and fall into the drink. Easy peasy.
It IS work to hunt and kill them... and I've got plenty of other jobs to do... but still, when they attack by the thousands over several weeks, taking a few minutes each day to eliminate 100-200 is my way of taking the fight to them.
GO GET EM!!!
Our house gets hit pretty hard with stink bugs in late Sep through Oct. Some days there can be 50 on the sunny side of the house at a time, clustering around the screens. They are TENACIOUS, and once they find a chink in the armor (so to speak), they exploit it and bring a parade of buddies with them. MOST IMPORTANT is to completely seal access via windows and doors. They can squeeze through tiny cracks.
Second front in the war (and this works best with a slightly OCD/sadistic attitude)... You hunt and kill them. We're at least lucky enough to live in a ranch, where we have access to the areas where they most congregate. I use a plastic Folgers coffee container filled with a little water and soap suds. Like previous posters claim, stink bugs are among the easiest to catch (THANKFULLY!!!!), as their natural defense is to "drop and roll"... I just hold a container under where they sit, and 'coax' them with a fly swatter... they drop and drown. We've added the hunt and destroy routine to our (many) fall yard work tasks...just a fact of life. Am I making a dent? Don't know, but hopefully I'm minimizing the numbers I have to chase down INSIDE my home over the winter. I have YET to eradicate them completely, but I can assure you, IF I DIDN'T DO what I'm doing, our problem would be MUCH WORSE. It's a learning process... I feel I'm getting better at it each year.
Third front is to accept that at least a few WILL likely breach your defenses... Doors for example... The CAN and WILL exploit door cracks, since it's virtually impossible to completely seal these. You'll find them hidden on the hinge side of the storm doors when you open them; just knock em down and gather or crush them... the smell isn't SO SO bad... just annoying, and it WILL dissipate.
Once inside, stink bugs will eventually be attracted to your indoor lights, and we sometimes hear them buzzing around our living room, where we quickly hone in on their location, waiting for them to land on a surface before removing them. You get much better at catching them over time. It's no big deal.
Someone mentioned Spotted Lantern Fly... we're STARTING to see them... they're a whole nuther challenge... BUT, like the stink bug, they have a similar (albeit more challenging) defense mechanism that helps to catch them. They SPRING straight back at you (with great force) when alarmed. I use an old plastic apple juice container with a big hole cut on the side. Filled with a little water and soap, it serves the same purpose. You approach directly from behind the lantern fly, and press the hole around them. They will snap back and fall into the drink. Easy peasy.
It IS work to hunt and kill them... and I've got plenty of other jobs to do... but still, when they attack by the thousands over several weeks, taking a few minutes each day to eliminate 100-200 is my way of taking the fight to them.
GO GET EM!!!
A big thank you to all the folks who recommended a half-full water bottle with detergent solution for sneaking up on a stink bug and letting it drop in and die. I just tried that and got at least a dozen on our screened deck in only a few minutes. Great method!
NateW
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I'm with you on that! When I'm bored I get them with the Dyson V-11 with only the long tube attached. Great fun hunting them on our screened-in porch. I get moths the way too.
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NateW
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That works too! I nailed one with a stiff plastic flyswatter (in the screened-in porch thankfully). It decimated the stink bug. All that was left was a wet spot.
MissMolly
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I have one of those tennis racket shaped bug zapper things. Snap, crackle pop! So satisfying.
Your entire post describes what our first stink bug year was like.
That's why we spray Delatmethrin (using the recommended "residual" mix that is stronger) outside window edges, door edges, vehicles door edges and also spray where they congregate when they are "staging" for hibernation (for us that staging area is the roof and chimney). We spray every two weeks for a total of three times. Bifen would also work.
We also added the pesticide "dust" in the attic which lasts for a few years.
Whenever they touch the dust or the dried spray in the windows/doors, it's not long until they die.
So -- very few get inside the house, thankfully.
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Strategy: Jar with an inch of olive oil on bottom. The stinkers are collected and take a last swim.
One one particular night my son Cool Hand was in a hurry to have a vanilla shake. Hungry like only kids can get. The stainless steel shake machine was always on the counter. In his zeal to fill his belly, he failed to rinse it out the large mixing cup. Given his reaction Stink bugs apparently are not tasty at all. There was lot of screaming and laughing (me). I know karma awaits....
One one particular night my son Cool Hand was in a hurry to have a vanilla shake. Hungry like only kids can get. The stainless steel shake machine was always on the counter. In his zeal to fill his belly, he failed to rinse it out the large mixing cup. Given his reaction Stink bugs apparently are not tasty at all. There was lot of screaming and laughing (me). I know karma awaits....
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Wow, whoever designed that thing was watching way too many Buck Rogers shows.
NateW
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Walt34: I know, I thought the same thing when I put it together. The Dyson also makes some really strange sounds when it starts and stops. So strange, I can't describe them.
ArmchairMillionaire23
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While I don't know what a 'stink bug' is, as I don't think they could tolerate sub-freezing temperatures for 7 months out of every year, where we live we get those little orange ladybugs (the local DNR calls them 'Asian beetles')
The DNR introduced them to control the gypsy moth population. Then they had to introduce these supposedly 'harmless' flies to try to control the [-]ladybug[/-] Asian beetle infestation.
So now, every winter there would be flies and ladybugs buzzing around the house. My wife discovered D-Fense SC a few years back and I just sprayed for the season last weekend. I also will re-spray every other week through the end of October when the snow starts to show up for the season.
I didn't know others had the same issue with other bugs.
So far we've had good luck with the D-Fense SC. (also not affiliated - just a customer)
I used a shop vac one day and after a bunch of then it was just blowing stink bug smell everywhere. Took weeks to get that smell to fade. So be careful using a vac.
