Stink Bugs Reeking Up NJ Homes: What You Can Do About Them

NEW JERSEY — As the cold weather approaches, seasonal changes are underway around New Jersey, and some of them truly reek. While the spotted lanternfly tends to hog the invasive-species spotlight, state residents should also watch out for the brown marmorated stink bug.

The bug brings greater problems than its scent, risking billion of dollars in crops around the nation and jeopardizing food, farms, the environment and jobs, according to Spot BMSB. The invasive species spends the winter inside buildings, including homes, says the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

• Related article: Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine Could Expand To All Of NJ

The BMSB has spread to 47 states, posing "severe agricultural and nuisance problems" in a handful of states, including New Jersey. Stink bugs are voracious eaters. What they can do with those piercing, sucking mouthparts to an apple, peach or pear orchard isn’t pretty. Lots of other crops are at risk from stink bug damage, too.

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 in 1996 after accidental introduction from Asia, they’ve been reported in all but a couple of High Plains states, according to the Stop BMSB.

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 they do smell bad if you smash them, so don't do that.

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 You Can 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.

If you find them inside, gently sweep them into a bucket and 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.