Stink Bug Season Is Back: NY Scientists, Public Take Steps

'Tis the season for stink bugs, and before you know it, you might start seeing them everywhere. But New York researchers are working on a way to stop the invaders. And other scientists have come up with a low-tech bug-preventative to use at home.

The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug invaded the United States in the mid-1990s from Asia. BMSBs not only gross everyone out, they also are wreaking havoc on the country's fruit and vegetable crops.

Fall is the time they begin showing up at your house.

"We are seeing the first of the BMSB adults moving from woodland habitat to buildings here at the Hudson Valley Research lab," said Cornell University scientist Peter Jentsch. Jentsch and crew have discovered a tiny wasp that likes to lay its eggs in Brown Marmorated Stink Bug eggs.

They believe this wasp is the most effective tool for reducing BMSB in the United States, where the stink bug has spread over the past 20 years. If this tiny wasp can be moved to locations where BMSB is a pest, it will significantly reduce home infestations of BMSBs from occurring in the fall, reducing the need to spray the exterior, and in some cases, the home interior, to keep these pests from entering and overwintering in their homes.

More important, it can save fruit and vegetable farmers millions of dollars in management costs and yearly loss of crops.

The wasp's an invasive species too, so scientists will be monitoring it closely.

They spent the spring doing a mapping project, which asked for the public's help, as well as capturing the wasps.

The next phase is to distribute and establish the wasp in agricultural areas, first in New York.

Sept. 15 was their first release date for the wasp in western New York, Jentsch said.

Meanwhile, if you think you need some kind of expensive, complicated way to get rid of them, think again.

A group of researchers from Virginia Tech University conducted a study that found that instead of a fancy contraption, all you need is a pan of water and a light to attract the bugs to their doom.

The necessary supplies:

• A large pan (an aluminum foil one if you want to toss it, because honestly, who wants to reuse a pan that’s had bugs floating in it?)
• Water and dish soap
• A light to attract the bugs

The Virginia Tech team has proven that homemade, inexpensive stink bug traps crafted from simple household items outshine pricier models designed to kill the invasive, annoying bugs.

Researchers from the university's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences found the best way to get rid of the little buggers: Just fill a foil roasting pan with water and dish soap, and put a light over the pan to attract the bugs in a dark room.

The trap eliminated 14 times more stink bugs than store-bought traps that cost up to $50, the study found. The homemade model is comparatively cheap — roasting pan, dish soap, light — and homeowners might already own the components.

By the way, a stink bug’s ability to emit an odor through holes in its abdomen is a defense mechanism, meant to prevent it from being eaten by birds and lizards. Simply handling the bug, injuring it, or attempting to move it can trigger an odor release.

Patch file photo

SEE ALSO: Get Rid Of Stink Bugs: National Citizen Scientist Project