Does your part of the country has to deal with these critters? Here in the suburbs in D.C. area, we have them by the hordes, with the numbers still increasing.Even during the winter season, not a day goes by that I don't find in the house every single day several stink bugs — the first daily one dubbed "the morning stink bug" and promptly dispatched. Until a few years ago, I'd never even seen one of these insects.
Usually, pets will hunt down and dispose of a few six-legged pests. But not in the case of these brown marmorated stink bugs!
Now we learn that the invasion of brown marmorated stink bugs will be ramping up this spring and summer. Oh, joy.
A short video from my local television station WUSA9:
Read about the local invasion of these stink bugs HERE.
No wonder we have so many of these detestable pests! According to Wikipedia:
* Stink bugs typically have four generations per growing season in Asia, and one after transplantation to the US, but an unusually warm and early spring and summer have apparently allowed them to produce two generations in this growing season in regions like Maryland and Northern Virginia.We don't have enough predators (spiders, praying mantises, and certain wasps) to bring these waves of invading stink bugs under control. According to Rutgers University, use of pesticides does not necessarily lead to pest control for these stink bugs, either.
* The extra generation means that some states are seeing more bugs in more places than in previous seasons. Adults are living longer, depositing eggs longer and maturing more generations to lay even more eggs.
At least, these nasty critters, the six-legged kind, don't sting or bite.
I don't know about stink bugs but if I had a nickel for every damn Box Elder bug I've killed in my home this winter, I'd probably be well on my way to retirement (mind you I live in Minnesota).
ReplyDeleteSimilar to the bed bug invasion.
ReplyDeleteThe bugs are going to get us eventually.
Yes, Cincinnati apparently being the bed bug capitol of the world.
ReplyDeleteIf only leftists hadn't outlawed effective insecticides, we might not be having these problems now.
Have seen stink bugs in Ar for over fifty years, also NM, VA, and TX.
ReplyDeleteWe have stink bugs here in Florida, but not in invasion numbers.
ReplyDeleteWe do get invasions of plenty of other bugs depending on the season.
We're getting them, too. Every night, my wife asks me to get rid of at least one she finds in our bedroom. I keep a can or bottle of soda next to my bed at night in case i wake up and my mouth is dry. One night I woke up and started to drink from my can of soda, and got a stink bug in my mouth. I spit it out before I could bite down on it or swallow it, but the taste stayed in my mouth for hours.
ReplyDeleteThey don't taste good, either.
Part of the 'stimulus' package, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure we have these here in Michigan?
ReplyDeleteMark,
ReplyDeleteEwwwwwww!
I've had a couple of close calls with beverages. Once, one was crawling on the rim of my coffee cup, and I almost didn't notice in time.
Soapster,
ReplyDeleteBox elder bugs!
We've got those too. On a sunny day, sometimes those box elder bugs completely cover the outside of the door -- if the door gets a lot of sun.
Another biblical plague... God got bored with locusts and frogs, so he's sent STINK BUGS. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteWe don't seem to have them here in FL that I've noticed.
My complaint is that, here in Chicago, we have the nine-fingered stinkbug--Rahm Emanuel--trying to pretend he is sooooo pro-Chicago, when anyone who can breathe knows he wants to topple Obama (and the wifey, who happens to really dislike 'the Ballerino', as he is known on several local blogs).
ReplyDeletePlease, belive me...Rahm is worse than stink bugs and bed bugs combined!
Wow. It's almost biblical, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteOf course, the alarmists will say it's because of global warming.
Nope, can't blame global warming on this one. Almost every population explosion of insects we have is an invasive species. Bugs that were introduced accidentally or sometimes on purpose from Europe or Asia. They have no natural controls on this continent, hence the population expansion. This one is the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug accidentally introduced from Asia into Pennsylvania around 1998. A good deal of these invasive species end up because of global trade and commerce and unregulated immigration. This is just the beginning. There is stuff out there that hasn't taken off yet.
ReplyDeletei.hate.stink bugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they seem to love my house, throwing them outside doesn't work, and they seem to know all the places a vacume cleaner can't go.
ReplyDeleteif this year is worse than last... i'm moving to alaska.
Several years ago (And I do mean several!), we were afflicted with Japanese Beetles. They decimated our rose bushes.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how much damage stink bugs can do to my treasured flowers: roses, peonies, carnations, etc. Does anyone here know about that aspect of these despicable bugs?
Karen Howes: I'm not sure what part of Florida you live in, but in the Tampa Bay area, we see them especially on the outside of the pool enclosure. They can sit out there all day because no bird eats them.
ReplyDeleteLike Mark (above comment), the birds know they are too stinky to eat.
I don't know how you feel about throwing pesticides around your yard, but the least posionous method to get rid of stink bugs is to pick them off your plants early in the morning when they're sluggish.
ReplyDeleteWhere I live, we get Lubber grasshopper invasions and that's the least poisonous way to get rid of them as well. Well, that and shooting them with a BB gun ;-)
Lubbers can stay in one spot all day long, just like stink bugs, because the birds won't eat them either.
Cube,
ReplyDeleteI use pesticides only when I'm in an extreme circumstance, as in armies of ants invading the house.
Apparently, these stink bugs are so numerous that manually getting rid of them is a Labor of Hercules! The fellow in the video nabbed 8000 of them in one day!
Stink bugs are sluggish and terrible aviators, so they are reasonably easy to catch.
We have had yesterday and today unseasonably warm weather for February here in the Cincinnati area, and so yesterday I opened the windows to let in fresh air. (Screens were intact.)
ReplyDeleteWould you believe that within hours of commenting here I was calling my husband to get rid of one of these pests?!? I KID YOU NOT!!!
The cats would not touch it, of course.
In our place also, stink bugs are infesting on crops, I am afraid to use insecticide to kill them cause it might leave residue and it is bad for the health.
ReplyDeletebag and starve them but do not squash
ReplyDelete