As you walk into a house, what is one of the first things you notice? It's not always the decorations or the furniture; it's the smell. Every home has a unique smell to it, one that denotes a hominess or cleanliness (or lack thereof). If you pride yourself on keeping your house clean, then making the house smell nice is something you focus on. So when pests threaten that hard work, shouldn't you do something about it?

Stink Bugs

Stink Bug Problems In Kingston

As much as we love our hometown of Kingston, it's not without its pests, and stink bugs are among the most prevalent. Even though they didn't originate in the United States, they now threaten millions of homes throughout America. But what exactly are they threatening our homes with?

These small, brown, unique-looking bugs don't bring much danger to the table. They don't bite or sting, and they aren't poisonous. They can't even transfer diseases to us or our pets. So what do stink bugs do? They stink, and they travel in large numbers. When those powers combine, they can become quite a force to be reckoned with.

You see, stink bugs aren't like skunks or other smelly creatures. A skunk might only spray you if its life is in danger. There are plenty of ways to capture a skunk (professionally, of course) without emitting a spray. On the other hand, stink bugs will emit a strong odor when threatened, and even when they die. This smell creates a huge problem for homeowners, especially given their large numbers. When these stink bugs enter your home in large numbers and begin dying in your light fixtures (which they do a lot), the whole place will start to smell. And the more you kill or try and capture them, the worse the smell gets.

They can also be frustrating pests outside the home. They enjoy eating both decaying matters and live plants, so they'll be very harmful in your garden and landscaping areas. If you see young plants sprouting one day only to find them gone the next, you may have a stink bug problem, as sprouting plants are one of their favorite foods. They'll also chew unsightly holes in the leaves of your larger, more mature plants.

Preventing Stink Bug Infestations

Gardens and landscaping draw stink bugs to your property in the first place, so starting there may be your best bet. While preventing stink bugs can be very difficult (unless you completely give up on any sort of landscaping efforts in the yard), there are a few things you can do to reduce your chances of an infestation, especially in the home.

Make sure any gardens you plant are a good distance away from your house. This distance will at least keep the problem from spreading within your walls.
Reduce the clutter in your yard. With fewer places to hide, stink bugs will be more likely to move on to other gardens.
Keep the lights off at night. They move around mostly at this time, and the inability to see will draw them away from your yard.
Maintain moisture control on your property and inside your home by checking for leaking pipes, keeping low humidity levels, and limiting standing water.
Check your bags and shoes as you walk from the car as stink bugs will hop out of the grass to hitch a ride inside.

While these tips will be useful, there are no guaranteed methods of prevention that you can do yourself to keep them out of your home and yard. Contact Pestmaster® Services of Hudson Valley for professional pest control services that solve the problem for good.