Insects Waking Up Now In FL: Huge Joro Spiders, Stink Bugs, Bees

FLORIDA — There are likely guests in your house that you can't see. With the beginning of spring in Florida, 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 annoying but otherwise harmless. Some others, including brown marmorated stink bugs, pose a genuine threat to fruits and vegetables and need to be dealt with before they cause harm.

The bug expected to land in Florida, if it's not here already, is the huge “parachuting Joro spider that builds webs stretching 6 feet or more is “spreading like wildfire,” and has been spotted in South Carolina and neighboring Georgia, according to a peer-reviewed study led by David Coyle, an assistant professor in Clemson University’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

He said other states have a climate that is friendly to the spider, so expect it to move into the Sunshine State.

‘Parachuting’ Spiders On The Move

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.”

Adult female joro spiders are as big as an adult's palm, with legs about 3 inches long, which gives them a length of 6 to 8 inches if their legs are extended, said USA Today. They eat typical garden pests, such as ants, flies, mosquitoes and stink bugs.

Joro spiders were first identified in Georgia in 2014 and were widely distributed in the Peach State by 2021. As the spider expands, it doesn’t seem to care whether it lives in the countryside, suburban back yards or even in urban jungles, which most spiders can’t handle, according to a new University of Georgia study published in the journal Arthropoda.

Vibrations in their webs tell spiders when prey is trapped. In areas with high concentrations of buildings, this creates a conundrum for most spiders because of other related vibrations in urban landscapes.

“If you’re a spider, you rely on vibrations to do your job and catch bugs,” Andy Davis, the lead author of the study, said in a statement. “But these Joro webs are everywhere in the fall, including right next to busy roads, and the spiders seem to be able to make a living there. For some reason, these spiders seem urban tolerant.”

The spiders’ fangs can’t puncture human skin and they don’t pose any dangers to us. They’re timid and can freeze for up to an hour when humans approach, compared to a minute or two for most spiders.

The bottom line: Learn to live with Joro spiders. They’re not doing any harm and may even serve as a tasty meal for birds. Chemical control is overkill, according to Coyle, because the applications will kill everything else, too.

• Related: Tick Bites Sending FL Residents To ER: What To Know

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

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 Florida, stink bugs are considered a nuisance, according to Stop the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug’s surveillance.

Stink bugs like to feast on your vegetable gardens, farmers' soybean crops, and black locust, maple, ash, and catalpa trees. They like cherries and raspberries, too.

When stink bugs feed on crops, damage can include everything from bruises and blemishes to aborted sweet corn kernels to a change in the sugar levels in some fruits.

The bottom line: When you see stink bugs 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.

Another Stinker That’s Full Of Beans

The kudzu bug, a relative of the brown marmorated stink bug, has found a veritable feast in soybean, peanut and other legume crops, mainly in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states. It’s good they efficiently chew through invasive kudzu, the “vine that ate the South” that is making its south in Florida — but these bugs also kill food crops.

These bugs have no natural predators, and researchers are evaluating whether a tiny black, non-stinging wasp will be an effective weapon.

They like to cozy up inside your house when temperatures are cool, and if they’re distributed, they’ll emit a foul odor.

In Florida, the kudzu bug was confirmed across the Panhandle and has spread as far south as the northern edge of Tampa Bay. The pest has been spotted in Hillsborough, Polk and Pasco counties, according to the USDA.

Kudzu bugs don’t like to spend the winter outdoors. In the fall, they often congregate on light colored surfaces, such as siding, fascia boards, etc. before moving into structures, said University of Maryland Extension. They will enter buildings under siding, gaps around windows, doors, vents, orany entry point they can find.

The bottom line: Rid your house of kudzu bugs the same way you would any stink bug — very carefully. A “true bug,” the kudzu is about the size of a ladybug but dark-colored. Because they’re relatively new to the United States, researchers don’t know the full extent of plant hosts, including your garden plants.

Synthetic chemical pesticides are the most effective kudzu bug control measures. Organic controls are more difficult. You can try to brush feeding kudzus into pails of soapy water. Squishing them works, too, but be sure to wear gloves, and hold your nose.

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 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.

Florida is silent on the matter.

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.

You Had Us At ‘Needle’

A sting from an Asian needle ant probably won’t kill you, but in rare instances, the venom can be lethal to people who have reactions to other insect bites and stings. For the most part, the most severe reaction from a sting is a feeling of “pins and needles” that can persist for a couple of weeks.

Though established and well-traveled in the South since the 1930s, it’s making its way north up the Eastern Seaboard and has been reported in the Northwest and North Central U.S. Scientists have confirmed its presence in Maryland, Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The Asian needle ant typically lives in wooded areas but also crawls inside homes when temperatures chill. Ants are pretty good characters overall. But Asian needle ants infest residential, commercial and school kitchens and pilfer food, increasing the likelihood you’ll be stung with the venom, according to North Carolina State University Extension Service.

These opportunistic ants are waking up now, ahead of other ant species, and may already be making life generally difficult for other ants by a) eating them alive, b) eating their food or c) making a coup on their nests.

The bottom line: The world needs ants. They aerate the soil, creating underground channels for water and oxygen plants need to reach their roots and grow. Asian needle ants are bad actors, though. Get rid of them.

The extension service in North Carolina recommends several commercially available insecticide baits, cautioning that it’s important first to confirm you’re dealing with Asian needle ants and not a beneficial species and also warning against broadcast applications.