Insects Waking Up Now In MA: Spotted Lanternflies, Stink Bugs, Bees

MASSACHUSETTS — You’re probably not alone in your house, even if you think you are. With the beginning of spring in Massachusetts, insects are emerging from their winter shelter and are ready to repopulate.

Most of these six- or eight-legged creatures are good bugs to have around. Others are maddeningly annoying but otherwise harmless. Some others, including spotted lanternflies and brown marmorated stink bugs, pose a genuine threat to fruits and vegetables and need to be dealt with before they cause harm.

Here are some bugs to know and what to do about them:

The Bug To Squish In 2024

There’s no need to squish most bugs, but when it comes to the spotted lanternfly, don’t be shy about killing them — that’s if you don’t get them right now, while they’re still in the egg stage. Otherwise, come summer and early fall, just pretend they’re grapes that have to be crushed for wine. Grapes are among the crops devoured by spotted lanternflies, which also threaten orchard crops and the logging industry.

Spotted lanternflies have been confirmed in 17 states — Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Many other states have reported spotted lanternflies, which are efficient hitchhikers.

The bottom line: During spring lawn cleanup, keep an eye out for spotted lanternfly egg masses. Each female can lay at least two egg masses, which can produce around 50 insects each.

By now, egg masses will have faded from glossy white to gray or brown, and they’re about an inch and a half long. If you find an egg mass, snap a photo and report it to the Massachusetts Introduced Pests Outreach Project. Then scrape it off with a knife or old credit card, put the whole thing in a plastic zippered bag filled with alcohol or hand-sanitizer, and throw that away with the garbage.

In a couple of months, spotted lanternfly nymphs will hatch. They’ll be adults by mid-summer, and that’s when to squish lanternflies — before they can deposit more eggs.

• Related: What You Can Do To Control Destructive Spotted Lanternflies

Become A Backyard Stink Bug Warrior

The brown marmorated stink bugs that snuck into your house last fall are preparing to leave and replenish their species. It’s tempting to let them leave just as stealthily, but once they’re free to satisfy their voracious appetites, they’ll chew through fruit groves and ornamental plants.

In Massachusetts, stink bugs are considered an agricultural and nuisance problem as they are in most of New England, according to Stop the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug’s surveillance. They were first spotted in Massachusetts in 2007, according to the UMass Extension Greenhouse Crops and Floriculture Program. Unfortunately, the wet, muggy summer predicted for Massachusetts could create the right conditions for stink bug populations to grow.

The bottom line: If you are unlucky enough to see a stink bug in your house, vacuum them up or sweep them right out the door if you have to, but do so as unobtrusively as possible because, when frightened, stink bugs emit a smell that will frighten you. If you do vacuum stink bugs, be sure to replace the bag immediately. If you have a bagless model, rinse the dust canister with vinegar.

Become a backyard stink bug warrior. Capturing them in commercially available traps is one option, but there also are several environmentally sound ways to tell them to bug out.

The Farmers’ Almanac points out that garlic repels stink bugs. They also don’t like mint — crush some dried mint around where you see them congregate; but mint is invasive, so be careful about where you plant it. Sunflowers and marigolds attract beneficial insects that enjoy a buffet of stink bug eggs and larvae. Sprinkle food-grade diatomaceous earth under and on the leaves of all fruits and vegetables resting on the ground. Or just make an anti-stink-bug potion with mild, soapy water made from dish dishwashing liquid, and spray it directly on the bugs.

Let It Bee

On the friendlier side of the insect world, queen bees will be looking for a quick meal in your flowers. They’re important pollinators. In fact, bees pollinate 75 percent of the food consumed by humans worldwide, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

Honeybees are in trouble. Their populations are declining around the world, and it’s up to us to do something about it. When you’re planting your garden or landscaping this year, lean into plants that encourage bees.

Here’s a fun fact: Bees see color and love yellow, purple, blue and white flowers, making echinacea, snapdragon, hostas and wildflowers excellent garden choices, according to Country Living, which has a list of 20 flowering plants bees love.

Many U.S. states, including Massachusetts, have enacted laws to save pollinators, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The laws generally fall into five categories: research, pesticides, habitat protection, beekeeping and public awareness.

In Massachusetts, legislation has made appropriations for research into the potential impacts of insecticides on pollinators. Massachusetts has also enacted laws to protect habitats suitable for pollinators, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The bottom line: Unless they’re causing damage with nests built on chimneys or in wall cavities, or if someone in your household is highly allergic to bees, let the bees be.

In cases where bees do have to go, don’t kill them. Call a professional extermination company with the clothing and equipment to remove and relocate the bees without irritating them.

Out For Blood

After a mild El Niño winter in Massachusetts, ticks are out early and may be attaching themselves to dogs — and you — and potentially spreading serious diseases.

The emergence of ticks, carriers of Lyme disease, babesiosis and other diseases, is usually a mid-spring occurrence, but even in typically wintry Minnesota, deer ticks were out in early February, according to pest-control officials in the Twin Cities.

Tick species to be on the lookout for in Massachusetts include the American dog tick, the black-legged tick — also known as the deer tick.

Related: Tick Emergence: What El Niño Winter Means For Spring Emergence In MA

Diagnosing a tick-borne illness can be tricky because symptoms may not develop for up to 30 days in some cases. People who have been infected often feel like they have a cold or flu in the beginning. That's when they should go to the doctor, because if left untreated, more serious complications, and even death in rare cases, may develop, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Because symptoms lag, the best thing to do is protect yourself against ticks when you’re in places they’re likely to be found — grassy, brushy and wooded areas, or even your backyard. The CDC recommends wearing socks and boots, using tick-specific insect repellant, checking yourself for ticks after being outdoors, and showering soon after being outdoors.

‘Parachuting’ Spiders On The Move

The huge “parachuting Joro spider that builds webs stretching 6 feet or more is “spreading like wildfire,” according to a peer-reviewed study led by David Coyle, an assistant professor in Clemson University’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

The Joro spiders, which are native to Asia and likely hitched a ride in a shipping container, are “going to be able to inhibit most of the eastern U.S.,” Coyle said in a statement last fall when the study was published. “It shows that their comfort area in their native range matches up very well with much of North America.”

Joro spiders were first identified in Georgia in 2014 and were widely distributed in the Peach State by 2021. They’ve also been spotted in Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Fortunately, they're not in Massachusetts yet, but researchers say they could spread up the East Coast.