How To Get Rid of Stink Bugs How To Get Rid of Stink BugsSeasonal changes in temperature and day length cue stink bugs to find winter quarters. These insects naturally spend winter holed up outdoors, but they’ll also seek shelter in structures like your home. While stink bugs don’t bite, raid the pantry or munch clothing, they do have one problem: They stink. Stink bugs release a foul odor when they’re disturbed or threatened. In the wild, this smell gives predators the brush-off. In a home setting, the smell lingers long past the time the stink bug may be dead, because it clings to whatever the insect touches. Outdoors, stink bugs feast on plant material. They cause millions of dollars in economic damage by feeding on commercially produced fruit. Stink bug feeding lowers fruit value by roughly 90 percent, making it unfit for the fresh consumption market and destined for processing. Keeping Stink Bugs Out To prevent stink bugs from entering your home, block all points of entry. The same principles used to keep boxelder bugs from entering a home apply to stink bugs. Physical barriers provide the most effective long-term solution. You can also apply an insecticide as a perimeter treatment outside your home. This method can block would-be insect invaders from entering your home for several days to a week. Try these methods – which have been used successfully by homeowners and entomologists – to keep stink bugs at bay: •Rub screens with dryer sheets – the more pungent the better. Some homeowners have found this can reduce stink bugs entering a home by up to 80 percent. •Hang a damp towel over a lawn chair or deck railing overnight. In the morning, stink bugs will blanket the towel. Dispatch bugs in a bucket of soapy water. •Squish a few stink bugs outdoors. The odor warns other stink bugs to flee.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 02:28:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015