Look In Your Laundry Room For An Easy Way To Repel Stink Bugs

Fall brings cooler weather, autumn decor, pumpkin spice, and cozy days spent indoors. But it can also bring an uninvited guest into your home: the dreaded stink bug. This small, shield-shaped insect earns its nickname from the foul-smelling liquid it secretes when threatened. The term "stink bug" actually covers thousands of species in the insect family Pentatomidae, and they're not all harmless. In fact, one species — the brown marmorated stink bug –- is an invasive pest that causes serious crop damage across the U.S. every year.

But even if you're not personally worried about stink bugs eating your plants, you probably don't want to find one in your home. The good news is that there are several ways to get rid of stink bugs, and you probably already have one of them in your laundry room: dryer sheets. Rubbing dryer sheets on your window screens can be a surprisingly effective trick to repel stink bugs without chemical pesticides. But there's a catch: the dryer sheets must be scented, because their strong fragrance is what keeps the stink bugs away.

Stink bugs are most active in spring and summer. But when September rolls around, you're more likely to find one in your home as the insects begin to seek shelter from the cooler weather. Worse still is that killing a stink bug, or even handling it to remove it from your house, can trigger the nasty defense mechanism that gives the pest its nickname — not a fun (or pleasant-smelling) way to start the fall season! 

That's why using scented dryer sheets to keep stink bugs out of your home in the first place is a better solution, according to Scot Hodges, vice president of professional development and technical services at Arrow Exterminators in Atlanta. You can also rub them around potential entry points like window sills, doorways, or any other cracks where stink bugs might get in. Hodges also adds that essential oils offer another line of defense (via Today).

While dryer sheets are useful to keep stink bugs off screened windows and doors, Hodges says homeowners should "diffuse essential oils near entryways to deter them from coming inside." These scent-based DIY pest control methods work because stink bugs are deterred by some strong fragrances (who could have guessed something called a "stink bug" wouldn't appreciate a nice aroma?). However, you probably don't want to coat your screens in oil, so give the dryer sheet trick a try — but if your stink bug problem persists and DIY solutions aren't enough, it might be time to call a professional.