Stink Bug problem

We have the green ones and the brownish-gray ones. The gray ones stink and leave the stink on you. We have them really bad in the MD/VA/DC areas. As it warms up, they come out in droves. Bugzooka works for the ones on the ceiling :-) I have had to replace burners on my grill, they got in, clogged it up and burned causing the burners to clog up. Friend had a water heater go up in flames, they had clogged up the flue. My pellet stove in the house wouldn't stay lit, stink bugs clogged up the vaccum port and flue. These critters are not only dangerous, but a huge nuisance. Good luck, nothing seems to work.

Thank you for all your replies, made some pretty depressing reading.

We have heard about the water bowl and light but that won't be an option for us while the RV is locked up unattended for 12 months. Guess we have to look for some eggs and kill those before they hatch. If we can get as many as possible before we leave as Louisiana is not known for them.
We find it amazing that in our 10 years of rving around all 50 states this is the first time we have ever come across these little buggers. We have camped in the north West in Fall before but no Stink bugs then.
At least the ones we have killed in the last week didn't seem to stink when we squashed them !

Thanks again keep the ideas coming

Julea & Alan

Scottiemom wrote:
We deal with them daily. I think this is the best solution I have found. . . Stink bug trap

Dale

I built one of these and it caught about five stink bugs of the tens of thousands that invade each fall.

When you are camped in the fall in stink bug territory, check around and behind all covers and doors, a favorite is the water heater. Catch the buggers in a container with dish soap and water.

I've got news for you: there are no insecticides you can use that will kill them AND leave any other known life forms still alive WITHOUT rendering adjacent acreage permanently uninhabitable.

No, really, I mean that. I know a guy with an orchard who sprayed with the most powerful insecticide the EPA would allow. The next morning a stroll through the orchard revealed the ground covered with seemingly dead stinkbugs. By evening, every last one of them was back up in the trees munching away as though nothing had happened.

Scottiemom's suggested trap works, but Virginia Tech tested a flock of stink bug traps and found that the best of all is a white dishpan with an inch or so of water in the bottom (aluminum pie plate also works). Put a little dishwashing liquid in the water to help insure they drown, then set a small desk lamp with a CFL bulb (regular tungsten light works, too, but not evidently an LED light) beside the tub and shining down into it, and leave it overnight. Every night. All spring and all fall. It will not work at all during the winter or the summer, btw. They said this one is about 14 times as effective as any other they'd tried.

We've been infested with the damn things now for several years, and the sticks 'n' bricks gets invaded every fall, and then they come out of hiding come warm weather in the spring. Around the house, we vacuum them up when we spot them, and dump out about a bucket full of 'em every year.

Good luck. And for all those folks around the country who don't yet have them, get ready, they are headed your way.

We deal with them daily. I think this is the best solution I have found. . . Stink bug trap

Dale

We picked up an ton of stink bugs last September in Fredericksburg Va and got rid of the vast majority of them (literally hundreds) throughout the fall and winter in South Carolina. We just traded our coach for a new TT and as we were emptying the coach two weeks ago, we kept finding more. The little buggers hide everywhere.

We killed at least 2-3 a week throughout the entire winter. :M

Lynnmor wrote:
They eat most insecticides for lunch.

I think you are correct. :B

Too bad you do not have time to clean it up and sell it, buy another on your next trip.
Is this a yearly trip? I would be wondering if the infestation will be worse when you come back.
Make sure you don't have any hitching a ride home, some mosquitos happened to hitch a ride back with me one time. Their trip came to an abrupt end when they made contact with "The Northern Echo", LOL

Lynnmor wrote:
They are the bug from hell. .

X2. And, unfortunately, they're here to stay.

They are the bug from hell. Yes they survive winter and most any conditions. They can appear dead, upside down on a window sill and then spring to life when the sun hits them. They eat most insecticides for lunch.