My neighbor ventured up to her attic to retrieve her holiday decorations this weekend. It did not take long for her to realize that she was not alone. As she began to remove the boxes that contained her decorations, the all too familiar unpleasant stench was unleashed as many stink bugs were clearly not happy that their winter hang-out was being disturbed. According to my neighbor, stink bugs began to emerge from every angle, crawling on her, flying at her, spraying the air making her eyes water and causing difficulty breathing. She called for a plastic bag and some tissues to begin to capture them. She stopped counting after she reached 100 captured stink bugs. The stinky pests were on the exterior of the Christmas boxes, under the boxes, and between the boxes. Once she brought everything down from the attic she began to unpack her treasured decorations, much to her dismay, the stink bugs had made their way inside each of the boxes as well.
Stink bugs are known to feed on over 52 different types of plants in the United States. They have an appetite for shrubs, weeds, vines, cultivated crops, and native and ornamental trees. Both nymphs and adult stink bugs pierce plants to suck the sap from buds, blossoms, seeds, pods, and fruit. The agricultural damage caused by stink bugs to crops within the United States thus far has been in the millions.
My neighbor claimed today that she regretted not seeking the help of a pest control expert when the stink bugs were actively crawling on the exterior of her home before they found their way indoors to overwinter. Insecticides that are administered by a licensed New Jersey pest control technician are the most reliable method of controlling stink bug populations.
