Thursday, October 09, 2008
Stinkbugs relative newcomers to Virginia
John Arbogast
Landscape consultant John Arbogast answers your questions every Thursday. Send questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to:
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5102 Greenfield St. SW
Roanoke, Va. 24018
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Q: Like many southwest Virginia residents, we have been inundated with stink bugs. As they enter the home for the winter, they get a tad thirsty. Once they are in the sinks, I spray them with bleach and water - instantly kills them. In areas, where bleach will not work, a strong mix of vinegar and water will work. They become paralyzed, and then within 15 minutes or so, they expire. Another successful spray is a very strong mix of salt and water. I have also discovered that to keep them at bay, place a few sprigs of citronella plant in the window seals. For over-the-counter, try Bug-Stop. Do not, I repeat, do not, kill them with a fly swatter or step on them. These foul little critters, love their own scent! For every one you kill, 10 more visit. If you do use the vacuum cleaner to rid yourself of these critters, be prepared for their odor. Make sure you have lots of vacuum cleaner bags on hand and put lots of baking soda in the bag before using.
A: Thanks for the home remedies and true stories that you shared. I too have had these foul critters looking for and finding winter hiding places in the walls and/or attics of my house, including the now deceased Brown Marmorated Stink Bug that fell from the ceiling of our dining room last night onto the back of my neck, where I flicked him off and endured that pungent odor.
I looked, but I was unable to find a current effective control spray for the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug nuisance indoors. I am not afraid of insects, even though I am a horticulturist and not an entomologist, but your cautions about the Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs’ foul smell following being crushed to death are good advice. I’ve caught them with tissues between my thumb and pointer finger and my fingers held their nasty smell for a long time.
I also found in my search for any new information on Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs that they are pests in some agricultural spots.
A few yearsago, I talked to Eric Day, manager of the Insect Identification lab in the Entomology Department at Virginia Tech, about these stinkbugs. He said that it is a somewhat newcomer to Virginia that was first reported in the Commonwealth in 2004 and has been found in certain counties, mainly in southwest Virginia. He said back then that these stinkbugs feed on outdoor things like beans, peaches, and things that produce various seeds or pods. It doesn’t feed on anything in the house nor does it reproduce indoors.
The arrival of autumn with winter coming soon forces them to seek out shelter for winter protection. This is when the Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs enter homes, as we Roanokers have been seeing for the past few weeks. Eric said that the bugs probably make their winter residences in walls. Come early to mid spring next year, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs will leave their winter shelters and migrate outdoors.
A fact sheet prepared by Penn State University stated that the indoor presence of these bugs can be effectively eliminated by sucking them up with a vacuum cleaner, which you did give advice on. Also, they suggested that this nuisance pest already in any structure can be effectively excluded from human living areas by attempting to locate and then seal off the openings the bugs use to move from their winter homes in walls into indoor areas. Typically, this fact sheet said, stink bugs enter through cracks under or behind baseboards, around window and door trim, as well as around exhaust fans or ceiling lights.
It is a just a guess if it’s too late this autumn for the exclusion control to be effective for Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs still outside, but I recall Eric praising the effectiveness of working outside to look for, seal off, and physically block all openings into the house to prevent next fall’s entry. Cracks around windows, doors, siding, utility pipes, behind chimneys, and underneath the wood fascia plus all other structural openings should be sealed with a good quality silicone or silicone-latex caulk. Damaged door and window screens should be replaced or repaired.
