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Organic Stink Bug Control Doesn’t Have to Stink

March 8th, 2010 Posted in Ornamental & Lawn Pests

There’s nothing like waking up early and heading out into your garden and breathing in….

Stink bug. Gross.

When these pests land in your garden, you want to get them out at quick as possible. Fortunately, there are methods of organic stink bug control that can help.

Read on to learn:

• What They Look Like
• What Crops They Feed On
• How to Get Rid of Them

What They Look Like

There are all kinds of pests that can be crawling around your garden, it’s important to know exactly which insect you’re dealing with.

So if it’s stink bugs, what will they look like?

There are many types of stink bugs, that come in a variety of colors. But there are some common characteristics that stink bugs share.

Adult stink bugs are:

• Shield shaped
• Either brown or green
• Some have red, pink or yellow markings

In the winter, these adult bugs hibernate under leaves or on certain crops and weeds. You will start to see them in March and April. This is also the time they begin to lay eggs and when you should start thinking about organic stink bug control.

How to spot stink bug eggs

Even if you have not seen an adult stink bug, a good indication an infestation is on its way are clusters of eggs around you garden.

Eggs are drum shaped with circular lids and the females lay them in clusters onto leaves.

Now that you know how to spot them, what threat do they pose to your garden?

What Crops They Feed On

Squash bugs attack squash, pantry pests attack your pantries and stink bugs love tomatoes.

Several species of stink bug flock to tomatoes.

Stink bugs feed on tomatoes by piercing the flesh with their mouthparts and sucking out the juice. What’s left after they’ve satisfied their appetite are whitish-yellow spots underneath the tomatoes’ skin.

If you’ve ever seen tomatoes with spots, you’ll know how unappetizing they look.

As stink bugs continue on their destructive path, they may move on to green fruit in your garden. The damage on these fruits look like tiny pin pricks with a discolored area (either yellow or greenish) surrounding them.

Once you see damaged fruit on your property, it’s time to break out the organic pesticide and stop the stink bugs.

How to Get Rid of Them

If you see stink bugs in your garden, turn around immediately, run inside and start sealing off your home! You do not want these smelly pests to get indoors.

Look for cracks in:

• siding
• window
• doors
• behind chimneys

Then cover up or caulk these holes so they don’t become stink bug doorways.

Also, stink bugs are attracted to light, so try closing the shades at night to discourage them from moving towards your home.

IMPORTANT: Do not squash or vacuum stink bugs you find in the home.

This usually makes the smell worse and can linger longer in the air. Also, if you try to handle them yourself, they can bite. While their bites aren’t dangerous, they do hurt.

A better solution is to turn to organic pesticide products to rid yourself of this smelly problem.

The key to organic stink bug control is knowing what they look like, what they’re after in your garden and how to use organic stink bug control to get rid of them.

Once you’ve done that, head outside, breathe easy and take a bite into a homegrown tomato.