Stink bugs are tiny insects that can be annoying as they produce a foul odor whenever they feel threatened. During the warmer months of the year, stink bugs live outside. As soon as their eggs hatch in summer, the little bugs come out, ready to invade your property and attack your garden. In the fall, you’ll be able to see many more adult stink bugs in your garden, and even in your house where they’re trying to find a place to hide for the winter.

So, should you be worried about stink bugs in your garden? The answer is a resounding “yes” as they lower the quality of your crops and can wipe out other decorative plants as well.

The insects are herbivores that destroy the vegetation and crops in your garden. Using their sharp mouthparts, they perforate and suck out the juice from the inside of roots, leaves, fruits, and stems of plants in order to extract nutrients and feed themselves. They will also inject digestive enzymes that dissolve the seeds. Besides, they also leave their waste on both fruit and foliage.

In addition, the stink bugs can carry viruses that they later spread to the vegetation. But they can cause even more havoc to your fruit plants by spreading yeast spot infection, which is responsible for significantly reducing crop yield and causing cosmetic damage to the fruit.

If stink bugs numbers go unchecked, eliminating them will be a difficult task. Hence, you should embrace the use of proper pest control methods to keep their numbers in check as soon as possible.

Keep reading to find out more about the harm that stink bugs cause in the garden and what to do about the infestation.

 

What Attracts Stink Bugs To Your Garden?

Fruits, ornamental plants, nuts, and even weeds can be the key attraction of stink bugs in your garden. When irrigating plants and grass, or settling into a flower bed, these are the two main routes through which the insects enter your garden. The bugs thrive in sucking the life out of your plants, which results in the slow death of the plants.

The bugs are likely to choose your garden as their next home for a couple of reasons. They usually forage on ripe berries and second leafy vegetables. The presence of fruit trees with ripe fruits serves as an invitation to these shield-shaped bugs. Besides, shrubs, vines, and ornamental plants are also very enticing to the bugs.

Warm weather offers the insects a thriving environment, causing them to multiply. During winter, they are not active and tend to hide in crevices in the attic and walls of your house, where they can find the much-needed warmth. As long as the temperatures remain low, you do not notice their presence in your yard.

However, when winter is over and temperatures rise, they slowly find their way into the garden to feed. Whenever they are gathered in their numbers, they release a pheromone, i.e. a special chemical that draws more of these insects into your garden or home. Thus, when you notice them on your property, take action before their numbers increase exponentially.

 

 

Where Do Stink Bugs Lay Eggs In Gardens?

Adult stink bugs do not lay eggs until spring, when there is sufficient food and warmth for their eggs to hatch later in summer. While they feed on fruits and foliage, they lay their eggs on the back or underside of the leaves.
During spring, adult stink bugs find their way out and feed on all the available plants, particularly on fruits and any foliage they come across, where they lay their eggs.
After a few weeks, the nymphs hatch from the eggs. Immediately after hatching, the insects are driven by hunger into nearby plants. The young bugs will develop for the rest of the summer as there is enough food to eat.
The sharp mouthparts are essential in piercing the skin of fruits and plants to extract the juice. However, the stink bugs tend to leave their toxic saliva behind, which is responsible for killing plant cells.

 

How Do You Know If You Have A Stink Bug Infestation In The Garden?

Stink bugs are difficult to identify as there are many species that significantly vary in appearance. Nonetheless, adult stink bugs have a shield-shaped body that grows up to 6 inches long and equally wide. They have a mottled tan or cream green color, with some species having colored markers.

Nymphs tend to be smaller in size and vary in color from red, black, brown, and green. Depending on the species of the stink bugs, their eggs may differ in color, but tend to look like tiny barrels or small pistachio nuts.

The first thing that signals a stink bug infestation is when you notice them in large numbers in your garden or see lots of nymphs on fruits. Furthermore, you are likely to detect an infestation by noticing wide-ranging destruction of the plants and crops, thanks to their piercing.

Stink bug infestation kills seedlings, wilts leaves, cause stunted growth in plants, and they create pits and spots on fruits. Fruits tend to drop prematurely, become deformed, or may even fail to form.

 

Should You Eliminate Stink Bugs?

The worst problem with stink bugs is that they are destructive to fruit trees, ornamental plants, and other vegetation in the garden. But they do not pose a direct threat to people or cause structural damage to houses.

However, they can be a nuisance to people and pets. They have glands that give off a strong foul odor when squashed, disturbed, or when they feel threatened. It’s a natural way of protecting themselves against predators.

Also, they can be factors in the spread of certain plant diseases as they travel from one plant to another.

 

Finding a large number of stink bugs in your garden is a telltale sign of an infestation. Once the infestation is already underway, eliminating stink bugs can be quite a challenge. Thus, it is important to apply professional control methods to ensure these pests are effectively removed and prevent them from invading your garden again in the future.

Our expert team at American Pest Control in Atlanta will examine your property and come up with a strategic plan to keep these bugs at bay! Call us today for more information on stink bug control or request a free pest inspection.

 

 

 

Most of the house spiders that are common in Georgia do not pose much danger to humans. They sometimes venture indoors by accident and usually wander around the house looking for an ideal place to live where there is food and water. Also, most of them are not deadly or aggressive to humans. Instead, they try to stay out of the man’s way as much as possible.

However, the Brown Recluse and the Black Widow spiders, commonly found in Georgia, are two of the few species that are dangerous to people. Some other house spiders can bite in defense but shouldn’t cause any serious issues for you.

The state of Georgia has a warm and humid climate that is a haven for nearly 40 different species of spiders. These different species of spiders might find their way into your house, and while they are typically peaceful, there’s still a lot we don’t know about them.

Besides the aforementioned Black Widows and Brown Recluse, some of the most common house spiders you might encounter in your Northeast Georgia home, include the False Black Widow spider, Brown Widow, Wolf spider, Daddy Longlegs, Hobo spider, Jumping spider, Yellow Sac spider, Orb Weaver spider, Crevice spider, Domestic house spider, Lynx spider, Trapdoor spider, and Yellow Garden spider.

Keep reading to find out more about the common house spiders in Georgia!

 

Is It Safe To Handle A House Spider?

Whenever you come across a spider in your house, there’s always the urge to kill it. Even though the house spider is not likely to pose a threat, still, it doesn’t look nice at home.

There are different ways you can get rid of a spider in your house. If your only issue is that it is in your room and you are not scared of it, then take the time and carefully capture it. Once you do this, you can then release it outside, some distance away from your house. This way, both parties are content and happy.

It is usually safe to handle a common house spider with proper care, as most of them are not poisonous and rarely bite. However, make sure to check whether your spider is venomous before handling it. You can research online or call a pest exterminator such as American Pest Control who will be happy to offer advice and, if need be, help you safely remove the spider from your house.

 

 

Can A House Spider Hurt Or Kill You?

Most common house spiders are harmless and they are not willing to hurt you. We as humans are more of a threat to house spiders than they are to us.

However, as mentioned earlier, it’s also essential that you learn what type of spider is in your house. By finding this out, you can know whether it is venomous or not. Only a venomous spider can really harm you and even lead to death due to the venom they release.

If you come across a venomous spider, trap it and kill it outside your house. This way, you get rid of the spider, and when you do, be on the lookout for more spiders as there might be others lurching at you in the house.

 

Do House Spiders Bite Humans?

The chances of a house spider biting a human are minimal and this is not something that happens frequently. The only way it can bite a human is if it’s provoked, and even then, the bite happens if you press it on your skin or try to squash it. Feeling the need to save itself, it does everything possible to survive, thus the bite.

If a house spider bites you, the chances are that the reaction you get is going to be barely noticeable. However, those individuals who are sensitive to insect bites can get red bumps on the bitten area of the skin or even a serious allergic reaction, and once this happens, they should seek medical attention immediately. You should also take a picture of the spider that has bitten you and show it to your doctor. Doing this allows the doctor to easily know the kind of treatment and medication to give you.

 

 

How Do You Know If A House Spider Is Poisonous?

If you’re wondering if the spider you spot in your house is poisonous and dangerous, there are some ways to find it out:

 

Their habitat

Spiders that are poisonous prefer to find a habitat in areas where people don’t look into or visit frequently.

These creatures tend to hang out in undisturbed corners and edges, crevices, mailboxes, sheds, garages, and also in basements or cellars. So check the dark sites on your property regularly to make sure this is not happening.

They build their webs in recessed areas and once you come across these webs or the spiders themselves, contact a pest control professional to have them removed.

 

Body markings and colors

Typically, poisonous animals are brightly colored by nature and, in the case of spiders, they possess a few distinct colors and markings on their body.

For example, the female Black Widow is the most easily recognized poisonous spider due to its shiny black exterior, bulb-shaped abdomen, and striking red hourglass-shaped markings on the underside.

On the other hand, the Brown Recluse, which is another poisonous spider found in Georgia, is more difficult to identify because of its dull color.

These are the features that enable you to know what spider is poisonous and which is not.

 

If you are unsure or worried about the spider in your home being dangerous, call our expert team at American Pest Control to discuss the removal of this pest. Also, if you have a persistent spider problem, get in touch with us today and we can help you handle the spider infestation in your Northeast Georgia home as well as offer a prevention solution.