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I just found my first few stink bugs of the year. With the return of warmer weather, so returns the smelly little beasts that made their way from Asia, likely in a packing crate.

Allentown gets the notoriety of collecting the first documented specimen in September 1998. It must have been the smell that attracted it.

If you are finding them, they likely wintered in the walls of your home and are now becoming more active with the higher temps.

The brown marmorated stink bug is considered to be an agricultural pest, and by 2010-11 had become a season-long pest in U.S. orchards. They are experiencing a population explosion and expanding their territory, with a 60% increase in total numbers from 2012 to 2013 and now found in 40 states.

The higher than normal population has caused some of the following environmental problems:

 

• The insects have started attacking fruit and trees in orchards in southern and eastern Pennsylvania, which had not been seen in previous years.
• Bugs pierce the fruit’s outer surface and suck out juices while injecting saliva. The suction and saliva create a dimpling of the fruit’s surface, and rotting and corking of the flesh underneath.
• The fruit is not salable because of appearance although the dimpled area is not poisonous to humans.
• The bugs attack numerous types of plants—including tomatoes, soy beans, lima beans and sweet corn—but fruit show the damage more quickly and orchard owners monitor for damage more closely. Little is known about what these insects do in the wild.

On the bright side, as of 2012, native predators such as wasps and birds were showing increased signs of feeding on the bugs as they adapt to the new food source.

Also, there is a trap that will attract the bugs, doesn’t require you to handle them, can be made for less than $7 and best of all, it actually works.

Watch the video below and make your own stink bug trap.