Stink Bug Season Is Here: How to Keep Them Out of Your NE Georgia Home

Every September and October, homeowners across northeast Georgia start finding the same uninvited guest: the brown marmorated stink bug. These shield-shaped insects, about the size of a nickel, mottled brown, with distinctive banded antennae, don’t bite, don’t sting, and don’t cause structural damage. But they are absolutely maddening to deal with, and if you handle them wrong, you’ll make the problem much worse.

Why Do Stink Bugs Come Inside in Fall?

Stink bugs are native to Asia and were accidentally introduced to the United States in the late 1990s. They’ve since spread across much of the country and are now established throughout Georgia.

They’re what’s called “overwintering pests.” As temperatures drop, stink bugs instinctively seek out a sheltered, temperate environment to wait out the winter in a dormant state, and your heated home is perfect. They enter through gaps around windows, doors, soffits, and vents, then settle into wall voids, attics, and crawlspaces where they cluster in large numbers.

When temperatures warm up in spring, they become active again and try to find their way back outside, which usually means you start seeing them crawling on your walls and windows.

Why You Should NEVER Squish a Stink Bug

The name tells you everything you need to know. When threatened or crushed, stink bugs release a pungent chemical compound (trans-2-decenal) that smells like a combination of cilantro and skunk. The odor is surprisingly persistent and can linger on fabric, carpet, and skin.

Worse, the chemical signal can attract more stink bugs to the same area.

How to remove stink bugs without triggering the smell:

• Pick them up with a plastic bag turned inside-out over your hand, then seal the bag
• Use a vacuum, but be aware the smell will linger in the vacuum. Use a bagless vacuum and empty the canister outside immediately, or use a dedicated vacuum you don’t mind smelling
• Drop them directly into soapy water, which kills them quickly
• Flush them down the toilet

Preventing Them From Getting In

Stink bugs are champion infiltrators. A comprehensive exclusion is your best defense:

• Seal every gap you can find around windows, doors, utility penetrations, and at the roofline. Use silicone or latex caulk for small gaps; foam backer rod plus caulk for larger ones.
• Install or replace door sweeps on all exterior doors
• Check and repair window screens, stink bugs can enter through surprisingly small tears
• Seal around attic vents and gable vents with fine mesh screen (⁄16 inch hardware cloth)
• Turn off exterior lights at night in September and October, light attracts stink bugs and concentrates them around entry points

Once They’re Inside

Standard bug sprays are mostly ineffective on stink bugs. They’re remarkably hardy insects, and by the time you see them on your walls, there are likely many more inside your wall voids where spray can’t reach.

Professional pest control can treat wall voids, attic spaces, and the exterior perimeter with products that create a meaningful barrier and work on contact with insects already inside. The treatment is most effective when applied in late September before populations peak.

Don’t Wait Until You’re Overwhelmed

Stink bug infestations are much easier to address preventively than reactively. By October, they’ve already made their way into your walls in large numbers, and the options for dealing with them shrink considerably.

Call Kilz Pest Control before stink bug season peaks. Schedule a free inspection or call/text us at (706) 754-6248. We serve all of northeast Georgia, including Hall, Habersham, White, Stephens, and surrounding counties.