Stink Bugs And More In PA: What You Can Do About Them

PENNSYLVANIA — As the cold weather approaches, seasonal changes are underway around Pennsylvania. In some places, this means a black bear is cozying up to a mountainside den. In others, a beaver is cobbling together his winter den. And in suburban neighborhoods, a less ecologically friendly critter called the brown marmorated stink bug is hoping to bed down for the freeze inside those larger painted dwellings typically designed for humans.

Those shield-shaped insects are easily recognized by their marbled or streaked — marmorated — appearance. We’ll get to what you need to do to stop their invasion in a bit — and you’ll want to, because they’ve earned their common name — but more important is the significance of their spread to 47 states, including Pennsylvania.

Stink bugs are voracious eaters. What they can do with those piercing, sucking mouthparts (sounds wicked, doesn’t it?) to an apple, peach or pear orchard isn’t pretty. Lots of other crops are at risk from stink bug damage, too.

Penn State Extension warned about the spread of the bugs, particularly in how they apple orchards this fall.

"It is important to remember that the absence of stink bugs during the season, does not guarantee that they will not become abundant in the orchard just before the harvest," they shared. "(The stink bug) is not an orchard 'resident pest' and whatever management tactics were utilized to control BMSB during the season in any particular block, cannot guarantee or prevent new individuals from infesting or re-infesting the site just prior to the harvest."

Stink bugs, which likely hitched a ride to the United States from Asia in a shipping container, have caused severe agricultural and nuisance damage in a dozen states, mainly those in the mid-Atlantic region, but also in Michigan and Oregon.

Another dozen states report agricultural and nuisance problems; a handful report nuisance problems only; and a couple of states haven’t seen any stink bug activity.

Don’t Squish It

Stink bugs, an odoriferous brigade of smelly brown bugs, are on the move right now, just itching to set up a winter camp in your cozy home in a dormant phase known as diapause. First detected in the United States 20 years ago, they’ve been reported in all but a couple of High Plains states, according to the Stop BMSB website, which discusses their severe threat to fruit and vegetable crops.

Despite having piercing, sucking mouthparts — tiny shields about a half-inch long and wide, which they curiously tuck between their legs when they’re not piercing and sucking the juice from plants — they can’t bite you. They can’t sting you, and they won’t reproduce.

But pee-yew, do stink bugs smell bad if you smash them. Hence, their name. So don’t do that. And they can be pretty destructive in other ways.

Scientists have waged all-out war against stink bugs, with good reason. What they can do with those piercing, sucking mouthparts to an apple, peach or pear orchard isn’t pretty and can wipe out a grower’s entire crop.

What to do: Your best defense against stink bugs is to arm yourself with weather-stripping, caulking and tape and make your home a fortress. Seal up gaps and crevices around foundations and any area where doors, windows, chimneys and utility pipes are cut into the exterior. Any opening large enough for a stink bug to crawl through should be sealed.

The best thing to do if you find them inside is gently sweep them into a bucket, then fill it with a couple of inches of soapy water. You could vacuum them up, but perhaps as a last resort because it will trigger stink bugs’ notorious odor and make your vacuum cleaner smell bad.

Poison can quickly kill the stink bugs, but that will also trigger their stench. Professional extermination is another option.

Or, if you can bear the thought of living communally with them inside your home, you could just leave them alone and hope no one frightens them and stirs up a stinky ruckus. They don’t nest or lay eggs. They don't feed on anything or anyone in your house. They’re just there taking a load off for a few months, resting up.

Come spring, they’ll crawl right back outside to take a bite out of your garden, and the war on stink bugs will begin anew.

Another stinky Pennsylvania bug

If you made your home a fortress against Asian lady beetles, you should be good to go in your battle against western conifer seed bugs — unless you have loosely hung vinyl siding, and no amount of caulking is going to keep these insects out of your home.

You’re likely to find these bugs in areas with evergreen trees old enough to produce cones, because they like to feed on the gooey goodness inside the conifer seeds. They’re native to the pine forests of western North America, but have migrated east and are found in great abundance in the Northeast after hitching a ride on trains and in Christmas trees.

Western conifer seed bugs also have the potential to bite humans with their piercing, sucking mouthparts. It was probably an accident or a fluke, according to researchers in Budapest, Hungary, but a bite by one of these bugs resulted in a fairly painful irritation and a lesion that lasted 48 hours, and the area the bug chomped remained red for about a month.

What to do: Once they’re inside walls, there’s not much you can do. It’s likely you’ll continue to see them throughout the winter. Insecticides approved for indoor use can be expensive, and it’s nearly impossible to treat every surface. These bugs are lethargic, so you should be able to vacuum them up.