They can be. Agricultural areas provide abundant plant material, so homes near farmland may have more stink bugs in the surrounding environment.
Stink bugs stay outdoors when the weather is warm. They tend to do well on agricultural land because they can feed on all sorts of plants. Crop fields are great habitats. But after harvest is over or the weather starts to turn cold, they have to look for other places to live. This is called overwintering.
Stink bugs have a bad habit of overwintering in human structures. That might mean your house. In particular, warm exterior walls can collect large numbers of bugs, and small gaps around windows, doors, siding, soffits, vents, and utilities can lead inside. Sunlit walls of a light color on the south or west side of a building tend to see the biggest clusters of stink bugs.
Being close to farmland doesn’t mean you’re going to have stink bugs indoors all winter long. If your home is properly sealed, you might see them mass a lot on outdoor walls but see few go inside. But if your home has gaps in the siding, poorly sealed windows or doors, or other small openings, then stink bugs can slip in. Then they spend the winter inside your wall voids or attic.
Stink bugs generally go dormant once inside. But warm winter days, or even days where the heating is really cranked up, can make them think it’s time to go outside. That can mean stink bugs “suddenly” show up in February even if they’ve been in the walls since October or November.
The best thing you can do, if you don’t want to deal with this, is check your home’s exterior, particularly where stink bugs tend to gather. Seal gaps you find and replace any broken screens or vents.
If stink bugs are becoming a problem around your Southeast PA property, Mosquito Squad of Southeast PA can help with pest control around the property. Call (610) 463-0507 or request a free quote online.
