# Stink bugs



## Rob711 (Sep 22, 2019)

Not sure if this is correct spot so mods move. 
I’m seeing stink bugs on window screens at my house, I’ve lived on Long Island my entire life, 42 years, never have I seen them at homed.  Probably 5 years ago I’d see them in institutions, ie schools, hospitals. What’s changed, environment? I also can’t find many healthy oaks around. I live near a very wooded area. Most big oaks are dropping limbs or there tops broken off, no healthy young ones.  I’m assuming overpopulation and pollution have killed the land!  Where do these stink bugs come from?


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## begreen (Sep 22, 2019)

Could be BMSBs. They are becoming a serious issue for orchardists. 




__





						Brown Mamorated Stink Bugs: The Truth Stinks | Bioadvanced
					

Controlling the brown Marmorated stinkbugs. Stink bugs gather by hundreds in order to seek shelter in the fall on exterior walls of homes, eventually working their way indoors. Get the answers to ways you are able to control a stink bug, what attracts stink bugs in your house, where do stink...




					www.bioadvanced.com


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## PaulOinMA (Sep 23, 2019)

Just going to post that we haven't had a stinkbug in the house yet this fall … and there's one in the hallway.


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## paulnlee (Sep 23, 2019)

I'm looking at least 20 on the screen slider. From China(where else). Been around here for years. They find the damnest places to hide  and you'll find them in the spring. Fuzz buster them and into the Harmon


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## EatenByLimestone (Sep 23, 2019)

I don't think they are hurting your oaks much.  

Are they producing acorns?


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## fbelec (Sep 24, 2019)

we have stink bugs up the stinker here in mass. don't know what this means but the oaks around here are dropping smaller sized acorns and not as much as last few years. i haven't heard one hit the truck while driving and some years it sounds like someone is shooting at me


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## blades (Sep 24, 2019)

Acrons aren't too bad but those Walnuts at 45mph will take a window out.


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## Ashful (Sep 24, 2019)

Lots of stink bugs here, in the last week or two. Must be the weather, they were on decline the last few years.

I’d trade the giant African hornets that have been plaguing me the last two years (they feast on our newly invasive spotted lantern fly) for more stink bugs any day. No one has ever been afraid of a stink bug, but a hornet the size of your thumb, with a stinger the size of a 6 penny nail is no fun.


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## begreen (Sep 24, 2019)

I got stung by a small yellow jacket that followed me after discovering they had a nest under a palette in the woodshed.  I had walked quite away from the next when it stung me in the chest through my shirt. It felt like I had been struck by a taser. Took my breath away and stopped me in my tracks. That surprised me. I have been stung a lot in my days, but nothing like this. Little wasps can pack more wallop than some big ones. 

Now I have to figure out how to get them out. This is the hardwood side of the woodshed. It won't be a problem during the winter, but I stacked my leftover fir there from last spring so that I could reload the other side with fir. The intent was to burn this first.


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## EatenByLimestone (Sep 24, 2019)

Ah, a well placed super cedar and you could still light it up first!


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## Ashful (Sep 24, 2019)

begreen said:


> I got stung by a small yellow jacket that followed me after discovering they had a nest under a palette in the woodshed.  I had walked quite away from the next when it stung me in the chest through my shirt. It felt like I had been struck by a taser. Took my breath away and stopped me in my tracks. That surprised me. I have been stung a lot in my days, but nothing like this. Little wasps can pack more wallop than some big ones.
> 
> Now I have to figure out how to get them out. This is the hardwood side of the woodshed. It won't be a problem during the winter, but I stacked my leftover fir there from last spring so that I could reload the other side with fir. The intent was to burn this first.


Those little yellow jackets are hateful and vengeful little bastards.  I have also had one follow me quite a distance and sting me in my shop after I walked by their nest nearly a hundred feet away.  Whatever limb they sting usually swells up pretty badly, on me, and can hurt for weeks.  I know several people who have been swarmed by them, not realizing they were standing or mowing over a nest, and had dozens of them get up into their clothes.

I've not been stung by one of these giant African hornets yet, they're not easily provoked to sting.  But I've read that their sting feels like firing a framing nail gun into your leg, from someone who's apparently experienced both of these pains.


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## Rob711 (Sep 24, 2019)

Yikes!  Ok I’ll stop complaining!


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## Ashful (Sep 24, 2019)

I’m thinking we need to capture and train the stink bugs. Sell them to amazon.com as a new biological drone army to deliver their packages same day. Think of all we’d be doing for the environment!


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## EatenByLimestone (Sep 24, 2019)

*imagining stink bug unions*


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## fbelec (Sep 24, 2019)

just think of how bad it would smell


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## fbelec (Sep 24, 2019)

had a bug come into the car today when picking up my son. it looked like it had a stinger so down it went picked it up and my son pick it up to get rid of it. so i started complaining to him to get out and check your shoes. it was the bug. it smells like dog poop


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## PaulOinMA (Oct 2, 2019)

I walked in the den and saw something inside on the glass on the insert.  Thought it might be a yellowjacket since I did a final vacuuming of the fireplace around the insert this week and there were two dead yellowjackets inside the insert.

Nope!  It was stinkbug!


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## Ashful (Oct 2, 2019)

Sitting at the driving range, waiting on one of my kid’s golf lesson, and saw this crawling next to me on the railing of the gazebo as I was clicking into this thread:


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## Jan Pijpelink (Oct 2, 2019)

We had a few this year, but MUCH less than previous years. I guess because I changed after shave.


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## Seasoned Oak (Oct 2, 2019)

Just another unwelcome import from china.


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## Jan Pijpelink (Oct 2, 2019)

Seasoned Oak said:


> Just another unwelcome import from china.


Made in the US.


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## Ashful (Oct 2, 2019)

Jan Pijpelink said:


> Made in the US.



I don’t think he was referring to your aftershave.


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## PaulOinMA (Oct 2, 2019)

Ashful said:


> … I don’t think he was referring to your aftershave …



On aftershave, I just posted this in a car forum I'm on ...

I've posted the following on here before.  I worked at Colgate in the 1990s.  We bought Mennen.  One of our attorneys was commenting about the lawsuits we inherited.

One guy came out of a shower and lit a cigarette.  Had it in his mouth when he dumped Mennen Skin Bracer on his hands and smacked his palms to his face.  Poof!


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## semipro (Oct 2, 2019)

Ashful said:


> Those little yellow jackets are hateful and vengeful little bastards.  I have also had one follow me quite a distance and sting me in my shop after I walked by their nest nearly a hundred feet away.  Whatever limb they sting usually swells up pretty badly, on me, and can hurt for weeks.  I know several people who have been swarmed by them, not realizing they were standing or mowing over a nest, and had dozens of them get up into their clothes.
> 
> I've not been stung by one of these giant African hornets yet, they're not easily provoked to sting.  But I've read that their sting feels like firing a framing nail gun into your leg, from someone who's apparently experienced both of these pains.


You'd be surprised how effective applying vinegar (weak acid) to a sting site is.  I've probably had 50+ stings over the last 10 years by yellow jackets mostly and I'm always amazed how well it works.  Apparently, most insect venoms are basic (pH) and the application of vinegar quickly neutralizes the venom to some degree.    I keep a pill container with cotton balls soaked with vinegar with me while working in risky places and its paid off many times.  I press the cotton ball to the sting site and hold it there for about 5 minutes.


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## semipro (Oct 2, 2019)

We probably have 100 or more BM stink bugs in our house right now.
Keeping them out is my 2nd most driving motivation for air sealing our house, energy efficiency being the 1st... but not by much.


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## EatenByLimestone (Oct 2, 2019)

Stink bugs are worse this year than last.  I hope we get lots of calls for them!  Lol.  They smell like money!!


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## fbelec (Oct 3, 2019)

semipro said:


> You'd be surprised how effective applying vinegar (weak acid) to a sting site is.  I've probably had 50+ stings over the last 10 years by yellow jackets mostly and I'm always amazed how well it works.  Apparently, most insect venoms are basic (pH) and the application of vinegar quickly neutralizes the venom to some degree.    I keep a pill container with cotton balls soaked with vinegar with me while working in risky places and its paid off many times.  I press the cotton ball to the sting site and hold it there for about 5 minutes.



i've done the same with ammonia. i was taught that from a pharmacist that said he was taught that in phar school.  worked so well i couldn't see the spot that the yellow jacket left


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## begreen (Oct 3, 2019)

Ammonia seems to make more sense. I read that the toxins in bee venom are acidic. 








						Treat Bee Stings and Other Bug Bites
					

One of the few downsides to summer is having to deal with pesky insects.Try these old-time remedies to treat bee stings and other bug bites.




					newengland.com
				



.
But then there are those that say neither work, it is more that time reduces the effect.








						Bee stings - acid or alkali? | Insect Stings
					

Does neutralising their pH give sting relief? the answer! Every year I have lots of people ask me this question (especially younger visitors doing certain science courses and exams across the world) and so I have decided to make this a special one-off web page on this subject! The claims that...



					insectstings.co.uk


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## semipro (Oct 3, 2019)

begreen said:


> Ammonia seems to make more sense. I read that the toxins in bee venom are acidic.


I'd swear that vinegar provides almost immediate relief. Maybe it's a placebo effect     It makes sense though as I get stung by wasps (e.g. Yellow Jackets) only and their venom is reportedly more basic.  (Sadly), I never have problems with bees.  There's not many of them around here anymore.  I see fewer every year. 

From @begreen sources and others, the subject seems really complex actually.  Venoms are complex.


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## Ashful (Oct 3, 2019)

Maybe it’s just holding a cotton ball on the sting, that’s the whole secret! [emoji14]

The yellow jackets we get here are tiny, no confusing them with what we call hornets, but we may have different species than you.


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## SpaceBus (Oct 3, 2019)

begreen said:


> I got stung by a small yellow jacket that followed me after discovering they had a nest under a palette in the woodshed.  I had walked quite away from the next when it stung me in the chest through my shirt. It felt like I had been struck by a taser. Took my breath away and stopped me in my tracks. That surprised me. I have been stung a lot in my days, but nothing like this. Little wasps can pack more wallop than some big ones.
> 
> Now I have to figure out how to get them out. This is the hardwood side of the woodshed. It won't be a problem during the winter, but I stacked my leftover fir there from last spring so that I could reload the other side with fir. The intent was to burn this first.



They liked our trash in Afghanistan and one stung my middle finger on my right hand and I have a scar from it. I could not believe how much it hurt from such a small creature.


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## semipro (Oct 3, 2019)

SpaceBus said:


> They liked our trash in Afghanistan and one stung my middle finger on my right hand and I have a scar from it. I could not believe how much it hurt from such a small creature.


Yep, like fire ants - one of the reasons I got the heck out of Texas.


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## MTY (Oct 3, 2019)

No stink bugs here to speak of.  But by the end of October I will be getting two inches taller when I walk across the yard due to wild turkey crap sticking to the soles of my boots.  Maybe the turkeys eat the stink bugs.


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## fbelec (Oct 4, 2019)

last time i used ammonia i was told to put some on a rag and hold it against the sting. well that felt like rubbing alcohol on a cut. but was told to hold it on there for 15 minutes. at the end of that is was all gone. no sign of a sting. now i'm allergic and have to run to the hospital.
on a different note every time i run into a stink bug i don't want to touch it and i have to get it outside of the house so i don't have to put up with the smell.


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## paulnlee (Oct 18, 2019)

Behind my sweatshirt this AM.


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## EatenByLimestone (Oct 18, 2019)

Much better than in your sweatshirt.


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## Ashful (Oct 18, 2019)

Yuck!


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## fbelec (Oct 19, 2019)

little stinkers


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## HisTreeNut (Oct 25, 2019)

Stinkbug trap that apparently works really well. See the link.








						Stink bugs beware! Homemade stink bug traps squash store-bought models, Virginia Tech researchers find
					

Now homeowners can make their own stink bug traps for around $7, using nothing but a foil pan, water, dish soap, and a small lamp.




					vtnews.vt.edu
				




Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


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## billb3 (Oct 26, 2019)

A few more stink bugs than last year. None inside.
Banner year for red oak acorns though. Have had a huge white tail feasting in the back yard the last three nights.


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## fbelec (Oct 27, 2019)

that trap works similar to one i make to catch fruit flies. the difference is the size and the light


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