Stinkbugs are most active in gardens from spring through the fall. They prefer fruits as well as honeydew, tomatoes, corn, squash, beans, peppers and cabbage. If you find stinkbugs on your plants, you can try killing them with one of the following methods:
- Spray an insecticide in your garden or hire a licensed exterminator to apply insecticides that include a synthetic pyrethroid. However, the effects probably won't last more than a week because sunlight breaks down insecticides [source: Penn State]. Pyrethrins are moderately toxic to mammals [source: Hoyum].
- Attract stinkbug predators to your garden. Tachinid flies like dill, parsley and sweet clover. Parasitic wasps will be attracted by small flowering plants. [source: Hoyum] Other stinkbug predators include birds, assassin bugs, spiders and other arthropod predators [source: UK].
- Spray nicotine water on the stinkbugs. Simply shred 10 to 12 cigarettes in a half-gallon (1.9-liters) of water. Let it sit for a few minutes, and then remove any solid pieces that are left. Add a strong-smelling powdered detergent to the solution, and spray [source: How To Get Rid of Stink Bugs].
- Spray soapy water (50 percent water, 50 percent liquid detergent) on the bugs. This should kill the stinkbugs [source: Oneindia Living].
Never stomp, crush or squash stink bugs! Not only will it create a terrible stink, it will also release a pheromone that encourages further infestation [source: AMnom].
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You can prevent a stinkbug infestation by:
- Controlling weeds, which stinkbugs like to use as cover.
- Keeping your garden dark at night -- stinkbugs are attracted to light.
- Scattering kaolin clay or spraying a kaolinite solution on your plants.
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