Killing stink bugs can be a challenge, not because it is impossible to catch them, but because those of us who have actually killed them before know that the stench that they emit can be pretty rancid, and is not something you would want to have to deal with again. The smell can get on your skin, on your clothes, your furniture, your sheets, and your walls. So if you want to know how to kill stink bugs, you are going to have to get creative. You are going to have to learn to think outside of the box. One solution that many people have found to be quite useful is the idea of using duct tape.
You can’t directly kill stink bugs with duct tape, of course. But you can use duct tape as a means to capture them as well as a means to create an impenetrable barrier between walls and windows, to prevent them from gaining entry into a house or into a particular room within your house (or from exiting a particular room, if you are trying to confine them). So let’s take a closer look at and examine just how we can leverage duct tape as our tactical weapon of choice in our war of how to kill stink bugs.
A Sticky Situation
Duct tape is essentially a much stronger version of your average, everyday household scotch tape that you might use in the office or in school. Duct tape has a much stronger level of adhesiveness that binds two objects together. It would require a great deal more force to tear two objects apart that are bound together with duct tape than it would take to tear two objects apart that are bound together with simple scotch tape. And then, when you are talking about duct tape, there are various degrees of strength. You can even find industrial strength duct tape that is so strong, that if you try to remove it, you might end up ripping or tearing the objects that you had bound together with it.
What strength of duct tape you want to use depends on the type of structure you are going to be securing it to, but the point is that you can use it as a trap to capture stink bugs, when used properly. You can make a simple trap by laying some fruit out on a table and affixing it to the duct tape, and have the duct tape affixed to a piece of paper or some other discardable object. In theory, the stink bug will land on the duct tape or set foot on it in the process of attempting to devour the fruit, and will get stuck to it.
Or you can keep the duct tape near a source of heat and light, so as to attract stink bugs to it as well. Once the stink bug gets stuck to the duct tape, you can safely pick up the strip of tape and discard it in the trash.
An Impenetrable Barrier
As mentioned above, another way how to kill stink bugs using duct tape is to use it as a barrier. If you have a window screen that doesn’t fit your window properly and has gaps in it, or if you have any type of gaps between where windows and doors meet the wall structure, then duct tape can be used to provide a seal that is absolutely impermeable to stink bugs. They will not be able to squeeze past it to gain entry into your home. And even if somehow they are able to maneuver into any tight spaces, you can be assured that they appendages or perhaps any other part of their body will get stuck to the adhesive and become immobile. If this were to happen, then it becomes easy to remove the duct tape, with the stink bugs attached to it, and then discard it in an appropriate receptacle.
There are many ways how to kill stink bugs without having to resort to directly squashing them, and thus releasing that putrid odor. Duct tape can not only serve as an effective mechanism whereby you can trap stink bugs and then dispose of them appropriately. It can also be used as a means to seal off any cracks or gaps in your home through which stink bugs might try to find a way to get inside your home.