MD Stink Bug Invasion Near, Here's How To Stop Them

MARYLAND — A smelly brigade of brown marmorated stink bugs is crawling into houses all over Maryland right now, just itching to set up a winter camp in your warm, cozy abode.

You’ll recognize these shield-shaped insects 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 Maryland.

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.

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.

In Maryland, surveillance by Stop the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug shows the pest is responsible for severe agricultural and nuisance problems.

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.

To stop further infestations, some of the hardest-hit states have introduced samurai wasps (Trissolcus japonicus) that come from the same part of the world as stink bugs. They hitched a ride to North America, too, likely emerging from stink bug egg masses.

The wasp, which is about as big as a sesame seed and lays its eggs into the eggs of stink bugs, is proving to be a promising biological control agent against brown marmorated stink bugs, according to Michigan State University entomologists.

26,000-Strong Stink Bug Invasion

Not every homeowner has a stink bug horror story like that of Pam Stone and Paul Zimmerman, who discovered that 26,000 stink bugs invaded their home as the cool air of fall came to South Carolina. They had left doors open leading to a second-story deck outside their bedroom, and the stink bugs marched right in as if they owned the place.

The couple’s experience, hilariously recounted by Kathryn Schulz in The New Yorker, was “like a horror movie,” Stone said.

They were on every visible surface, and on many that weren’t visible. Squashing them wasn’t the answer, of course, because it’s when they’re threatened that stink bugs throw off that gawdawful smell. But when the couple carried some outside, more stink bugs flew in.

Finally, after 45 minutes, they thought their DIY extermination had worked. Nope. They heard one buzzing as it flew across the room to join its cronies hiding on the backside of a picture.

This went on for days, with Stone and Zimmerman finding them in the strangest places.

Stone, who is an actress, comedian and horse trainer, sprang off her horse as if she’d been catapulted when she discovered her saddle was crawling with them.

Your home may not be invaded by a horde of tens of thousands of stink bugs, as Stone and Zimmerman’s was. But a wildlife biologist in Maryland, entomologists in Virginia and bank employees in West Virginia reported larger infestations — about a million in one place, according to one estimate — of the shield-shaped menace, The New Yorker report said.

Scared yet?

If you like to eat, you should be.

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

Stink bugs damage ornamental trees as well as fruits and vegetables, and they pose such a threat that the U.S. Department of Agriculture funded the Stop the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug strike force. It's a team of 50 researchers from 18 land-grant universities closely tracking the migration of the invasive, fast-moving pest.

Stink Bug Control Tips

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 the bugs inside is gently sweep them into a bucket, then fill it with a couple of inches of soapy water.

ou could vacuum them up, but perhaps as a last resort because it will trigger stink bugs' notorious odor and make your vacuum cleaner smell nasty.

A group of researchers from Virginia Tech University conducted a study that found that all you need is a pan of water and a light to attract the bugs to their doom.

The necessary supplies:

• A large pan (an aluminum foil one if you want to toss it, because honestly, who wants to reuse a pan that's had bugs floating in it?)
• Water and dish soap
• A light to attract the bugs

The trap eliminated 14 times more stink bugs than store-bought traps that cost up to $50, the study found. The homemade model is comparatively cheap — roasting pan, dish soap, light — and homeowners might already own the components. Some companies recommend a special stink bug vacuum — a cheap, handheld model used only for that chore. The bag should be tossed in a thick, disposable trash bag and taken far from the house.

Poison can quickly kill the stink bugs, but that will also trigger their stench.

Professional extermination is another option. A stink bug's ability to emit an odor through holes in its abdomen is a defense mechanism, meant to prevent it from being eaten by birds and lizards. Simply handling the bug, injuring it, or attempting to move it can trigger an odor release.

Or, Just Live With Stink Bugs

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 or reproduce in your house. They don't 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 in time to take a bite out of your garden, and for the war on stink bugs to begin anew.