Among Wonderful Husband’s many other charming idiosyncrasies, he collects cleaning equipment.  You know, stuff like mops, brooms, vacuums and buckets.  Not that he uses them a lot, he just likes to buy them and try them out.  They end their lives gathering dust on a shelf or in a closet.

A few months ago, he bought a Dyson vacuum cleaner – without even telling me – and was somewhat hurt and surprised when I was…um, shall we say “not pleased”?

“But, Honey!” he exclaimed, “It was on sale for a very good price!”  Where have I heard that before?

As the weather turned colder, the interior of the house became a gathering place for stinkbugs… they don’t bite or sting, but they have no concept common courtesy, casually landing on an arm or leg or in your hair or in your drink, or whatever.  They make an annoying buzz when they fly and eventually, they die, leaving a dried out brown carcass on the floor or wherever they happened to draw their final breath.  This makes me look like an even worse housekeeper than I am.

This is where the Dyson started earning my respect.  It was rechargeable, so no electric cord to deal with or outlet to find.  It had a variety of attachments, including an extension tube to vacuum the floor without bending over too much.  And it sucked up the dead stinkbugs – BRAVO!  It also drives the Spoiled Mutt totally berserk – he starts barking like fool a every time he sees us with it.

Wonderful Husband discovered that he could, by stretching a bit, suck living stinkbugs off the walls, ceilings and lamps.  Now, he stalks them on a daily basis…the Great White Hunter on safari with his trusty Dyson, armed and ready. I guess everyone needs a hobby and besides, he’s fun to watch.

But I got curious about the stinkbugs – I didn’t remember seeing so many in one place when I was a kid.  So, I did what every enlightened human with a computer does, I googled “stinkbug”, quickly identifying the particular species which has made itself so comfortable in our home.  Here’s what I found:

It’s called a brown marmorated stinkbug (Halyomorpha halys).  Like so many other imports improving our quality of life (think COVID-19 or the emerald ash borer), it’s from Asia.  A bit over ½ inch long, most are dark brown and all have that “shield” shape to their bodies.  Around the edges of the “shield” there are alternate light and dark bands.

They normally lay their eggs on the underside of leaves (check your houseplants).  They always lay 28 eggs (who knew stinkbugs could count??) which are light green turning to white as they mature.

Besides being a pest, indoors and out, they’ve caused millions of dollars in crop damage:  they sink their probiscis into fruits and leaves, sucking out the juices.  Seems they particularly like apples, pears, peaches, cherries raspberries, soybeans and green beans.  I’m keeping a close eye on my houseplants!

The bad news is that there is no really good control for these stinkers.  Some native wasps and birds are beginning to prey on them and I suppose I could apply a systemic insecticide on ornamentals and houseplants.  So far, I haven’t seen any eggs or possible stinkbug-caused damage on my houseplants, but I have a feeling we’ll be dealing with these “illegal immigrants” for a very, very long time!