It’s stink bug season again

Well it’s stink bug season again in Stroudsburg PA and Hackettstown town NJ. Our customers are calling us about homes simply being invaded by large numbers of stink bugs.

 

Fortunatley stink bugs don’t spread disease, and generally don’t bite humans but they do cause massive damage to crops and there is no doubt they are very annoying insects.  How annoying? Well annoying enough that someone wrote a song about it and we’ve heard rumors of one nearby homeowner having more then 26,000 stink bugs overwintering in their home.

And annoying is just the start of it stink bugs cause millions of dollars in damage to crops every year. According to one farmer stink bugs are the worst pest to hit orchards since the coddling moth in the 1970s. These insects can damage as much as 80% of crops.

Stink bugs have no natural predators in the U.S. but it seems there a few predators who didn’t get the memo. We found this video of a praying mantis eating a stinkbug, although it does seem like he spends a minute trying to the the taste of its mouth. We also sound found this video of a wolf spider eating a stink bug. In both cases it appears that the stink bugs were fed to the predators so this doesn’t debunk the no natural predators theory…. but we’re not ruling out the training of predatory insects as a method of stink bug control 😉

All kidding aside the best way to keep stink bugs out in the spring it to keep them from entering in the fall. Most of us don’t see stink bugs in the summer as they are out eating soy beans and apples but as temperature drops these insects look for a place to overwinter and our homes provide warmth and shelter. A combination of what pest control professionals call mechanical exclusion and traditional pest control methods work best . Mechanical exclusion means to seal up all the cracks and crevices found around the home. Depending on the age and construction type of your home this can be a challenge as stink bugs only need a tiny opening to gain access. Mechanical exclusion offers some reduction  in stink bug populations but to make a truly noticeable reduction pesticides need to be used.

At All Seasons Pest Control we are always happy to help you develop an integrated pest management program to help keep your home free from stink bugs and other bugs