Stink bugs used to be fun to find when you were a kid. You could stomp on them to hear the crunch and release the awful scent. Now that you are an adult, seeing a stink bug in your home is not nearly as exciting. If see a stink bug in your home, don’t spray it with a DIY spray and think your problems will go away. Stink bugs will stick around all season long. Here are a few tips to keep stink bugs out this fall.
What Are Stink Bugs And Why You Should Care?
Stink bugs are distinct. When you see one, you will know exactly what it is. A stink bug is a brown bug with a shield on its back. The adult male stink bug is 12 to 17 mm long, and it is as wide as it is long. The stink bug’s antennae and front wings have dark bands around them.
Stink bugs are overwintering pests, which means they will head inside during the fall and stick around through winter. Stink bugs in New York go into your home to escape the harsh winters we experience. What better place to hide than you comfy, warm home?
The stink bug feeds on fruits and vegetables. Again, this is exactly what your home provides them. The stink bug eats beans, peaches, apples, corn, tomatoes, and bell peppers. It uses its piercing mouth to pierce a hole into the skin of its food to feed on it.
As you can see, your home provides food and shelter for stink bugs. Now you may be wondering how to prevent stink bugs.
Preventing Stink Bugs
As you prepare for winter, you have a lot of chores you do in the fall. You pull up the garden, mulch your flower beds, clean off the summer lawn furniture, and pack up the mower. This year, prepare for overwintering pests as well.
To prevent stink bugs from entering your home:
- Do not leave your doors or windows open without screens.
- Do not leave your garage door open, and make sure that the weather stripping underneath the door is intact.
- Eliminate small holes, cracks, and crevices around your home and its foundation.
- Change outdoor lighting to yellow lights. Bugs are not attracted to yellow lights as they are to white lights.
- Vacuum your home often, and suck up any bugs you see while cleaning.
Stink bugs are not harmful. They are nuisance pests that can become out of control when they invade your home.
What to do About Stink Bugs?
Parkway Pest Services can help you control your stink bug problem before it gets out of hand. Stink bugs are just one of the many bugs that will overwinter in your home and they will remain a problem throughout the fall and winter seasons. The best way to control and prevent stink bugs and other overwintering pests in NY is with year-round pest control. You may think it’s only stink bugs today, but wait until you see what the rest of the seasons bring. Bugs are always a problem, but with a year-round pest control plan from Parkway Pest Services, you can be assured that you will not have to deal with overwintering pests again.