Scourge of the Stink Bugs (Halyomorpha halys)

 These hideous, ugly bugs are such a nuisance! We noticed them about half way through our trip while camping in Kentucky. 

The brown marmorated stink bugs are an invasive species introduced from Asia in the mid-1990's. Thanks a lot, Asia!


More than I ever wanted to know about stink bugs

After some internet research, we understand now that this time of year the adults are looking for a place to winter-over, hence they start coming inside your house and camper. They are clever devils and get into nooks and crannies and hide. They get their name from the odor that releases when they are crushed, so we learned quickly to vacuum or drown them. 

They don't bite, sting, or eat your clothing; they are just creepy and ugly. They don't breed during the winter, so if we are successful in routing them from our 5th wheel, we won't have to deal with them until the next time we camp where they are. 

How did we get so many?

Their favorite domain is to live and breed in fields with soybeans and corn -- guess what is all over Kentucky? Yep! And we were camping on the outskirts of in wooded areas surrounded by these crops. Perfect for the stink bugs. Everyone around us was fighting them also, but really it doesn't seem like much penetrates their hard shells. Apparently they damage the crops though, so these are not innocuous bugs.

What to do about stink bugs?

Now that we are home, we are doing a thorough clean out of the camper and everything in it. We have a quarantine area in the garage set up where we are going through everything before bringing it in the house. All drawers, cupboards, vents, under furniture, behind rubber seals -- everywhere we can think to check will be cleaned thoroughly before restocking the essentials.

Yesterday alone we found more than two dozen live ones, in our clothes drawer and in the sheets! Creepy! I was sleeping with them and didn't know it! I don't need any fake spider webs or rubber skeletons to be spooked this time of year!

We are finding them and killing them as we go. There are a number of ways to repel them in future, but at this point we first need to deal with the live ones then when we store the camper for winter, we will implement repellants and hope for the best!

  • Essential oils and sprays such as mint or garlic
  • Diatomaceous earth
  • Covering all possible openings with screen (pipes, vents, skylights, etc.)
  • Sealing all windows and doors with caulking 
  • Keeping things dry and clean and with no food residues or crumbs
  • Keeping the area around the house or camper free from debris, and overgrown grass and shrubs

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