Stink Bugs

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Starless

We've had them in small numbers, outside, only have seen a few in the house but in the summer. This year it was terrible. I have a fairly large garden. I went out one Saturday morning and was looking at the garden from the deck, over by my watermelons all I could see was black, no green melons. I went over there and the entire plant, vine, flowers and melons were covered in stink bugs.

These were likely squash bugs. They look similar to the stink bugs we get in the house and they do stink, but they aren't the same thing. They were more numerous last summer than I've ever seen them. Cucumber beetles were worse last summer too.

[flatbutt]

Bastages are here in NWNJ too.

[MBAtarga]

Squash:


Stink:

[kach22i]

Don't know why this article left Michigan off given it was written in 2017.

Now that fall has arrived, prepare for the stink bug onslaught
Elwell: Fall is here; look for stink bugs to follow

Stink bugs took up residence in Ohio over the last 15 years, but really became a nuisance in the last five years. The brown marmorated stink bug was first released into the United States in Allentown, Pa in 1996, according to Penn State University. The bug apparently traveled from northeast Asia in a shipping container that was delivered either to the port of Philadelphia or Elizabeth, N.J. and then trucked to Allentown.

This insect has now spread to 44 states and has very large populations in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Delaware, Ohio, and North and South Carolina, according to stopbmsb.org. It has also spread to California and Oregon allegedly via a car driven by a person traveling from Pennsylvania to California in 2005........................

Increasing temperatures linked to climate change are likely a cause for such an increase in stink bug populations, especially in middle and northern latitudes. While excessive heat may drive stink bugs out of hotter, southern states, the warm but moderate temperatures at higher latitudinal locations have increased the survival of stink bugs with significantly larger spring and summer populations. With less severe winters and moderate, warm summers, these annoying bugs appear to have found a perfect “retirement” location here in the Ohio Valley.

The good news is, other than being incredibly annoying and having a pungent smell, stink bugs are pretty harmless to humans and animals. They cannot bite or sting nor seem to carry any known diseases. To get rid of them, it is recommended to flush them or vacuum them, then throw out the vacuum bag to avoid the bugs odor....................

There is no way to kill them by spraying, at least not once they are on the plant, because they must be hit directly. The bugs can fly off the leaves and they aren’t harmed by eating the chemicals on the leaves or on the fruit. However, researches at Penn State did find that while there are very few controlling natural predators, it appears other local predators such as spiders and some birds may be becoming more immune against the bug’s protective secretions and increasingly aware of the growing stink bug feast around them.

Map from article.

[Starless]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

These were likely squash bugs. They look similar to the stink bugs we get in the house and they do stink, but they aren't the same thing. They were more numerous last summer than I've ever seen them. Cucumber beetles were worse last summer too.

You may be right, I just looked them up and they do look similar. I'll have to wait until summer and see if they come back. They were also all over our lilac bush and left many leaves all dark and dried out.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

[LEAKYSEALS951]

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by Starless

You may be right, I just looked them up and they do look similar. I'll have to wait until summer and see if they come back. They were also all over our lilac bush and left many leaves all dark and dried out.

The alternating white bands on the antennae are supposedly fershure markers. There's a particular Asian wasp that eats 'em but the geniuses in the gummint are scared the wasps may be a problem in their own right.

Down in SE Michigan farm country there was a mite eating up the soybeans I think it was. So they dumped truckloads of Asian lady beetles. People were vacuuming them up by the thousands. They look exactly like the ladybugs of old but bigger.

[sewell94]

I'm in the Youngstown Ohio area. We have them and get 4 or 5 a day around the house. It drives my wife nuts. Best i can locate where they are coming from is out of our chimney. I'd love to know how to get rid if them...

[Crowbob]

You could remove your furnace.

[Starless]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

The alternating white bands on the antennae are supposedly fershure markers. There's a particular Asian wasp that eats 'em but the geniuses in the gummint are scared the wasps may be a problem in their own right.

Down in SE Michigan farm country there was a mite eating up the soybeans I think it was. So they dumped truckloads of Asian lady beetles. People were vacuuming them up by the thousands. They look exactly like the ladybugs of old but bigger.

Thanks! Now that you mention it and I look closer at the two, I see the bands on the antennae. I'll have to wait until spring/summer to find out what they are as I can't remember what their antennas looked like.

[asphaltgambler]

I understand there is a trap for them ( like a jar with funnel on top) where its partially filled with weak Clorox and water solution that you hang outside.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Down in SE Michigan farm country there was a mite eating up the soybeans I think it was. So they dumped truckloads of Asian lady beetles. People were vacuuming them up by the thousands. They look exactly like the ladybugs of old but bigger.

Growing up all the kids liked Lady Bugs, these last few decades not so much as those Asian bugs bite and just act differently, like bullies.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

I understand there is a trap for them ( like a jar with funnel on top) where its partially filled with weak Clorox and water solution that you hang outside.

This one?

https://knowledgeweighsnothing.com/amazing-diy-stink-bug-trap-that-catches-100s-of-stink-bugs-a-night/

[asphaltgambler]

Yes!