The world was introduced to the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug first when they were found in Pennsylvania in 1998. The bug is responsible for the destruction of orchards.
What is a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug?
The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug is a part of the Pentatomidae family. This stink bug species damages crops and has become a nuisance to homeowners due to their habit of seeking shelter inside structures during winter.
What do they look like?
The stink bug has antennas that are brown in color, and a mouth that’s meant to pierce through tree bark. It is ashy brown in color and has dark bands on its wings. These bugs tend to be about a half inch in length.
They usually have red eyes and a yellow body in their Nymph stage. As it grows older, the yellow shade gradually changes to white.
What is their diet?
The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug eats all kinds of fruits and vegetables like apples, soybeans, corn and so forth. Which is why they often become an invasive pest for farmers.
What is their lifecycle?
It takes about 40 to 60 days for the eggs of a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug to turn into an adult. Once the eggs are hatched, the newborn Nymphs tend to stay around the eggs before it molts and takes off for feeding.
Once winter falls, the adult stink bugs go into hiding and conserve their energy. They also stop reproducing. Once spring returns, they come out from their hiding and start looking for food and opportunities for mating. Only adults are capable of surviving the winter, so if the stink bug is still in its Nymph stage during the winter period, it will probably die.
Where are they found?
This an agricultural pest that you will find in usual places like the bark of a tree. However, stink bugs also slip into people’s homes. They choose to spend the winter in the warmth of the homes of Americans throughout the West Coast and North East regions.
You will usually find these bugs hiding somewhere inside your walls, the cupboards, or any other closed space they can crawl into. As they regain strength during spring, they may start to invade living quarters too.
Signs of an infestation?
In orchards, it’s easy to see when the infestation is occurring as the fruit trees begin to get damaged. If they have infested your home, you would know when they turn up in regular spaces to warm themselves.
How to get rid of brown marmorated stink bug?
Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs can cause damage to crops. For your orchard, it’s best to always be on the lookout for the eggs, nymphs, or adult stink bugs crawling, climbing, or flying around the trees. A good dose of insect killers should get rid of those and can be applied easily with the use of a backpack fogger.
For your home, you can typically spray with the pet safe pesticide using a pump sprayer or battery sprayer. Make sure to treat around the perimeters of each room and openings in the wall where these bugs may find their way in (outlets, water hookups, toilet plumbing.
Conclusion
These bugs can be annoying for farmers and homeowners alike. They can easily be removed with the help of pesticides with the proper sprayer or fogger, depending where you want to get rid of them.
