The stink bug is a fairly large insect (stink bug). Such small pests appear in many regions of Russia. At the same time, berries and people suffer from their specific unpleasant odor.
The stink bug communicates with other insects using various signals, which allow stink bugs to navigate well in unfamiliar terrain, protect themselves, or simply survive. In such a situation, these insects emit the strongest aroma.
How to get rid of such small pests? A detailed answer to this question and other nuances are given below in the article.
Description of the species
The stink bug is a member of the Pentatomidae family. It belongs to the order Hemiptera. The characteristic “incense” is given to the insect for a reason: it is a signal to navigate the area, a way of communication and a defense mechanism. A smelly liquid is secreted from special glands located on the cephalothorax. The strongest odor is produced when a bug is crushed; however, the insect itself does not suffer from it.
Stinkers lead a measured lifestyle. In the warm season, most of the time is spent searching for food and a mating partner. At the first sign of frost, insects are puzzled by the options for a suitable place to hibernate. Usually this is a pile of leaves in which it is convenient to burrow. The lifespan of a stink bug is about two years.
Habitat
The stink bug lives almost everywhere:
- Asian countries;
- European countries;
- Africa;
- Australia;
- Russia;
- North and South America.
REFERENCE! Individual representatives can be found even in Alaska and Chukotka.
These insects prefer to live in temperate climates. Under natural conditions, stink bugs live in the garden, in a bird's nest, an animal's burrow or a hollow tree.
Appearance
There are many types of stink bugs known in nature:
- woody - considered the most common. It gives off the most persistent stinky odor. This insect has a light green color;
- turtle – distinguished by a convex brown shell;
- lined - has a red color with longitudinal black stripes;
- cruciferous - its variegated pattern consists of black and light areas;
- berry – the mustard color is framed by bright yellow stripes on the sides;
- red-legged - easily recognized by its bronze color;
Green, gray and turquoise stink bugs are also known.
Insects have 3 pairs of legs and antennae on their heads. The average size of adult individuals can reach 15-17 mm in length. Twice a year, in autumn and spring, stink bugs change color and become darker.
Look at the photo to see what a stink bug looks like.
The rounded shape of the body in each species is distinguished by small protrusions on the sides. The outer cover is chitinous and hard. It serves as a shield from attacks by other insects. Brown wings are located at the end of the back.
Juveniles are not much different from adults. The only sign is the absence of wings, which help the beetle to rise only slightly above the ground, but do not have a large span at all.
REFERENCE! During its life, the stinker manages to shed its shell 5 times; over time, it becomes cramped for it. This process stops when the insect stops growing.
How does it reproduce
The bug needs an unpleasant, smelly secretion to attract a partner for mating. In this way, the insect shows its readiness to reproduce. For successful mating, only two conditions will need to be met: air temperature in the region of plus 20-30 degrees and proximity to a food source.
Stink bugs reach maturity at the age of 1.5 months. The males penetrate the female's abdomen with their genitals and leave the seed there. The female can use it at her own discretion.
Typically, females lay stink bug eggs in small pieces, and the remains of the seed remain in their body for a long time. In total, a female bedbug can lay from 20 to 200 eggs. All of them have a special “lid” that opens at the right moment, and stink bug larvae appear from it.
What does it eat?
Stink bugs are mostly vegetarians. They prefer the juice of various plants as food. Because of this, great damage can be caused, resulting in devastated agricultural land.
The type of plant food depends on the species. Let's look at what stink bugs eat:
- lined - love carrots, parsley and dill;
- cruciferous stink bugs prefer radishes, turnips and cabbage;
- Berry, as the name suggests, eat all berries: gooseberries, raspberries, black and white currants.
- red-legged - drink the sap of fruit trees and feast on smaller parasites.
When young animals emerge from insect eggs, the rate of vegetation destruction increases sharply. The larvae prefer young shoots.
Specific aroma
It stinks of bedbugs Initially, it may seem that the stench from the street or the neighboring room has flown into the room.
But every day it intensifies. You need to know what bed bugs smell like in order to respond to the problem in a timely manner. The smell of bedbugs is sweetish-tart. Causes different associations:
- Bed bugs smell like rotten raspberries. It is felt especially strongly in the room where the nest is located. The raspberry smell is often confused with perfume, so they react to the problem late. For some, parasites resemble a banana.
- Bedbugs smell like cognac. There is a joke about this. For pessimists, cognac smells like parasites; for optimists, insects smell like cognac.
- What does a bug smell like when you crush it - almonds. If you begin to crush the parasite, a foul aroma appears that causes disgust.
Benefits and harms
The main harm from the bug is the destruction of plants. The stink bug has a piercing-sucking type of mouthparts. He pierces the stems with a special rim and sucks out all the nutritious juices from them. The cause of the death of crops is the poison that the bug releases at the time of sucking.
The stink bug is capable of leaving marks on fruits and berries even if it does not spoil them. Fruits should not be eaten after this. Representatives of some species go unnoticed on plants: the green color allows them to skillfully camouflage themselves on the leaves. To calculate them, you need to know the intricacies of the body structure of bedbugs.
The beneficial properties of stink bugs are used to prepare a remedy for alcoholism. Insects are added to vodka and infused for 10 days. After taking the medicine, there is an aversion to all strong drinks. However, the method does not have precise scientific evidence.
In rare cases, stink bugs destroy the larvae of harmful animals, caterpillars and aphids. For example, the species of two-toothed bugs is considered exclusively predatory, so there is no need to exterminate it.
What does the tree shield look like?
The green tree stink bug (Palomena prasina) is a true stink bug.
This family unites bedbugs with a characteristic body structure. If you look at such an insect from above, you will notice a wide shield and pronotum on its back. These are two clearly distinguishable parts. It is thanks to the shield that this family got its name - shields. Body size up to 3.5 mm. The body shape is oval, elongated. The oral apparatus has the appearance of a piercing-sucking proboscis. Designed for feeding with vegetable juices. There are two sensory antennae on the head for capturing odors.
Body color changes depending on the time of year. In spring and summer, when there is a lot of greenery around, the bug has a bright green color, and only at the end of its body are membranous brown wings visible. With the onset of autumn, when the leaves change color, the tree stink bug also changes its color to match its environment. The wood bug becomes dark brown in color.
Did you know? The tree shield insect rarely uses its wings. Flying for bedbugs requires a lot of energy. Since it is difficult for membranous wings to lift a rather heavy body into the air. The tree green stink bug flies only if there is easily accessible food ahead of it.
Why are they dangerous?
Stink bugs rarely bite people and domestic animals, because the basis of their diet is plant foods. If you are bitten by a stink bug and marks become noticeable on your body, or signs of a severe allergic reaction appear, then you need to consult a doctor. The specialist will examine the damaged areas and prescribe the necessary treatment measures. Although insects do not carry infectious diseases, consulting a doctor will not be superfluous.
Killing and eating another insect is an exceptional case for a stink bug, so a bug bite is extremely rare. This only happens if no plant food is found. Bedbugs have external digestion, so they do not eat their prey right away - they first kill it and wait for decomposition.
Pest Control
If a stink bug appears on the site, how to get rid of it - consider auxiliary measures that will help stop the spread of insects:
- collect plant debris throughout the area;
- dig up the beds (the immersion depth of the shovel bayonet is up to 20 cm);
- plants with a strong odor (black cohosh, tansy, wormwood) are planted around the perimeter of the site.
Mechanical method (collecting insects by hand)
This option can be considered when the vegetable garden/garden is small. Then it’s easy to inspect the area and remove pests - they are collected in a jar of liquid. There is no need to poison insects yet; you should try to remove them in a safe way. During the same period, you can use deterrents (for example, scatter wormwood around the area). If a tree is infected, then the mechanical method is useless.
Another disadvantage is the high risk of an unpleasant odor that penetrates into clothes.
Traditional methods of killing bedbugs
If pest control begins with safe means, the following are among the first to be considered:
- soap solution: 300 laundry soap, 10 liters of water;
- onion peels: 200-250 g, 10 liters of liquid, duration of preparation of the product - up to 5 days, the same amount of time must be waited between processing procedures;
- 100 g mustard (in powder form), 500 ml warm water, the solution is poured into a larger volume of liquid - 10 liters.
Mustard powder
Chemicals (insecticides)
When choosing a way to deal with the stink bug, this option is considered in cases of severe infestation of the area. The chemicals contain insecticides, but not all of them destroy bedbug eggs (for comparison, folk remedies do not have any effect on the offspring of insects). For this reason, it is important to treat the area for brown or green bugs twice. Examples of drugs:
- Karbofos;
- Aktara;
- Karate Zeon;
- Aktellik;
- Phosfamide;
- Chlorophos.
When choosing a product, take into account the composition. Most drugs that get rid of street parasites contain neonicotinoids.
Chemicals can also be used for prevention: in late autumn and early spring.
Saltpeter
Of its six types, only potassium (sodium) and ammonia can help remove old wood. Moreover, paradoxically, both are valuable fertilizers. And they are widely used by gardeners for growing cereals, as well as for feeding some fruit-bearing trees. But in large doses, both types turn into strong poison.
Sodium nitrate has a very good, negative effect on the root system of the plant. But there is no point in simply adding more to it - you will have to wait more than a year for the result. The composition will act much faster if you introduce it into the created hollow. You don’t even have to dilute the substance in water, but regularly add it inside in dry form.
Ammonium nitrate is made from urea. The substance not only kills living plant cells, but also promotes their rapid decomposition. And if you influence the roots, then after a while they will simply turn into fertilizer. The product can be scattered dry around the tree. Or regularly water the roots with a saturated solution.
Picloram
An effective substance produced in powder, from which it is necessary to prepare a solution. The drug has a good effect on the soil layer. If you water an unnecessary plant with diluted liquid, its roots will die over time. The effect of the mixture is much stronger than that of halogenated acids.
The drug is also distinguished by its versatility in use. Instead of watering the root system, you can spray the leaves and bark of the tree. And sometimes this method brings results even much faster. But experts say that the method of introducing the substance is not important. Once on the roots or foliage, the drug immediately spreads throughout the entire plant.
Picloram is slightly toxic. Therefore, it is necessary to take safety measures and protect your eyes and exposed skin. Since the substance does not kill all weeds, you need to make sure that the grass that grows in the treated area does not end up as pet food. You should know that the drug remains in the soil for up to three years.
Herbicides
The name speaks for itself. After all, the literal translation says – killing the grass. In addition to continuous action substances that destroy any plants in the affected area, scientists have developed selective (selective) drugs. They lead to the withering of only certain types of vegetation, without harming the rest.
Popular drugs of mass destruction include:
- Roundup.
- Tornado.
- Arsenal.
- Arbonal.
- Hurricane Forte.
All of them contain glyphosate or imazapyr. These substances can destroy almost any tree, regardless of its age. When they enter the root system or foliage, the drugs quickly spread throughout the plant. And soon it will fade.
Selective ones include:
- Lapis lazuli.
- Cowboy.
- Titus.
The drugs were developed to control perennial weeds. They were actively used to destroy marijuana crops. They have no effect on coniferous trees at all. Therefore, they are often used to remove unnecessary young trees from pine or spruce forest plantations. All fruit and berry varieties, as well as valuable tree species, are especially susceptible to their action.
Methods for introducing toxic substances
You can get rid of unnecessary wood in various ways. If it is not too old, then it is not difficult to cut it down. But in most cases it is better to let the plant dry out before doing this. This is where chemicals come in handy.
Experts say that all methods give a positive result, since all poisons have a common property. Once inside a living organism, they quickly spread throughout its entire system. Therefore, when choosing a method, gardeners are usually guided only by the convenience of its use.
Adding poisons to the soil
It is considered the easiest way. Since it requires minimal effort, it is chosen more often than others. But the ease of implementation hides disadvantages. If other plants grow in close proximity to an unwanted tree, their root system may also be damaged.
But if the goal is a lonely flora, then there is no need to come up with a better technique. You can simply sprinkle the pesticide around the trunk. But before this, it is necessary to water this place abundantly so that the substance is absorbed faster and deeper into the soil. Also, the selected drug is diluted in water and the solution is regularly poured into the roots of the plant.
Applying poison to the bark
If you need to remove a young tree with thin bark, then the prepared mixture is applied to its trunk. One of the herbicides is selected and a working solution is prepared according to the instructions. But additionally any oil is added to it to enhance the effect. It helps all the liquid stick to the surface and the bark is completely saturated.
Treatment should begin by retreating half a meter from the soil along the trunk. There is no need to coat all the branches of the tree, right up to the top. It is quite enough to distribute the composition over one meter of the trunk.
Injection
You can act more precisely, but with greater impact. Injecting the solution directly into the trunk will speed up the procedure. After all, no time will be spent on absorption. For such an operation you will need a drill and a regular (large) syringe.
Using a 5 mm thick drill, several holes are drilled in the trunk to a depth of 10 cm. Then, using a syringe, the poison is injected inside. It is better to tilt the drill slightly towards the ground to create an angle of 60 degrees. This will prevent the pesticide from leaking out of the hole. It is also recommended to cover the holes with damp soil at the end of the operation.
Crown and leaf treatment
This method works well for shrubs or low trees. When sprayed, the toxic substance gets onto the leaves and begins to harm the plant in two ways at once. Poisons are quickly absorbed and spread throughout the body. In addition, the surface of the leaf is enveloped in a film and does not allow nutrients to flow.
It is recommended to carry out the operation after abundant watering. This way the drugs will penetrate inside the plant faster. And to avoid damaging the neighboring flora, spraying must be carried out carefully and, if possible, in the summer. But not in the very heat. Don’t forget about personal protective equipment – a mask and gloves.
Application of drugs to living tissues
The method is recommended for old trees with thick bark. Before applying poison to the surface of the trunk, it is necessary to make deep cuts in several places. In this case, it is not the bark that is coated with chemicals, but only these fresh areas. The cuts can be made in any of the convenient ways. Make nicks with an axe. File or drill the trunk.
Complex removal
If the tree is small, then it is not difficult to simply cut it down. The work should be carried out in several stages. First, large branches are removed. Then the trunk itself is cut off, leaving a small stump on the surface. And with the latter, the following actions are carried out.
Several deep holes are drilled on a fresh cut of the stump. Urea (ammonium nitrate) is introduced into them and water is poured in. Then the cut area is tightly wrapped in cling film. After some time, the roots rot and the remains of the tree are easily removed.
If you use sodium nitrate, you need to dig the stump deeper. A fire is built around it. When the remains smolder, the place is simply covered with earth. The introduced chemical will not allow fresh shoots to appear, and after a couple of years the roots will turn into fertilizer.
How to get rid of stink bugs in a house or apartment
It is important for bedbugs to live in the most comfortable conditions possible. If the situation in the natural environment changes, they seek shelter in a person’s home. Stinkers can take a liking to pots of flower plants and begin to destroy green plantings. The easiest way to get rid of uninvited guests is to throw them out the window. It is not recommended to use a vacuum cleaner, as bedbugs will “take revenge” with a characteristic odor that will take a long time to get rid of.
If there is a stink bug at home, then it is important to use a folk recipe based on a soap solution and nicotine. Crush a pack of cheap cigarettes in two liters of water. Wait a little and mix with dishwashing detergent. Strain and use the resulting poison as a spray.
Hairspray will help seal the glands on the pest's body, from which the unpleasant odor emanates.
REFERENCE! The most effective means of prevention is a mosquito net. She will not allow any insect into the apartment.
The source of unpleasant odor in the house is not so much the bedbugs themselves as their nests. Traces of vital activity accumulate in the habitats of parasites. Until they are completely cleaned, there is no point in fighting the smell. After this, it is recommended to wipe the surfaces with vinegar or grape juice.
Where does the bad smell come from?
Stink bugs have special glands that produce a special substance with an unpleasant, repulsive aroma. As a rule, the basis of such substances in forest bugs is cymic acid. Plus, these glands are multifunctional, secreting a substance of varying concentrations that can serve:
- As a weapon to repel natural enemies.
- As a substance to attract a sexual partner.
- To scare off their competitors (males).
- As a substance that helps to navigate in space.
- To find food for yourself.
It is important to know! The insects themselves do not experience discomfort from this aroma, but for other insects this substance poses a certain danger. A substance with an unpleasant aroma can cause paralysis, spasms or even death in an insect. In this way, the insect obtains food for itself.
If you take a bug and crush it, a strong disgusting odor will appear that can linger in the air for a long time. For forest bugs, such secretions are an effective weapon for self-defense. When a bug senses an approaching threat, its glands begin to actively secrete a stench. If an insect is crushed, the stench will intensify many times over. The natural enemies of stink bugs understand this very well, so they avoid them. As for humans, such aromatic substances do not pose any danger to them.
Almost all representatives of this insect species are capable of producing various aromas, the intensity of which depends on the specific subspecies of the insect. The following insects can demonstrate the ability to reproduce aromatic substances:
- Shieldweed (two-toothed, berry, red-legged, green and striped).
- Northern cruciferous bugs.
- The turtle is harmful.
- Water striders.
- Belostoma.
- American stink.
The well-known soldier bug, as well as the birch bug, are capable of secreting a special liquid that has a certain aroma. It should also be noted that many insects that managed to get into a person’s home can emit various aromas, although their intensity is not as high as that of stink bugs.
Brown marmorated bug (Halyomorpha halys)
What to poison in the garden
If stink bugs attack your garden plot, you will have to use more radical measures, otherwise they will ruin almost the entire harvest and fruit and berry crops.
There are folk pest control measures, so let’s look at how to deal with the stink bug:
- Manual collection of insects, if the infestation area is not yet very large. But this technique is not highly effective. Gloves and closed clothing are required for work. Pests are dumped into a container with water - this helps get rid of the unpleasant odor.
- If you don’t know how to poison bedbugs, then use this recipe to treat plants. A glass of onion peel is soaked in a large bucket of hot water and left to infuse for 5 days. The spraying process should be carried out twice a day, once a week.
- Another affordable remedy for stink bugs. Take 100 g of dry mustard powder and dissolve it in 0.5 liters of boiling water. Stir thoroughly. Dilute the resulting mixture in a bucket of water.
- Spraying with chlorophos or phosphamide. When using chemicals, it is important to follow clear instructions and follow safety precautions. Adults successfully lay eggs on the leaves, so even this does not guarantee complete elimination of bedbugs.
- Plant plants that repel pests, such as black cohosh, throughout the area. The garden stink bug cannot stand its smell.
Pests of our beds?
Insects of several varieties are often found in the summer cottage. They infect plants, suck out the juice, which leads to the death of shoots.
Cabbage bug
Cabbage Fighter
At a quick glance, it can be confused with a soldier. Representatives of both species are characterized by a black and red color. They differ in drawings. The cabbage bug has smaller pattern details. The pattern on the back of the soldiers is much simpler. The cabbage bug overwinters in the ground. It wakes up in the spring and begins to destroy young shoots of seedlings.
Rapeseed bug
The rapeseed bug destroys many crops
These are outdoor insects that live in the garden area. This type of bug belongs to the stink bug family. It is distinguished by a bright pattern on its back: spots are yellow, beige, orange, red, blue, and black. The size of pests is up to 9 mm. Insects destroy radishes, cabbage and other cruciferous plants.
Light green stink bug
Light green stink bug, also known as wood bug
Its other name is woody. It is quite large (develops up to 16 mm in length). When danger arises, the insect emits an unpleasant odor. It is distinguished by its feeding habits: the pest feeds on the juice of plants and berries, but does not refuse carrion. Closer to autumn, the pests turn brown. In summer they are distinguished by their bright green color.
Lined stink bug
It’s interesting that people call this bug “Italian”
On the back you can see black and red stripes. This is a representative of the True Shields family. Another name for this bug is Italian. The insect grows up to 11 mm in length. The seeds of umbrella plants act as a food source.
Harmful turtle
The bug is a harmful turtle: it hides very well and can fly
Insects are distinguished by an unusual body shape, reminiscent of a turtle shell. The color is inconspicuous: light and dark brown spots. The body length of the pest is no more than 13 mm. Insects hide under leaves for the winter. They can fly. They breed in fields in the warm season. The source of food is seedlings of cereals and grain crops.
Berry bug
The color of the berry bug can vary from gray-yellow to red-brown
When bedbugs are found on a site, most of them belong to the stink bug family. The berry pest is no exception. Its external characteristics: body length up to 12 mm, shades of the outer integument vary from light (gray, yellow) to dark (red-brown), you can see punctures on the sides, the pest has many hairs on its body. Despite the name, insects feed on different plants: hearth, berries, garden crops, grains and even ornamental plants.
Natural enemies
The main enemies of stink bugs are telenomines, which parasitize eggs. The phasia fly can also destroy the future legacy of the bug. She lays her offspring directly in their eggs, and the hatched larvae eat the remains of organic tissue. Hedgehogs eat both embryos and adult bedbugs. Toads and frogs are not averse to eating stinkers.
Birds, both forest and domestic, can be added to the ranks of ill-wishers who will help eliminate the stink bug. Chickens, for example, are often let out to walk around the garden, and they do not miss the opportunity to taste the bugs. Less commonly, insects become victims of small rodents and dogs.
The stink bug can be called a controversial insect. On the one hand, it helps a person in the fight against pests, on the other hand, stink bugs can cause enormous harm. In most cases, it does not pose a danger to people. Therefore, you need to act prudently and start fighting bedbugs only if there is a real threat.
Answers to popular questions
Do bugs, such as forest bugs, fly? Yes, they fly. After all, for example, forest-like parasites have several elytra and hind wings. However, such small pests rarely fly. Perhaps for this reason, its hind wings are poorly developed and short.
At the same time, for example, there are also representatives of hemipterans, such as, for example, the “Harmful Turtle”. This serious pest of various berries or trees constantly flies from one place to another.
Are garden stink bugs dangerous to humans?
Garden bugs are absolutely not dangerous to humans. Sometimes such parasites bite people, but this happens very rarely.
But the bedding representatives of hemipterans, which settle in an apartment or other living space, feed on human blood.
Therefore, such a parasite is harmful to the human body. However, such small pests are not found in the vegetable garden or in various gardens.
What insects enter the apartment
Such species of hemipteran representatives, such as forest bugs, live not only on the surface of various plants, but also in private households, which are located in rural areas. Such parasites do not grow in an apartment.
Forest representatives of hemiptera live in specific habitats, with temperature and humidity suitable for them.
If the situation changes dramatically - it gets colder outside, gets warmer, or the humidity drops (rises) greatly, these parasites fly to another place, including entering the living room.
Often similar indoor invasions of forest bugs are observed during various fires.
Features of bedbug physiology
The bloodsucker has a smell - it's true.
Moreover, it is quite persistent and not particularly pleasant. Trying to remember what bedbugs smell like, many compare the “aroma” of the pest with the smell of fresh raspberries, cognac, cilantro, sour jam or fermented rotten fruit. But the characteristic peculiar amber can be felt in the apartment if the population of parasites is extensive and has been living in this area for a long time. One or more specimens cannot release enough pheromones for the human sense of smell to sense their presence. The structure of the insect includes special glands in which a special secretion of an unpleasant, sickly-sweet and tart odor is formed and released. In adults, odorous sacs are located in the metathoracic part of the peritoneum, and larvae have them on the abdominal segments.
In terms of the chemical composition, the bedbug's secretions are a biological mixture of toxic substances that are destructive to other insects - this is the bloodsucker's natural weapon. Specifically, in the bed (domestic) variety of the bug, the secretion includes unsaturated aldehydes in combination with elements of the alkanes class - para-tridecane. This substance belongs to the category of hydrocarbons and, when mixed with oxygen in a free state, a certain aroma is formed. The insect releases stinking “clouds” especially actively in some cases:
- During reproduction. The more individuals that have reached sexual maturity in the colony, the more often they copulate and emit pheromones.
- When danger occurs. A disturbed nest of pests in this way gives an alarm if a person discovers it.
In addition, insects use secretory secretions for intraspecific interaction. That's why a bedbug smells - it's its communication style and signaling method to satisfy the most powerful instinct of all living on Earth - the survival instinct.
