Stink bugs in the wood pile!

[Snag]

Working through the woodpile and am finding I've got to inspect the bottoms of each spit to see if there isn't a colony of stink bugs sticking to it. Since I like to keep a days worth of wood in the house, I've started keeping a rag out there just to wipe the nasty buggers off or I'll have them flying around the house. I'm REALLY not looking forward to spending that kind of time outside once it gets cold. You'd think the little buggers would drop off after they've been frozen a few times but they don't. I didn't have much of a problem when I was burning the sycamore but boy, do they love to hide in the oak!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Why not just burn them. They have to hold some amount of BTUs. Maybe they'll pop and spark!

Matt

 

[Shari]

Why not just burn them. They have to hold some amount of BTUs. Maybe they'll pop and spark!

Matt

A new breed of Fire Flies?

Shari

 

[Snag]

They just annoy the crap out of me. Once they come in on the firewood, they unthaw and start flying around. At least its not as bad as they were in fall this year.

Carolyn

 

[golfandwoodnut]

we have had alot of problems with them this year. I was hoping when they froze they would be dead, but you are saying no.

 

[bboulier]

Nasty pests. We have had a plague of them this year. Fortunately, they don't seem to do much damage to the garden ----- yet.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I've heard they are bad out east and hope they don't come there. We have a different bug here that many complain about and we call them pine bugs because if you tick them off they do smell like very strong pine. But if you grab them by the feelers and throw them out you are okay.

 

[Snag]

I've never heard of pine bugs, but sight unseen, I'll trade you ;-) Stink bugs release a funk when they become frightened... Which usually happens nanoseconds before they get squished. It's a horrible smell and if it gets on your hands, they'll stink for hours. They were flying into our cars duct work and when you'd turn on the AC the interior of the car would reek for the entire trip! I was hoping winter would bring some respite. (shaking head) My husband just killed one that was crawling on the furniture.

They've been causing trouble with the apple crop here, they damage the the apples, leaving ugly brown spots.

We had flocks of grackles visiting our property almost weekly this fall, feeding on them in the grass, the trees and gobbling them up in mid air. I'd hate to think how many would be nested in the fire wood if I didn't have the birds doing their part. I bought something called Cyper WP to spray around the doors and windows of the house. I hope will deal with the worst of them trying to get into the house next fall. They were so bad here that all the agro stores were sold out, only one had a few bottles of fly spray (for horses) that helped only a little.

Carolyn

 

[n3pro]

Yup, got them here too; but not as bad as the cabin in Cornwall. It was dark, grabbed an arm full of wood walked in - bent down to get ready to load and then i discovered hundreds of them. 29 degrees but i took my coat off outside and shook, shook, and shook it. Yes I threw the wood in with the colony of stink bugs - make me fell better.

I REALLY hate those things.

 

[2orb]

We've got them too, but not as bad as in the early fall. Seeing only one or two per day now and suspect they are coming in on the wood. Insead of smashing them, we've refined our tactic and it seems to work well. My wife read something online about Dawn Dishwashing soap killing them so we keep a small wide-mouth juice bottle handy about half filled with about a tsp of the soap and water. Once one of those suckers land, we use a plastic spoon to knock/scoop them in and its demise is pretty quick. Caught on a few minutes ago--he's done kicking.

 

[2orb]

Edit: double post