Stink bugs, an odoriferous brigade of smelly brown bugs, are crawling into your house right now, just itching to set up a winter camp in your warm, cozy home in a dormant phase known as diapause.
Stink bugs won’t hurt you. Despite having piercing, sucking mouthparts — tiny shields about a half-inch long and wide, which they curiously tuck between their legs when they’re not piercing and sucking the juice from plants — they can’t bite you. They can’t sting you, and they won’t reproduce.
But pee-yew, do stink bugs smell bad if you smash them. Hence, their name. So don’t do that. And they can be pretty destructive in other ways.
That doesn’t mean you have to live with the disgusting little bugs. We have some tips on what to do if stink bugs have holed up in your house. One important thing to know about stink bugs as move in for the winter: they’re more than just a bad smell.
Scientists have waged all-out war against stink bugs, with good reason. What they can with those piercing, sucking mouthparts to an apple, peach or pear orchard isn’t pretty and can wipe out a grower’s entire crop.
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Stink bugs have been found in 44 states in the 20 years since the insect, indigenous to East Asia, was first detected in the United States, according to a USDA-funded Stop the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug strike force that includes more than 50 researchers working at 18 land-grant universities across the country.
Stink bugs like to feast on your vegetable gardens, farmers’ soybean crops, and black locust, maple, ash, and catalpa trees. They like cherries and raspberries, too.
Along the Eastern Seaboard from North Carolina to New York, stink bugs have caused severe agricultural and nuisance problems, according to the state-by-state surveillance map from the Stop the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug. Similar problems have been reported in Michigan and as far west as Tennessee.
Your Best Defense Is A Good Offense
Your best defense against stink bugs is to arm yourself weather-stripping, caulking and tape and make your home a fortress. Seal up gaps and crevices around foundations and any area where doors, windows, chimneys and utility pipes are cut into the exterior. Any opening large enough for a stink bug to crawl through should be sealed.
The best thing to do if you find them inside is gently sweep them into a bucket, then fill it with a couple of inches of soapy water. You could vacuum them up, but perhaps as a last resort because it will trigger stink bugs’ notorious odor and make your vacuum cleaner smell bad.
Companies like Rest Easy Pest Control recommend a special stink bug vacuum, a cheap, handheld model used only for that chore. The bag should be tossed in a thick, disposable trash bag and taken far from the house.
Poison can quickly kill the stink bugs, but that will also trigger their stench. Professional extermination is another option.