How do I get rid of stink bugs?

You’ve probably seen these nasty-looking critters crawling over citrus trees in spring, and if you haven’t, then you’re likely to have smelt their presence as you brushed past. Also known as bronze orange bugs, these slippery little sap-suckers not only stink, they also do significant damage to citrus. Like many sap-suckers, they have a liking for tender new growth, destroying the shoots with their feeding action. They also like to suck the sap from flower and fruit stalks, causing the blooms and fruit to fall prematurely. Large infestations of the pest will significantly reduce your crop, so you need to be on a constant lookout to keep their numbers down. So, how do you get rid of stink bugs?

Get to know them at the different stages of their life cycle. As nymphs, they appear as tiny (about 5mm long) light green bugs and gradually change to an orange bug 15mm long. Once they reach adulthood, they get really ugly, so you don’t want to be seeing too many of them, and it’s not just that their large, brown angular features make them look menacing. The adults also lay lots of eggs, which means you’ll be in for more trouble.

I’ve tried all sorts of methods to reduce their numbers, but the method I find most manageable is to simply pick them off with kitchen tongs and drop them into a bucket of soapy water (see method below). Whatever method you choose, persist throughout the late-winter and spring period so that you remove as many as possible and break their life cycle. That way you’ll have less of a problem next year. Also, always wear protective gear when handling them. That stinky stuff they squirt is caustic and can burn your eyes and skin.

Remove stink bugs

1. Part-fill a bucket with water and add a little dishwashing liquid.

2. Put on some protective gear – gloves, a long-sleeved shirt, safety glasses or a face shield and hat – then grab the bucket and tongs ready for action. Seek out as many of the bugs as you can, and pick them off with the tongs. They can take some chasing, because they’ll see you coming and skip around to the other side of the twig. Stick at it!

3. Drop them straight into the bucket where they’ll drown. I normally leave the bucket and tongs near the trees for a few days so that I can do a daily follow-up to grab any that I’ve missed. By day three or four, the water starts to get a bit soupy, which means it’s time to tip the contents out somewhere among the shrubs.

Photos by Anna Hutchcroft