Summary:
Every year stink bugs invade certain parts of the country and every year people search for ways to keep the stink bugs from getting into their homes. Exclusion! Exclusion! Exclusion is the only answer.
Ken K;
Warminster, PA asks: Every year we get invaded by hundreds of stink bugs.
Where can I buy a p
roduct to kill stink bugs inside and outside of house?
Dear Ken:
I get tons of mail asking me how to stop stink bugs from getting inside houses and the only answer is exclusion. Tight fitting windows, doors, eaves, pipes, weep holes, vent and chimney screens and every other crack and crevice needs to be sealed shut. Good luck in making that happen.
Stink bugs are attracted to light and will find their way into homes during the long summer nights when porch and deck lights are on and doors are being opened and closed. Stink bugs do not reproduce inside, so you only have to deal with collecting them and getting them out of the house.
Stink bugs won't harm you or your belongings, but they can be smelly if crushed or collected in a sweeper. They won't bite, because they don't have jaws, but a stink bug will pierce you with the beak it uses to suck the juices out of pine seeds. It feels like a pin prick.
Aerosol-type pyrethrum foggers will kill stink bugs that have amassed on walls and ceilings, but the treatment will not prevent more stink bugs from emerging shortly afterwards.If you are unable to totally seal up your house you can get a little relief from exterior applications of insecticides. Treatments using a synthetic pyrethroid like deltamethrin, cyfluthrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin or sumithrin should be applied by a licensed pest control operator in the fall just prior to the time when stink bugs start to congregate. Insecticides break down in sunlight so the residual effect of the treatment will be short and may not kill the bugs much more than several days or a week.
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Comments
Andrea
15 Sep 2008, 12:57
what about ultrasonic devices that can be plugged into the walls that say
they will deter insects and rodents??
Thanks
Kayla
01 Feb 2009, 22:04
Hello, I am 46 years old and have never seen a stink bug until this year.
Now it seems that they're everywhere. Why are they just showing up and is
there some sort of Stink Bug Invasion???
John Steinmann
27 Feb 2009, 21:23
Why suddenly over the past 3 years are we getting invaded by stink bugs in
bucks county? We still have them and its winter! they have become an
incredible nuisance - we kill at least 5 a day and sometimes that wake the
kids up as they go buzzing by their head at night. Is anything being done
at a state or regional level that you know of to try and find an effective
treatment?
Joan Rack
01 Mar 2009, 14:47
I have heard that a garlic clove placed on the window sill between the
screen and window will discourge stink bugs. Is this true
Barbara Motter
28 Apr 2009, 13:51
We have now resorted to counting the numbers of stink bugs we pick up
everyday. April 26, 2009 it was over 200, next day nearly the same -- all
INSIDE our small house. The local exterminators say they can treat, but
will charge hundreds of dollars and guantee nothing.
Is this a common number of bugs to have INSIDE -- or is this what I suspect
a full outbreak. Either way are there more drastic measures we can take?
Christine Adams
28 Apr 2009, 21:27
I never saw a stink bug until three years ago and now I see them daily.
I've always prided myself on having a bug free home. Even very few spiders
since we moved in. I was so happy since I used to have a silverfish
problem in my old house. It makes me feel dirty I can't help it. I've
been woken up the last two nights with them landing on me! My son is
petrified and disgusted by them too. What the heck is going on. Everyone
I talk to is having this problem and like me had never seen them until
about three years ago. Does anyone know what happened to bring these to
our area or what is being done to combat it. Just a nasty nuesence really
but I have had it with the stink bugs! I think my dog had a bad experience
too. He's a lab and not afraid of bugs but when he see's a stink bug he
wimpers like a baby until I remove it from his sight. HELP! Stink bug
invasion in Central New Jersey!
Vince
22 Sep 2009, 23:19
The Reason we are being invaded is because stink bugs are simply the
aliens. They see you and run from you..They hide, and go to sleep with you
thinking they are dead...Then when poked, they wake up....I had a few hide
on a gutter watching me and ducking down behind the gutter when I looked at
them....they are aliens!!! They also have green blood...Squish one and
see...They also look like My favorite Martians space ship.....even with the
aneni's.....What do you all think? Thats what I think.........
Vince in MD
Susan
23 Sep 2009, 19:01
Today I cam home from work and my home looked like it was under attack on
the outside. Stink bugs everywhere! What happened? There were some in the
house but that must have been what came in as each of my 4 kids came home
from school. Before I came in the door I had to knock all the stink bugs
off the door and surrounding area. It was terrible. This is the first fall
I have seen this.Is the stink bug problem getting worse? Obviously here in
Maryland it is!!
Rich Z
24 Sep 2009, 09:10
I find that the best way to kill them is to use the old stinging insect
eliminator....cheap hairspray. Spraying them imobilizes them and a fly
swatter finishes them off
Joanne
24 Sep 2009, 13:02
I'm also a resident of Maryland and the past 2 years have been horrible
with stink bugs. Perhaps I'm just paranoid but for some reason I feel they
have it in for me. I don't see them clinging on the screens or siding of
any of the other houses by me! I love to be out in my yard but cannot stand
bugs --especially these things. While I haven't been outnumbered on the
inside with these things I do get a few inside which really freak me out. I
came home yesterday to find at least 12 on my bedroom window screen. I
can't stand it anymore. I began to think perhaps its the plants and shrubs
I have in my yard? Should I just dig up everything and not have any
landscaping. Is there anything we can do? I could tolerate a few hanging
around but its just too many. I feel like I'm under attack everytime I go
in and out of my house. always on guard. My son thinks I', crazy.
Anna
28 Sep 2009, 18:03
My house looks like it has a blanked of stink bugs on it. In the afternoon,
when the sun is shining on my kitchen door, there are hundreds of them all
along the edges. It takes me 10 minutes just to brush them all off before I
can go in my house. Last weekend I got some stink bug juice in my eye and
it swelled shut. I came home from a business trip today and vacuumed over
100 of them in my house. I can hear them clinking around in my chimney and
in my kitchen stove vent. I feel like I'm in some horror movie and like I'm
losing my mind!!! I hope we can come up with a solution soon, before I go
completely mental.
dan
04 Oct 2009, 00:44
We have also been invaded!!! Our place has been innundated with them the
last 2 weeks here in Western MD. Today, I went and bought a wet/dry shop
vac. I filled it with a gallon of soapy water and have sucked up over 200
of them from inside our house. The war continues against this alien
menace.
J Romeo
13 Oct 2009, 22:43
I found this article linked from a good website dedicated to stink bug
info... stopstinkbugs.com. Worth checking out.
theresa
03 Dec 2009, 20:52
I live in New Jersey...Gloucester County.....I am INFESTED with them and
have been for over 2 years. Been exterminated 4 times. I can't take it
much longer..I'm ready to sell my house!
yuch
25 Jan 2010, 11:01
This is the first year i've been invaded by stink bugs in Frederick, md. I
was hoping they would go away like cicadas did but now i don't think it
will happen. My last straw was when i sat down to eat a meal and got a
mouthful of crunchy stink bug. i was dealing with them now i'm ready to
move.
Barbara
26 Jan 2010, 11:51
This is our second year being invaded by the nasty things!!, but I thought
they kind of hybernated in the winter, boy i was wrong!, i flush and
vacuum at least a dozen or more a day - called the exterminator, no
guarrentees and he lives close to me and does his house every three months
that just too much $$$$. Maybe i'll have to work for the exterminator to
get a discount.:)
Jean
13 Feb 2010, 11:01
I have only seen 4 of them so far. I had brought boxes down from upstairs
at xmas time and it seems I saw them at that time. Upstairs I have two
window air conditioners. I read on another site that they come in through
these vents in the window air conditioners. My son also had window air
conditioners and when he took them out all these stink bugs fell out. Next
winter I'm taking my ac's out of the windows.
Steff
07 Mar 2010, 02:47
OMG I dont know what it is but im so afraid of this stink bugs. They're
just ugly and there are too many of them. I cant Even see one because i'll
freak out. They invaded my room and my attic, and I even saw one in the
bathroom. Sometimes I feel that they just don't like me because I get one
in my room at least every 3 days.