Insects Waking Up Now In IL: Stink Bugs, Ticks, Bees

ILLINOIS — After some recent summertime temperatures, it is still springtime in Illinois. Flowers are blooming, the grass is turning green and insects are crawling out of wherever they hunkered down for the winter — your warm, cozy home, for example — ready to replenish their populations.

Most of these six- or eight-legged creatures are beneficial. Others are maddeningly annoying but otherwise harmless. Some others 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 2023

There’s no need to squish most bugs, but when it comes to the spotted lanternfly, stomp away. That’s if you don’t get them now, while they’re still in the egg stage.

These insects, whose presence has been confirmed in 14 states — although they haven't been confirmed (yet) in Illinois, they have been in nearby Indiana and Michigan — and reported in many others rival butterflies in beauty when they’re adults, but don’t get attached. They’re a menace, posing a serious threat to the nation’s grape, orchard, and logging industries, according to the Agriculture Department.

The bottom line: During spring lawn cleanup, keep your eyes peeled for spotted lanternfly egg masses. Each female is believed to lay at least two egg masses, which can produce 50 or so insects.

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 your state’s agriculture department, scrape off the egg masses with a knife or old credit card, put them in a plastic zippered bag filled with alcohol or hand-sanitizer and dispose of the sealed bag in the garbage.

In a few weeks, 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. “Harming our city's wildlife is prohibited, but in an effort to slow the spread of this troublesome species, we are putting out a one-time call: If you see a spotted lanternfly, please squish and dispose of this invasive pest,” the New York City Parks Department said last August.

• 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 these jerks leave just as stealthily. (Stink bugs can rightly be called jerks because, once outside, they’re free to satisfy their voracious appetites by chewing through fruit groves and ornamental plants.)

Illinois is among the Midwest states where increasing infestations of stink bugs have emerged in recent years, researchers say. While the insects have been found most traditionally in the Southern United States, they have migrated north and are being found in soybean and cornfields across the Midwest, including in rural parts of Illinois.

Researchers have said that up to 24 varieties of stink bugs are found among soybean and cornfields in states like Illinois. In soybean fields, stink bugs typically feed on all above-ground parts of the plant but prefer pods and developing seeds, and the damage they cause can affect yield, seed quality, and germination rates, researchers have found.

In corn, stink bugs feed on corn at all growth stages, but seedling and early reproductive stages of corn are most susceptible to the infestation of the insects.

When you see them in your house at this time of year, be careful. Be very careful. Vacuum them up or sweep them right out the door if you have to, but do so as surreptitiously 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.

The bottom line: 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 larva. 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 that they chew through invasive kudzu — the “vine that ate the South” and is making its way into the Midwest, Northeast, and Oregon — but these bugs also kill food crops.

They 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.

According to researchers, the kudzu bug has not yet made its way to Illinois as the variety of the insect has been traditionally found in the southeastern part of the country. As of 2017, the closest reports of the bugs have been found in southern Missouri while some minor cases were reported in parts of Pennsylvania.

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.

Out For Blood

If spring is as rainy as forecasters predict in Illinois, expect an abundance of these bloodthirsty insects and, subsequently, tick-borne illnesses, such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and a few others.

• Related: Tick-Borne Babesiosis Is Found Almost Everywhere | As ER Visits For Bites Spike, Tick-Borne Illnesses To Watch

Tick bites requiring ER visits are most common in the Northeast, accounting for 48 of every 100,000 emergency department visits in April, up from 19 of every 100,000 visits in March, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

In the Midwest, 37 of every 100,000 emergency room visits in April were for the treatment following a tick bite.

In Illinois, adult ticks are most active in April, May, and June. By September, the adults are inactive and are rarely observed, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. There are 15 varieties of ticks around the state, but only five are typically encountered by humans, health officials said. The American dog tick can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia and possibly ehrlichiosis to humans, according to state health officials.

The bottom line: Protect against tick bites with anti-tick repellents for humans and pets. Chemical lawn treatments offer some protection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, but shouldn’t be considered your only line of defense against ticks. Landscaping, keeping the lawn neat and trim, and discouraging tick hosts — such as deer, raccoon, and stray dogs — go a long way toward keeping ticks at bay.

If you have opossums in your area, they’re your friends. These marsupials devour ticks at an amazing rate; however, a 2021 study threw shade on the myth that opossums like ticks. They are fastidious groomers and eat them almost by accident as they’re cleaning themselves up after ambling around the woods looking for something more delicious. Opossums eat worms, insects, rodents and such, but also berries, nuts, grains, and, maybe, your vegetable garden.

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 Nations 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.

At least 28 states, including Illinois, 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 2019, the state senate considered a bill that would make it unlawful for neonicotinoid insecticides to be used in any public lands owned or operated by the state. The bill also would make it illegal to apply neonicotinoid insecticides in any other outdoor residential settings, including landscaping, ornamental, or other outdoor applications within the state.

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 bees be bees.

In cases where they 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.

‘Parachuting Spiders’ May Drop In

The 3-inch Joro spider that dropped into sight in Georgia in 2013 is a genuine cult hero in the insect world. And why not? They’re huge, jumping spiders with a unique ability to “parachute” to new locations by using their webs to “ride the wind” to other locations.

Spiders are good little (if little can be used to describe such a giant of its species) critters. Superb predators, arachnids are a biological weapon against other insects and pests around the house, yard, garden, and crops.

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, says Andy Davis, one of the authors of the study predicting their spread up the East Coast and a research scientist at the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology. They do no harm and may even serve as a food source for birds.

“The way I see it, there’s no point in excess cruelty, when it’s not needed,” said study co-author Benjamin Frick, an undergrad, “You have people with saltwater guns shooting them out of the trees and things like that, and that’s really just unnecessary.”

You Had Us At ‘Needle’

Let’s talk about the Asian needle ant, though. It probably won’t kill you if you’re stung by one of these insects, found last year in Evansville, Indiana. In rare instances, the ant’s venom can be lethal to people who have reactions to insect bites and stings. For the most part, though, 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 never made it this far north. Members of this species of ant have also taken up residence in Kentucky.

Purdue University entomologist Timothy Gibb told the Indianapolis Star the Asian needle ant’s stinger and venom sac give it a place of honor among Indiana ants. None of the others in the Hoosier state have stingers.

“Other ants will bite,” Gibb told the Star, “but this is really new.”

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.