Get Rid of Stink Bugs Naturally

Stink bugs can be an eyesore and a constant assault against your sense of smell. They can cause mild damage to your garden but become an especially aggravating nuisance once inside your home. Chemical insecticides can come with a range of unpleasant consequences, but thankfully, stink bugs can be removed using natural means. Here are some suggestions about getting rid of stink bugs naturally.

Steps

Natural Pesticides

1. Sprinkle Diatomaceous Earth. Spread this chalky powder both outside and inside, focusing on entryways like windows and doors along with other areas where stink bugs seem to gather.
   • Diatomaceous Earth is a natural sedimentary rock. It contains silica, alumina, and iron oxide.
   • The powder is used as a pesticide against a variety of insects, including stink bugs. It works by breaking down the waxy protective layer on an insect's exoskeleton, essentially causing the insect to dehydrate.
   • Look for Diatomaceous Earth that has not been heat-treated, since it tends to lose effectiveness as a pesticide when it is treated.
   • You can also dust any stink bugs you see with the powder directly, in addition to spreading the powder out in areas where stink bugs gather.
2. Make a garlic spray. Mix 2 cups (500 ml) water with 4 tsp (20 ml) garlic powder in a spray bottle. Spray this solution onto plant leaves, windowsills, and other areas stink bugs frequent.
   • Stink bugs do not like the potent odor of garlic and generally stay away when garlic is nearby. It only repels the insects instead of killing them.
   • You can also chops several cloves of garlic and spread the pieces around stink bug hide-outs.
3. Keep stink bugs away with mint. Mix 2 cups (500 ml) of water with 10 drops of mint oil in a spray bottle. Spray the solution around possible entryways and hide-outs.
   • Like garlic, mint only acts as a repellent rather than a poison. The strong odor is often successful in keeping stink bugs away, though.
   • Instead of mint oil, you could use 2 tsp (10 ml) ground mint leaves.
4. Use catnip. Sprinkle catnip powder around your garden and home, focusing on areas that are prone to stink bug infestation.
   • Catnip is another repellent that scares stink bugs away rather than killing them.
   • Catnip is an herbal plant, and you can grow it in your garden instead of buying it if you have the time and are interested in having a long-term defense against stink bugs.
5. Spray the stink bugs with soapy water. Mix 32 oz (1000 ml) hot water with 3/4 cup (180 ml) mild dish soap. Spray this solution directly onto stink bugs or in areas where stink bugs gather.
   • Soap kills stink bugs by breaking down their protective exterior and dehydrating them.
   • Antibacterial soap can be used, but it contains more chemicals than non-antibacterial soap. Mild dish detergent is generally considered the safest, most natural option.
6. Use neem oil. Combine 32 oz (1000 ml) warm water with 1 to 2 tsp (5 to 10 ml) neem oil in a spray bottle. Coat leaves, windowsills, and other potential entryways or hiding spots with this solution.
   • You may need apply a week's worth of neem oil before you notice any changes. Neem oil works by disrupting the eating and mating instinct of insects. As a result, adult stink bugs that are exposed to it will gradually starve themselves and will not lay any eggs.

Physical Removal

1. Vacuum the bugs up. Suck the stink bugs up using an industrial vacuum or a vacuum cleaner with a bag. Remove and discard the bag immediately.
   • After vacuuming up the stink bugs, your vacuum is likely to smell foul for several weeks or months. For this reason, you should not use a bagless vacuum that you use at home.
   • Empty the bag's contents into a large garbage bag and seal the bag tightly.
   • Alternatively, you can wrap a knee-high stocking around the vacuum tube. Secure the stocking with a rubber band and push it inside the tube. As long as the stocking remains secure, the stink bugs should be caught inside it instead of entering the vacuum filter. You can remove the stocking, holding the end closed, and dispose of the stink bugs from there.
2. Knock them into a container of soapy water. Fill a 1-gallon (4-liter) bucket 1/4 full with water. Mix in 1 tsp (5 ml) dish detergent or liquid soap. Position the bucket beneath climbing stink bugs and flick them down into the solution using a gloved hand.
   • The soap will make it difficult for the insects to move, and they will ultimately drown in the water.
   • As far as stink bug elimination methods go, this is probably the closest to a “stink free” option since the bugs are killed relatively quickly.
3. Use an insect electrocution system. Set this up in an attic or other dark space according to manufacturer's instructions. Turn it on at night and sweep up or vacuum any dead bugs in the morning.
   • Insect electrocution systems, also known as "bug zappers," attract stink bugs and other insects by drawing them in toward a bright light. As the insect approaches, it gets a sudden shock that is strong enough to kill it instantaneously.
4. Spread fly tape along entryways. Place sticky fly tape along windowsills, doorways, cracks, vents, and any other notable entryways into your home. Check the tape every day, discarding it as it fills up and replacing it as necessary.
   • Since this is not a quick death, trapped stink bugs may give off their trademark odor after being caught.
   • If you do not have fly tape, you can also use double-sided tape.
5. Flick them into an empty water bottle. Take an empty water bottle and place the open bottle close to the stink bug.
   • Use the bottle to collect the stink bug or bugs.
   • Cap the bottle very tightly.
   • Freeze the bottle with its offensive inhabitants in a freezer (preferably not one in which you store food). Overnight should be enough time to do them in.
   • Once the stink bugs are frozen to death empty the bottle into the garbage or outside and use again.
   • Alternately, add a small amount of dish soap to the empty water bottle and reuse the bottle to catch as many stink bugs as you can. Catching the stink bugs on a vertical surface is easily accomplished by placing the water bottle opening over the stink bug. Once the stink bugs come in contact with the soap, they will suffocate.

Keeping Stink Bugs Out

1. Seal your doors and windows. Seal any cracks or gaps in your window and door trims with caulk.
   • The most common entryways for stink bugs include windows, doors, baseboards, and ceiling lights. Filling gaps or correcting loose seals should significantly decrease the number of stink bugs roaming through your home.
2. Place protective screens over air vents. Use mesh fence screening to cover dryer vents, air vents, chimneys, and other open areas connecting the outside of your home with the inside.
3. Patch up any holes. Holes that are larger than 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter should be patched up.
   • Instant adhesive and epoxy should be enough to patch small holes in screens. Specially designed patch kits come with the tools you need as well as instructions on how to complete the task.
4. Rub window screens with dryer sheets. Take an ordinary dryer sheet and rub it against any window and door screens on a daily basis until the stink bug problem is fixed.
   • Dryer sheets with an especially strong odor may work better than those with no perfumes or mild scents. The point is to deter stink bugs from entering the home by assaulting their sense of smell with a potent odor.
   • This is thought to reduce the stink bug population by up to 80 percent within a week or two.
5. Collect the bugs on a damp towel outside. Hang a wet towel over a lawn chair outside at dusk. In the morning, a large number of stink bugs from your yard should be gathered on the towel.
   • You can drape the towel over a deck railing, empty planter, tree branch, or any other surface in your yard. It is better for the towel to drape vertically than to be spread out horizontally, though.
   • Exterminate the stink bugs on the towel by quickly dunking the entire towel, bugs and all, into a large bucket of soapy water.
6. Kill a few bugs outside. Squash a few bugs with an old pair of shoes or a stone.
   • Prepare for a stench. Once killed, stink bugs will give off a very strong odor.
   • The odor given off upon a stink bug's death sends a warning to others in the area, telling them to leave.
   • You should only kill stink bugs outside since it will be easier to air the smell out afterward than it would be inside.
7. Control your weeds. Remove or thin heavily weeded areas in your garden.
   • Stink bugs tend to be attracted to weeds. Reducing the amount of weeds present in your yard or flowerbeds will make the area seem less appealing to stink bugs, so fewer will come. Fewer stink bugs in your garden also means fewer in your home.
8. Attract stink bug predators. Natural predators include parasitic flies, wasps, birds, toads, spiders, and praying mantises.
   • Grow wildflowers and herbs. These attract parasitic flies and wasps.
   • Attract birds, toads, spiders, and praying mantises with perennial herb and flowers.
   • You can also buy praying mantises in garden supply catalogs. Minute pirate bugs, which eat stink bug eggs, can also be bought from garden supply catalogs.

Warnings

• Do not squish a stink bug indoors. The stench they leave can stay for quite a long time, and you may come to regret your action rather quickly.

Things You'll Need

• Diatomaceous Earth
• Garlic powder or cloves
• Water
• Spray bottle
• Mint oil or crushed mint leaves
• Catnip
• Dish soap
• Neem oil
• Vacuum cleaner
• Knee-high stocking
• Rubber band
• Bucket
• Bug zapper
• Fly tape
• Caulk
• Mesh screens
• Instant adhesive or epoxy
• Dryer sheets
• Towel

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Sources and Citations

See also

• Control Pests
• Handle and Apply Pesticides Safely
• Get Rid of House and Garden Pests
• Kill Household Pests (Eucalyptus Oil Method)
• Get a Pest Control License
• Clear Ants off a Deck
• Use Cats for Pest Control
• Protect Garden Berries
• Deter Possums from Your Garden
• Get Rid of Millipedes

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