Protecting Your Home | How To Kill Stink Bugs

How To Prevent Stink Bugs

Make no mistake. The question of how to prevent stink bugs is one that is prominent on many peoples’ minds who live in areas that are heavily infested by these unwelcome insects. Stink bugs have increased from being just a mere problematic nuisance to being a full-scale all-out epidemic.

Having been introduced into the North American ecosystem a mere two decades ago after having evolved over the eons and remaining localized in southeast Asia, their population has grown at an explosively alarming rate. Over 38 states in the continental US are now home to thousands, if not millions, of this particular species of insect.

Whether your home has already succumb to a stink bug invasion or your garden is teeming with these uninvited guests, or your agricultural crops are falling prey to these vegan pests left and right, it is imperative that you realize that this war against the insect kingdom must be fought on not one but on two fronts:

1) Exterminating or extricating existing stink bugs that have already invaded your property.

2) Taking the preventative measures necessary in order to thwart the treat of subsequent influx of invaders intruding upon your property.

In other words, preventing an invading influx of fresh new stink bugs is every bit as important as fending off the threat of the existing ones that you already have to deal with. It is important not to stop paying attention to your efforts at prevention, even though you may erstwhile be busy having enough to deal with existing bugs that are already in your house.

And there are a number of very good reasons why you must not take your eye off the ball when it comes to the issue of prevention.

Let’s explore a few of them:

Reason #1) Forestalling The Aggregation Of Stink Bugs En Masse

You want to prevent the existing stink bugs in your home from attracting more of their brethren from among their same species to come and join them. Stink bugs are social insects. They emit what is known as an aggregation hormone. They use this to attract others of the same species to their location.

If you have stink bugs in your home, they can easily emit this hormone, and if they happen to be near an open window with a screen on it, the scent of this hormone (which is undetectable by humans) will reach the great outdoors.

If there happen to be other stink bugs nearby who are able to pick up this scent, they may follow it and will attempt to gain entry into your home.

Therefore, it would be in your best interests to focus your efforts on prevention, since it is entirely possible that existing stink bugs in your home may attract more.

Reason #2) Reducing The Threat To Your Garden

If you grow fruits and vegetables in a garden out in the yard surrounding your property, then you should be aware of the fact that stink bugs are 100% pure vegans. They thrive exclusively on fruits and vegetables. If they happen upon your garden and discover that you are growing fruits and vegetables there, then your garden will become a prime target for their feeding. No sooner will they discover your garden then these bugs will start to make themselves at home there and begin to devour it.

They do this by piercing the skin of the food they wish to eat and then sucking the juices from inside it. This renders the food inedible for humans. And of course if they happen to emit that putrid stench of theirs due to being frightened or whatnot, then you can bet that those odor-causing chemicals will get on the fruits as well.

Stink bugs are notorious for destroying gardens, and that is yet another reason why prevention is extremely important. You need to take the steps necessary in order to prevent stink bugs from attacking your garden.

Reason #3) Reducing The Risk Of Stink Bug Odor

If you thought that the putrid, odoriferous emanation that a single stink bug produces when you frighten it was noxious itself, wait till you smell the collective odor emanating from a whole colony of these little buggers. The stench magnifies exponentially with each stink bug.

Do you really want to have to deal with these fumes in your house? With enough highly concentrated stink bug odor, it could conceivably permanently become infused into your walls, your carpeting, your furniture, making it next to impossible to get rid of that smell, even long after you were to manage to exterminate all of them.

Therefore, it makes sense to want to prevent stink bugs from entering your home, since too many of them can make for an extremely unpleasant atmosphere at home that is not only unsightly but also repulsive to the olfactory senses.

Reason #4) Preventing Stink Bug Reproduction

Technically this is NOT a concern with respect to this particular species of insect. Research has shown that stink bugs will not reproduce indoors. They will typically only mate and then lay their eggs on the underside of leaves hanging from trees. So you can be assured that this is not a concern. Now whether or not this type of reproduction might take place on an indoor tree or houseplant remains to be seen.

Therefore, while this is not generally a concern, it is still something you need to be vigilant about in the context of justifying the need for prevention: If you have any trees or plants inside your house that receive ample sunlight, and the temperature inside your house is kept warm, it is theoretically conceivable that reproduction could occur indoors. But this is not generally the case.

Now that we have covered the various reasons why you need to be concerned about how to prevent stink bugs, let’s talk about the various methods to achieve this aim:

Method #1) Seal Off Any Gaps In Your House From The Outside

Stink bugs are notorious for being stubborn and persistent when it comes to gaining entry into our houses. Somehow they manage to slip through the cracks (pun intended) unnoticed, by means of stealth. And this may come across to you and to me as an amazing feat, considering that they aren’t exactly as minuscule as ants are.

Make it a point to inspect each and every single one of your windows for any gaps in the window screen, or between the screen and the window sill. Check and see if there are any cracks underneath the window sill. And if you have a window air conditioner, be sure to inspect it for any gaps between the unit and the wall through which they might be able to slip through.

Also check the same at other potential entry points to your house such as the front or back doors, or a cellar door. Also be wary of any cracks in the foundation through which these bugs might be able to slip through.

If you find any such gaps, you may be able to seal them off permanently with something as simple as either duct tape, caulk, or perhaps if the situation warrants it, a combination of both.

And if you don’t already have an insect-proof mesh covering your dryer exhaust vent, or your kitchen or bathroom exhaust vents, then you would be wise to get one installed over these vents leading outside of your house. Otherwise, you are leaving a gaping hole for stink bugs to come right through. The heat that emanates from these exhaust vents is enough to attract and lure stink bugs into your home.

Method #2) Close Your Blinds Or Curtains At Night

One of the distinguishing behavioral characteristics of stink bugs is that they are attracted to sources of light and heat, as opposed to various other types of insects that may prefer cold and dark places.

Therefore, one of the ways that stink bugs gain access into our homes unbeknownst to us is when they are flying by your house and happen upon a window through which light is shining. They will venture toward the window, and once they are perched there, and they detect the heat signature of the light source, they will eventually seek out a means to gain entry into your home through any gaps or crack near the window.

So therefore in order to prevent stink bugs from taking advantage of this situation and using it to infiltrate your home, you must take the proactive, preventative measure of being disciplined about closing your blinds and / or your curtains after dark. If possible, you should use opaque window coverings through which very little to no light can permeate. This way stink bugs from the outside will not catch on that there is a light source for them to flock towards.

Method #3) Cover Your Produce

Never leave the fruits and vegetables that you are growing in your garden exposed, lest stink bugs might descend upon them and start helping themselves to feed upon them.

One thing you can do is cover your produce underneath a transparent mesh that allows sunlight, wind, and rain to get through, but keeps stink bugs out.

You can also house your garden or crops in a greenhouse which provides them with shelter against stink bugs as well.

Another means to prevent stink bug invasions is to set up traps near your produce. The traps can use either a light source as bait, or a piece of fruit that you don’t mind losing to them, or a specialized unit that emits stink bug aggregation pheromones, to lure them toward the trap.

The trap itself can either consist of fly paper, a chemical housecleaning agent that they might drown in, or could be an enclosure from which entry is easy but escape is difficult.

If you are indoors but you keep your windows open, and you keep fruit out on the table in the kitchen, the aroma from the fruit might attract stink bugs from outside to come toward your house. So if keeping your windows shut is not an option for you, then you may want to consider covering or refrigerating your fruits as a means of tempting stink bugs. Otherwise you would be extending an open invitation for them to come into your house for a delectable vegan dinner!

Method #4) Thoroughly Cleanse Any Item That May Have Been Infused With Stink Bug Odor

One very important step that you can and must take in order to prevent the onslaught of subsequent stink bug invasions is to thoroughly cleanse any furniture items, walls, flooring, or any physical objects that the stink bug may have come in contact with.

While this may sound like a bit of overkill, you should consider the alternative: By allowing the residual scent of either the stink bug stench or the stink bug aggregation pheromone to linger, it will only increase the odds that other stink bugs will detect the scent and will attempt to home in on it, thereby increasing the stink bug population within or near your home.

Method #5) Dispose of Dead Stink Bugs Properly and Responsibly

Whether you squash a stink bug, you spray it with dish soap, you vacuum it up, you lure it into a bug zapper light, or kill it through any other means, disposal of dead stink bugs is something that must be handled with great care. You must take deliberate steps to ensure that they are disposed of properly. And that means doing so in a manner that isolates any trace of its odor and precludes any possibility of its odor from reaching other stink bugs.

Failure to take the necessary precautions during the disposal process can actually backfire, thereby undermining your efforts at preemptively safeguarding your home against future invasions by new stink bugs.

When disposing of stink bugs, don’t just dump them into an open trash can. Your first preference should be to flush them down the toilet.

Otherwise, what you should do is dump them into an airtight container or into a carefully wrapped and sealed bag.

If you have a bagless vacuum, be sure that you empty it out into a bag that you can then carefully tie up and shut properly.

Whatever preventative measures you can take to prevent exposure of the stink bug cadaver to the air, the better, as it will reduce the risk of attracting other stink bugs to the scent of the deceased one.

Method #6) Set Outdoor Traps Near The Perimeter Of Your Property To Fend Off Stink Bugs

Ultimately, one method for how to prevent stink bugs from invading your property is to guard the perimeter of your property using various forms of traps specifically designed to attract them and lure them into the trap. By diverting their attention away from your home and toward the trap, you will have one sure-fire way how to prevent stink bugs from infiltrating your home.

One example of such a trap would be to use a light-zapper. Stink bugs are attracted to light, and so if you have this on in your back yard at night, they will naturally be inclined to fly toward it, seeking what they perceive to be warmth from the light source… only to be zapped in the process.

Another example of such a trap would be to use fly-paper that is laden with the infused scent of stink bug aggregation hormone. This will also lure stink bugs toward that… and when they land on the fly paper, their legs will get stuck to it and they will not be able to escape.

You can also set up a stink bug trap that involves fruit or vegetables, since stink bugs thrive on vegetarian items.

Once they enter the trap and are killed or immobilized, you can then take the necessary measures to dispose of them in the proper manner.

Do NOT Use Pesticides Except As a Last Resort

There is much debate about whether or not you should use pesticides as a means of exterminating insects, let alone stink bugs themselves. The chemicals used in pesticides are not only lethal to insects but can also cause undue harm to household pets, can cause collateral damage to property, can harm other innocent animals, and can even cause irritation for babies, young children, and even to adults in some cases. Is it worth it? Perhaps only as a last resort if all else fails.

The bottom line is that there are many ways how to prevent stink bugs that you should avail yourself of. This website is choc full of informative articles and resources on how to deal with the stink bug problem.

How To Get Rid Of Stink Bug Smell

Protecting Your Home

Getting rid of that stink bug smell once it gets on your clothes, the carpeting or any rugs on the floor, any fabric items in your house, or even on your skin can be quite a bit challenging. The odor that this particular species of insect emits can be quite potent while at the same time it is pungent.

Stink Bug Smell On Your Clothes Or On Fabric

Once the smell gets on your clothes or any type of fabric material, it is a simple matter of throwing them into the washing machine and using a good quality laundry detergent. That should be sufficient to do the trick.

If the item requires a little bit more delicate handling or is too big to fit in your washing machine, such as a bed comforter, or is a professional suit, you may want to take it to the dry cleaners.

Getting rid of the stink bug smell in the aforementioned scenarios is pretty straightforward and is a no-brainer.

Stink Bug Stench On Your Skin

But what if it gets on your skin? Many people have reported that try as they might, the foul stench of the stink bug won’t go away with soap and water. That doesn’t seem to be sufficient.

In that case, what should you do?

While there is no textbook answer, there are many “home-remedy” types of solutions that many people have shared in various discussion forums online. For example, will swear by using acidic solutions such as that found in tomato juice or lemon juice. You basically wash the affected area with these juices. The acidic composition of the juice will usually permeate the skin, neutralize and eliminate the stubborn odor-causing molecules of the stink bug stench.

Stink Bug Stench On Furniture Or On The Walls

You can use an aerosol air freshener to mask the stink bug odor in rooms where it has become prevalent, although this will not permanently eliminate the source of the odor. If you happen to know what surface(s) the stink bugs were on when they released their trademark odor, then it may be possible to cleanse the surface and purge it of the odor-causing chemicals that may have saturated it.

As for cleaning furniture or walls, you should resort to using whatever cleaning agents you might have normally used otherwise for anything else. Any highly concentrated cleaning agent for fabric upholstery will do on furniture. Any chemical cleaning agent designed for cleansing wood, steel, or plastic will do the job just fine.

So, sorry folks, if you came here looking for some kind of exotic answer. While the stink bug stench may be quite pungent, it isn’t something that can’t be overcome with today’s modern household cleaning technology.

The good news is that the chemicals released by stink bugs that cause the stench are not in any way toxic. They are just annoying. (Although to many people, the smell happens to bear a strong resemblance to that of the herb known as cilantro.)

If you are having a difficult time figuring out how to get rid of that stubborn stink bug smell, then you really should just make sure that you are using a highly concentrated dosage of whatever cleaning agent you use, and that you scrub it thoroughly. Sometimes it may take several tries to get the odor out, but it eventually will.

And in the worst case scenario, you can resort to (or supplement with) using room air fresheners or scented candles to mask the smell.

How To Get Rid Of Stink Bugs In The House

Protecting Your Home

There is nothing worse than to have your home invaded by bugs. The vast majority of people on this planet will attest to the fact that there is absolutely nothing pleasant about it. And that goes double, nay triple, for stink bugs! Whether you are easily freaked out by bugs and are an absolute entomophobe, or you just find them to be annoying at best, you no doubt are looking for a way how to get rid of stink bugs in the house.

The Challenge Of Dealing With Stink Bugs

Obviously dealing with the problem of stink bugs poses its own set of uniquely complex set of challenges that vary greatly from how you might deal with the problem of, let’s say ants, roaches, or termites.

For one thing, stink bugs are a tad bit bigger than other bugs. Adult stink bugs can grow to be as long as one whole inch in length, which is pretty large and unsightly for a bug. (Ants are more inconspicuous, measuring no more than half an inch even when fully grown.)

Secondly, stink bugs feed on fruits and vegetables exclusively, which sets them apart from other insects, such as ants which will eat a whole variety of other foods.

Thirdly, stink bugs seek out heat and light, as opposed to darkness.

Furthermore, stink bugs do not have any natural predators in the wild.

Fifth, stink bugs emit what is known as an aggregation pheromone, which is their way of calling out to other stink bugs and saying, “Hey everybody! Look where I am? Why don’t you come and join me too?”

And finally, stink bugs are well known for emitting a foul stench when threatened or attacked, in much the same way that skunks do.

Giving Stink Bugs An Eviction Notice

Ok, so if you have discovered one or more stink bugs in your home, the question arises as to what is the most effective way how to get rid of them. Obviously, if you have tried squashing them with a shoe, you have probably figured out that is by far not the best way to kill them, as they will leave a foul stench and bloody marks on the surface of whatever you killed them on.

And if you have given any thought to the use of pesticides, that is something that you should really only consider as a last resort.

So if squashing them and using pesticides to kill them are both not exactly the most ideal of solutions, then what are some alternative ways to deal with the problem and get them out of your house once and for all?

Here are a couple of general suggestions:

Use what you know about stink bugs against them. Knowledge is power. The more your understand about what makes stink bugs tick, the easier it will be for you stay one step ahead of these critters and come up with a plan of action to extradite them (or exterminate them) from your home once and for all.
Research ways how to set up stink bug traps within your home. This way you can lure them toward one receptacle where they can become entrapped and suffocated, drowned, poisoned, or starved to death. Or you can take the entrapping receptacle and dump the bugs outside if you don’t have the heart and the wherewithal to actually kill them. Stink bugs are attracted to four things: light, heat, fruit, and the aggregation hormones emanated by other members of the same species. You can use any combination of one or more of these as your bait to lure them into a trap that either kills them or merely traps them.

Preventing Stink Bugs From Entering Your House

It’s one thing to have to deal with a stink bug infestation within your house. But sadly that is just a mere half of the battle. When it comes to battling stink bugs, you have to confront them by waging a war on not one, but two fronts. One is to fight the bugs that are already within your house. And the other front is to fend off a fresh invasion of new bugs that are trying to come in from outside your house.

Here are a couple of tips on how to safeguard your home against an invasion of stink bugs:

Seal off any cracks in the doors or windows to your house. Install a protective insect-proof guard over all vents leading into or out of your house.
Keep your blinds shut at night so as not to attract any new stink bugs flying by which might be looking for a source of heat and light where they can seek shelter.
Use a bug light zapper near your home. Stink bugs are very likely to fly directly toward it and then get zapped and die.

These lists above are by no means exhaustive. But it will give you an idea as to what you need to focus on. Please refer to the links in the above paragraphs within this section for more detailed tips and tricks on how to combat the stink bug problem both externally and from within.

Stink Bugs Make Poor Roommates

If you are faced with a situation where your home has been overrun by stink bugs, you can take some solace in the fact that they are not in any way particularly harmful to humans (although some people on various discussion forums will claim that they have been bitten by stink bugs before, whereas research has shown that they do not even possess the physical capacity to inflict any type of harm on animals, other insects, plants, or human beings. They don’t generally bite or sting. (They happen to have an appendage through which they are able to pierce through the skin of fruits and vegetables and suck the juice out of them, but this appendage is not used for attacking other animals and people.) They are just creepy and annoying at best. (Although that might be enough to drive some people into a fearsome panic.)

Read more about protecting your home against stink bugs.

Easy Stink Bug Control Tip: Inspect Your Shopping Bags And Clothes Before Coming Inside

Protecting Your Home

No matter how well you think you are protecting your home against a stink bug infestation, you may wondering how on earth these bugs are still managing to get inside.

Even if you have sealed off all possible entry ways into your home using caulk or duct tape, and you still find that you are having difficulty with stink bug control in your home, then you will need to think outside of the box and consider other means through which they may be getting inside:

You could very well be bringing stink bugs into your home from outside without even realizing it.

If you live in an area that has an exceptionally high population of stink bugs, then it goes without saying that you need to be extremely vigilant. Stink bugs could literally emerge from anywhere at any time. They are not only in our homes. But it is also not uncommon to encounter them in public places as well. You could find them in the least likely of places, such as grocery stores or restaurants. You could even find them in retail shops such as bookstores, automotive repair shops, or shopping malls. And then of course you can even encounter them out in open places such as playgrounds or sports stadiums as well.

If you live in a part of the country that has seen a drastic increase in the occurrence of stink bugs, then you are going to need to be extremely vigilant pretty much any time that you leave your house to go anywhere, whether you go to work or school, whether you are going shopping, or you are going outside to engage in an outdoor recreational activity. Even if you do not visibly see any stink bugs when you go out, you need to be mindful of the fact that there is a very real possibility that you might accidentally bring them home with you when you return back home. How?

Inspect Your Bags Before Bringing Them Inside

For one thing, you need to be careful when you handle any bags, purses, or any other tangible objects outside. If you leave your items unattended, whether out in the open, or in a public place, a stink bug that happens to be flying around or crawling around nearby could be attracted by a scent emanating from among your possessions. Before you know it, they could easily get into your bags, or could even simply just perch themselves onto you bag. And so when you return back home, without you even realizing it, you will have inadvertently brought a stink bug home.

Now, the last thing you want is to open up your grocery bags, only to find a frightened stink bug fly out (and spray a whiff of its pungent odor into the air in the process) and seek refuge somewhere in the confines of your house.

Therefore, it is extremely important that you take a moment to inspect your bags before you place them in the trunk of your car, or before you pick them and carry them with you. And it is important that you make sure that if you have any open bags, that you keep them closed, zipped up, or sealed off in such a way so as not to allow stink bugs to potentially get inside.

Inspect Your Clothing Before Coming Inside

Furthermore, if you end up spending a great deal of time outdoors, whether you are gardening, you are playing sports, going for a walk or a jog outside, you need to be vigilant of the fact that a stink bug could land on your clothing, completely unbeknownst to you.

The common sense thing to do, before you get into your car or before you come into your house, is to inspect your clothing. Run your hands along the front and back of your shirt and pants, and through your hair, to make sure that aren’t any stink bugs on your person.

All it takes is one stink bug piggy backing on your clothes or in your bags, getting into your home, to potentially attract more stink bugs into your home. Stink bugs emanate what’s called an aggregation hormone which tips off other stink bugs to their location. When other stink bugs happen upon this scent, they will immediately be drawn toward it. And the next thing you know, your stink bug problems will multiply.

So always be mindful to ensure that you aren’t inadvertently bringing stink bugs home, by brushing off your clothing or by inspecting your bags before you bring them inside. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Doing so will go a long way in keeping your home safe from a fresh infestation of stink bugs.

Getting Rid Of Stink Bugs – Why You Should NEVER Use Pesticides

Extermination Methods, Gardening, How To Kill Stink Bugs, Protecting Your Home, Sprays and Traps

To use pesticides, or not to use pesticides… That is the question. While there are numerous studies that claim that pesticides, used properly under the right conditions, to kill stink bugs can be met with a high degree of success, an equal number of other studies exist that claim that pesticides in reality do more harm than good. Using pesticides as a means of how to exterminate stink bugs can yield unintended consequences, and so it is imperative that you be aware of these before you make the decision to resort to this route to deal with your stink bug problem.

The fact of the matter is that there are numerous ways how to kill stink bugs without having to resort to this extreme. Pesticides should only be used as a last resort, when all other methods have been tried, exhausted, and failed. In fact, when you use pesticides, there is no 100% guarantee of success. That applies to any insect, not just stink bugs.

Pesticides contain harmful toxins that are lethal to insects. But the extent to which its harmful effects can reach do not necessarily stop at insects. Animals and young children can succumb to the fumes, if exposed to them as well. This applies to both indoor as well as outdoor use of these chemicals.
Since most pesticides are administered into the environment in the form of a spray, a certain percentage of the chemicals released into the air will never reach their intended target, and will end up floating in the air, contaminating other surfaces of your home, or other plants in your garden. While you may believe the toxins to dissipate, the fact is that they can be recirculated through your home by being sucked into your air ducts and redistributed through your central air system. Worse, they can get into your food and water. Even small trace amounts of it can get onto your clothes and your skin, and you can end up with some mild skin irritation, and you might then even inadvertently transfer it to another person or another object when you come in contact with them.

There are many ways how to kill stink bugs without using pesticides. It should only be used as a last resort, under the most dire and extreme of circumstances, when all other methods have failed. But even if your house or your garden is overrun by a horde of these insects, there are natural ways to kill them, such as by setting up stink bug traps.

Many farmers in the United States have been hit hard by the stink bug epidemic, it being the case that these bugs feed on fruits and are destroying entire crops, resulting in millions of dollars worth of agricultural loss and damage each and every year. As a consequence, there have been efforts to lobby the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ease restrictions against the use of certain pesticides that have been banned and prohibited, due to their harmful side effects.

Opponents of the use of pesticides liken their use to that of the so-called “scorched-earth policy”. In other words, the only way to destroy stink bugs is to destroy the earth along with it, which ends up actually being a lose-lose proposition for all parties involved, insect and human. In other words, the use of pesticides bears with it an implicit acceptance of the “collateral damage” that may result in terms of harm that may come to other than the intended target.

Before you consider introducing potentially harmful pesticides into the environment as a means to combat your stink bug problem, consider taking other measures to capture and kill them, to repel them and drive them away, and to keep their population from multiplying. Such measures might include a combination of solutions that involve setting up baited stink bug traps for them, or a means of siccing predators on them, or in the case of sealing your home properly using either duct tape or caulk to prevent them from entering into indoor spaces. If you have tried all other solutions in earnest, but the problem is seemingly out of control, then you may want to consider resorting to the use of pesticides in an extremely limited scope and capacity.

How To Get Rid Of Stink Bugs Through Micro-Deforestation

Protecting Your Home

Do you have a lot of trees and shrubs on your property or in the nearby vicinity of your neighborhood? If that is the case, then you may want to consider the fact that one way to get rid of stink bugs would be through small-scale micro-deforestation – which is the process of removing excessive trees and shrubs from your premises. Stink bugs may be lurking in these trees and shrubs, and may even be laying eggs therein. Stink bugs lay their eggs where they remain hidden in plain sight, on the underside of leaves.

So it goes without saying that if you want to get rid of stink bugs, then you may want to consider your options when it comes to reducing the greenery near your home. While stink bugs may or may not ever bother to enter your home during the spring and summer months, it is primarily the autumn season that you need to be most concerned about. As the weather gets cooler, they will instinctively start scouting their environment for warm places to take up domicile for the onset of the autumn and winter months. If they have made homes for themselves in the trees near your house, then that will only increase the likelihood that your house will be the first stop on their hunt for a new home during the colder months.

Now, if removing trees and shrubs from on or near your property is not practical (either because it is just too costly for you to remove them or because the trees just don’t belong to you), then your next step would be to engage in regular pruning to remove excessive leaves and branches. Not only does this help to keep your property looking more aesthetically pleasing, but it also removes the available vegetative real estate that they can seek refuge on.

If removing trees and shrubs are not practical either, then your next recourse would be to spray them with pesticides, which should effectively kill or forcibly effect any pests that are inhabiting them.

If even that is not possible, then you may want to consider setting up stink bug traps outside near your trees and shrubbery. These traps are usually made with a combination of stink bug aggregation pheromones and heat-emitting lights that are specially designed to attract them. Hopefully any stink bugs that happen to be present in the surrounding greenery should be attracted toward the trap, where they will either be killed on contact or will become trapped into a container which you can later use to dispose of them.

The bottom line is that if you are suffering from a problem of excessive stink bugs, then one way how to get rid of stink bugs is to tackle the problem at its source: identify where they are coming from, which is very likely the trees nearby your property.

There are many ways how to get rid of bugs. With a little bit of patience, courage, and persistence, you can overcome this nuisance.

How To Kill Stink Bugs By Using Their Own Pheromones Against Them

Extermination Methods, How To Kill Stink Bugs, Protecting Your Home

Stink bugs get their name because they have the dubious distinction of being one of the rare members of the insect kingdom who emit a foul odor as a deterrent against imminent threats. This odor is used to stave off most predators who try to assault them, not unlike how a skunk might emit its noxious odors when they feel threatened by a marauder looking to hunt them down. It is for this reason, it is believed, that stink bugs do not have any known predators in the wild (unless you count wasps, which prey upon unhatched stink bug eggs as opposed to living stink bugs). Killing stink bugs comes with a trade off: You get sprayed by a puff of noxious odors.

Now if you have ever come into contact with a stink bug and tried to squash it, then you no doubt have smelled their trademark odor. Some people say it doesn’t bother them. Some people say it is extremely nasty and putrid. And then there are even some people who say that the odor that stink bugs emit bears a striking resemblance to the smell of cilantro. Well, that is not a coincidence. It just so happens to be that the chemical that is released by stink bugs is composed of trans-2-decenal and trans-2-octenal. This is the same chemical compound that is found in cilantro!

And that is what makes killing stink bugs so challenging: If you try to sqaush them, you could end up with that odor on your hands, your clothes, your furniture, your flooring or walls. And that is perhaps the last thing you want to do, as the residual odor is known to serve as a signal for other stink bugs to come closer.

If your home has been infiltrated by a huge swath of stink bugs, then you may have noticed that they generally tend to stick together in clusters. How do they do that? They do that by releasing what is known as an aggregation pheromone. This aggregation pheromone should not be confused with the self-defense cilantro-smelling odor that they emit when they are threatened. This pheromone is entirely different. It is used to attract other stink bugs, much like a homing beacon, so they can find each other and form clusters like they do. Stink bugs are always on the prowl, in search of warm, and bright places to take up domicile. When other stink bugs are flying by, and they detect that pheromone, they will take the presence of that chemical to mean that there are other stink bugs nearby who have already “blazed the trail” and found such a place for them that is habitable and hospitable.

For many people, this can spell disaster: The last thing you would want to do is to kill one stink bug, only to have a whole army of stink bugs come to take its place. But on the other hand, it is possible to use stink bugs’ weapon of self-defense against them.

Yes, it’s true. Think about it. Stink bugs will instinctively flock toward wherever the source of the aggregation hormones are emanating from. So if we, as humans, chose to, we can leverage this to our advantage. We can set up a trap! The idea is so elementary as to be flawless in nature!

By attracting more stink bugs toward one particular location, you could then entrap them within an enclosure. Or you could get them stuck to some adhesive fly paper or even industrial strength duct tape. Or you could drown them in a container filled with dish soap or dish detergent (which has been known to be lethal to stink bugs). You can get really creative with this.

So the question is: How exactly do you kill stink bugs by using their own pheromones against them? Well, one way would be simply to set up a trap near an existing cluster of stink bugs. Another would be to set up a stink bug pheromone trap, which you could either construct yourself or which you can buy commercially. You can buy synthetically engineered stink bug pheromone sprays. Essentially, you lure stink bugs into an encasing with a trap door from which the pheromone is being released into the atmosphere. And then when enough of these bugs have entered into the encasing, you can then shut the trap door. You can then dispose of these bugs as you see fit. The encasing doesn’t have to be anything fancy. It could be anything as simple as a jar or a bottle, with an odor dispenser placed inside it.

Fortunately, these pheromones are odorless to humans, but stink bugs are highly sensitive to them.

So there’s no sense in feeling helpless and frightened in the face of a horde of stink bugs. There are many ways how to kill stink bugs can kill stink bugs by using their own pheromones against them. Any variation of the method described above will do, as long as you have a source that emits the pheromones and any type of receptacle that can be used to capture and encase them.

How To Kill Stink Bugs With Duct Tape

How To Kill Stink Bugs, Protecting Your Home

Killing stink bugs can be a challenge, not because it is impossible to catch them, but because those of us who have actually killed them before know that the stench that they emit can be pretty rancid, and is not something you would want to have to deal with again. The smell can get on your skin, on your clothes, your furniture, your sheets, and your walls. So if you want to know how to kill stink bugs, you are going to have to get creative. You are going to have to learn to think outside of the box. One solution that many people have found to be quite useful is the idea of using duct tape.

You can’t directly kill stink bugs with duct tape, of course. But you can use duct tape as a means to capture them as well as a means to create an impenetrable barrier between walls and windows, to prevent them from gaining entry into a house or into a particular room within your house (or from exiting a particular room, if you are trying to confine them). So let’s take a closer look at and examine just how we can leverage duct tape as our tactical weapon of choice in our war of how to kill stink bugs.

A Sticky Situation

Duct tape is essentially a much stronger version of your average, everyday household scotch tape that you might use in the office or in school. Duct tape has a much stronger level of adhesiveness that binds two objects together. It would require a great deal more force to tear two objects apart that are bound together with duct tape than it would take to tear two objects apart that are bound together with simple scotch tape. And then, when you are talking about duct tape, there are various degrees of strength. You can even find industrial strength duct tape that is so strong, that if you try to remove it, you might end up ripping or tearing the objects that you had bound together with it.

What strength of duct tape you want to use depends on the type of structure you are going to be securing it to, but the point is that you can use it as a trap to capture stink bugs, when used properly. You can make a simple trap by laying some fruit out on a table and affixing it to the duct tape, and have the duct tape affixed to a piece of paper or some other discardable object. In theory, the stink bug will land on the duct tape or set foot on it in the process of attempting to devour the fruit, and will get stuck to it.

Or you can keep the duct tape near a source of heat and light, so as to attract stink bugs to it as well. Once the stink bug gets stuck to the duct tape, you can safely pick up the strip of tape and discard it in the trash.

An Impenetrable Barrier

As mentioned above, another way how to kill stink bugs using duct tape is to use it as a barrier. If you have a window screen that doesn’t fit your window properly and has gaps in it, or if you have any type of gaps between where windows and doors meet the wall structure, then duct tape can be used to provide a seal that is absolutely impermeable to stink bugs. They will not be able to squeeze past it to gain entry into your home. And even if somehow they are able to maneuver into any tight spaces, you can be assured that they appendages or perhaps any other part of their body will get stuck to the adhesive and become immobile. If this were to happen, then it becomes easy to remove the duct tape, with the stink bugs attached to it, and then discard it in an appropriate receptacle.

There are many ways how to kill stink bugs without having to resort to directly squashing them, and thus releasing that putrid odor. Duct tape can not only serve as an effective mechanism whereby you can trap stink bugs and then dispose of them appropriately. It can also be used as a means to seal off any cracks or gaps in your home through which stink bugs might try to find a way to get inside your home.

How To Kill Stink Bugs In Homes That Have Window Air Conditioner Units

How To Kill Stink Bugs, Protecting Your Home

Facts About Stink Bugs:

1. Stink bugs want to come inside the house during the winter. Have you noticed that the peak season for stink bug infestation problems within domestic households in North America is during the onset of autumn? This is not by mere chance or coincidence. Stink bugs are no different than any other insect or animal that instinctively seeks to escape the harshness of winter either by hibernating or by migrating south. What makes stink bugs stand apart from other insects is in their persistence when it comes to matters of seeking shelter in warm places during autumn and winter. Whereas it is very rare to find bugs lurking about in your house during the winter months, stink bugs are a notable exception.

2. They will seek any means to get into the house. If a stink bug is unable to seek shelter in a warm household during the winter months, it will inevitably hibernate. But during the autumn months of September and October, you will find these little critters to be among the most persistent when it comes to trying to gain entry into your home for the winter. Wherever they can find any type of opening in your house, somehow they will manage to make their way indoors, where it is warm. This opening could be a crack in your house’s foundation, the exhaust fan pipes from your clothes dryer, your stove exhaust vent, your chimney, gaps in your window sills, tears in your window screens, or any other crevice that they can find. Suffice it to say that if there is a way to get into your home, a determined stink bug will find a way. This is their mission in life during the autumn months.

3. The Window Air Conditioner Unit is one of the most vulnerable parts of the home. Among the many different ways that there are for stink bugs to gain access into your home, the window air conditioner unit is one of the single most vulnerable. It is, after all, an actual opening into your home. Designed for air to be sucked into your home from outside, it is an open invitation for these bugs to crawl straight through. This is of course a common problem with any opening into your home, be it a central air conditioning unit, or any other exhaust pipe leading out of your house. Stink bugs can make their way through these as well. The main difference is that the distance between the outside world and the inside of your house is very small, and is a relatively short distance for a stink bug to trek before it finally emerges into your home. If you don’t take the necessary precautions and safeguards to seal off your window air conditioner unit and make it completely air tight and impenetrable, except for the flow of air molecules themselves, then this unit becomes an open invitation for stink bugs to make their way into your home.

4. The problems with window air conditioner units. Because air conditioner units are units that are fitted into an opening that is cut out of your wall, you must be mindful of the fact that even the tiniest gaps between the unit and the wall can be just big enough for stink bugs to slip through. And believe it not, stink bugs can and will find a way to get through this unit, once they are able to detect the presence of heat emanating from that unit. Stink bugs are notorious for penetrating homes and making their way indoors, and are equally notorious for their persistence at doing so.

5. How to safeguard your window air conditioner units. While most professionally installed air conditioner units are designed to fit precisely into the opening in your exterior wall, it is inevitable that sometimes you might end up with a unit that is not a perfect fit, even by a few millimeters. This is true of both new installations and replacements, as well as with existing units that have been in your window for a long time. Here are some tips on how you can safeguard your window air conditioner units so as to prevent stink bugs from making their way through in order to get inside your home:

i) Use duct tape. Duct tape is an extremely effective way to seal off any gaps between your window air conditioning unit and the wall. It provides a solid, impenetrable barrier. Plus, it is adhesive, so it is very unlikely to come undone, plus it can trap any stink bugs that do come in contact with the adhesive surfaces, thwarting their attempts to gain entry into your home.

ii) Spray the window with dish soap. This may sound like an odd solution, but the fact of the matter is that dish washing liquid soap has proven to be lethal to stink bugs and acts as an excellent deterrent against them. By spraying the exterior of your window with dish soap, this should be sufficient to drive them away. Of course, if it not practical to spray the window with dish soap yourself, then you may want to have your window (as well as the rest of your house) professionally power washed.

iii) Caulk the window. If you have any gaps in your window sill or in the areas between where your window meets the window frame, you may want to fill these up with caulk. Once the caulk dries, this will form a solid, water-proof impenetrable barrier that stink bugs will not be able to pass. Also, if any stink bugs have managed to get into your home through these cracks and are hiding within the walls, then this will take care of them. By sealing off the openings with caulk, this will trap, suffocate, and kill off any stink bugs that might be hiding within your walls, so that they cannot come back out and lurk about within your house.

6. Cover your air conditioning unit. One thing you can do is permanently can encase your air conditioner unit with a cover that has gaps that are too narrow for bugs to pass through but are just large enough for air molecules to pass through. This case would be somewhat akin to a cage. Yet another way to cover your air conditioner would be completely enshroud it within a cover when it is not in use, particularly during the winter months. Removing window air conditioner units completely during the winter months is also an option, provided that you are able to board up the gap in the wall completely, caulk the edges, and ensure that it is air-tight. Having a window air conditioner is a necessity during the summer months, in houses that do not have central air conditioning. Unfortunately, the luxury and comfort of having air conditioning comes at a price… the trade off is in the amount of effort you must put in to ensure that your unit does not leave your home vulnerable to an infestation of stink bugs.

If you are already suffering from a stink bug infestation, then you may want to consider getting some professional help from an exterminator who is experienced in the art of how to kill stink bugs.

How To Kill Stink Bugs – Thwarting The Kamikaze Attack

Extermination Methods, How To Kill Stink Bugs, Protecting Your Home

What is the difference between a kamikaze warrior and a stink bug?

Both will swoop down out of the sky to impact an object on the ground, but the only difference is that whereas the kamikaze warrior is willing to die, we wish stink bugs would die.

Indeed, one of the characteristic features of stink bugs is that they sure know how to make an entrance onto the scene: They will swoop down from on high and impact a particular object or surface on the ground, as though they were gearing up for a kamikaze attack. (It is not unheard of for stink bugs to die in the process of doing this, but typically most stink bugs survive the process.)

Stink bugs are deemed by many people as being more annoying than just about any other typical household insect. Unlike flies, mosquitoes, and ants, stink bugs bear a distinctively “reptilian” appearance, considering that their entire back is covered by a protective exoskeleton shell. What makes stink bugs such an annoying nuisance is that they are seemingly stubborn and resilient when it comes to seeking shelter in a warm place. Stink bugs will quite literally stop at nothing to do whatever it takes to gain entry into the protective confines of your house, no matter what it takes. They are hardwired instinctively to seek out warm places to hide during the autumn and winter seasons, and unfortunately for us humans, our homes are considered prime real estate for stink bugs to seek refuge in during these cold seasons.

Why is it that stink bugs seem to emerge out of nowhere? You could be minding your own business, sitting at a desk, or sitting at the dinner table, or cooking dinner in the kitchen, and then all of the sudden, out of the blue, without any prior warning, you hear a unique buzzing sound, and then bam! A stink bug will suddenly appear, having made an abrupt and hard impact onto the surface after crash landing, kamikaze style, from a higher surface or from the ceiling, a wall, or an overhead air duct. (Stink bugs make buzzing sounds, similar to the common housefly, but a little bit louder.)

Indeed, stink bugs are extremely resilient creatures. It is like a bad horror movie: You see one stink bug in the house and you kill it, only to find another stink bug in the house that very same day or some time a few days later has taken its place. If it seems as though your house is being overrun by stink bugs, then it is no doubt time to take some sort of action to do something about them and taking whatever preventative actions are necessary in order to prevent future stink bug infestations as well.

Once stink bugs gain access into your house, typically you will find them lingering and loitering around windows, window sills, doors, skylights, crevices, cracks or gaps in the walls, or near sources of abundant light in your house, such as lamps.

And if you haven’t already figured it out through first hand experience, you should be made aware of the fact that stink bugs can fly. Yes, indeed, stink bugs are flying insects. They may be creepy crawlers, but they are also insects. And one of their characteristics , as mentioned above, is that they sure know how to make an entrance into a room! Very often, you will find stink bugs suddenly swoop onto a table or other surface, seemingly out of nowhere. Their arrival is preceded by a distinct buzzing sound. Yes, stink bugs make a buzzing sound when they fly. And then they will land with great force onto the surface.

The manner in which stink bugs will make an entrance into a room, sweeping down from on high, is very similar to the way a Japanese kamikaze World War II pilot would swoop down from out of the sky, resulting in a surprise attack upon the enemy. Of course, the main difference between a real Japanese kamikaze attack versus the kamizake style entrance that a stink bug makes into the room is that the stink bug doesn’t do it with the intent to kill any prey, let alone to kill itself. (The Japanese kamikaze air force pilots of yore were conditioned to take on these stunts with the full knowledge and intention of engaging in a suicide mission, for the greater good.)

It is rather sadly ironic that stink bugs are natives of Japan, the nation that relied heavily on kamikaze dive bombers, and that these bugs themselves also engage in dive bombing by instinct. While other insects will make a graceful and soft landing onto whatever surface they wish to land upon, stink bugs will very often “dive bomb” their way from place to place, particularly from high to low.

For this reason, you must be very vigilant about protecting your home if you suspect or are aware of the fact that there is a population of stink bugs in your home. Stink bugs do not discriminate or have any deliberate intention, there is no rhyme or reason to where, why, and how they choose their targets for dive bombing.

Many people will report that stink bugs have dive bombed right into their pots while cooking in the kitchen, or that the stink bug will end up on their shirt. As far as food is concerned, it is extremely important, for this reason, that you cover any food or refrigerate it, so that stink bugs cannot dive bomb onto these fruits and feed off of them. Or the stink bugs might even dive bomb onto your person, seemingly out of nowhere at random. If you suffer from entomophobia (fear of insects), this might no doubt freak you out of course.

The good news is that while the mere thought of stink bugs staging “kamikaze” style entrances into a room, you can actually also take this kamikaze dive-bombing behavior and turn it around to your advantage as an effective means for how to kill stink bugs:

For example, you can set up stink bug traps to entice and lure them toward the trap. They will kamikaze right into the trap, and never be able to break free. For example, one type of trap that you could set up would consist of a light source adjacent to a bowl of dish soap…. If the stink bug dive bombs toward the light source to seek its warmth and illumination, it will land in the dish, and when the dish soap makes contact with the stink bug’s belly, it will poison it. (Dish soap is among a number of different household solutions that have been determined, through trial and error, to be lethal to stink bugs.)

There are other types of traps you can set up as well, but the use of dish washing detergent has been proven to be extremely effective at paralyzing and killing stink bugs, for the most part. Other traps might be ones that cause the stink bugs to become confined into a box or a container in which they will eventually starve, suffocate, and die. Another type of trap might simply be a bug zapper, that kills the stink bug as soon as it makes contact with the light source.

There is no way to prevent stink bugs from dive bombing. It is in their nature. As stated above, their dive bombing does not appear to be deliberately aimed toward any particular targets such as food or light, as they have been known to dive bomb directly onto people’s shirts or onto desks or tables, even though there is no food present.

So the best prevention in this case is to be prepared to deal with them and to capture them when this dive bombing does occur.

There are many ways how to kill stink bugs. One way is to set up traps for them when they engage in their “kamikaze attacks”. While it is not possible always to predict when and where a stink bug might emerge and engage in this type of dive bombing activity, it is possible to lure them and entice them to dive bomb toward a light source, a source of heat, or towards fresh fruits that they thrive on.

When all else fails, you can always set up an appointment with your local exterminator. They would be the experts on how to kill stink bugs.

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