Growing up, you probably didn’t hear much about stink bugs. In fact, unless you grew up in Southeastern Asia or you’re basically still a kid, we’re sure you didn’t hear about them. Stink bugs came to the US midwest recently. Seriously recently, in fact: before 1996, the bugs had never set creepy-skinny-bug-leg on US soil.
We’d forgive you for thinking something about our story stinks (forgive the pun) at this point. After all, how could new insect life make itself so abundant so quickly?! How did a bug from subtropical regions the world away decide, “yeah, the midwest sounds cool”. Why are we so unlucky? We can answer… well, some of some of these questions. Here’s where stink bugs came from, why they’re still here, and what to do about them.