How To Get Rid Of Gross Stink Bugs, According To The Grumpy Gardener

About This Episode

Advice on planting bamboo for privacy. Plus, a tip on getting rid of stink bugs.

Question Of The Week

"There is a space between my house and the neighbors where I want to plant some tall bamboo forprivacy. What do you think?" - Vince

Grumpy's response: Well, Vince, as you know in his poem, "Mending Wall," Robert Frost wrote, "Good fences make good neighbors," but living fences of bamboo make angry neighbors because of its fast-spreading roots that do not stop at property lines. And so I would say, it depends on your relationship with that neighbor because if you plant most of those screening bamboos on your property and it's anywhere near your neighbor's property, they're gonna have bamboo too. Um, And it's really hard to kill them, so it's basically just cutting down whatever spreads. So what I would say is, ask your neighbor if it's okay first.But there are what I consider to be better choices for, uh, putting in an evergreen screen. There's other plants that don't get outta hand and don't invade your neighbor's yard. That would include things like Oakland Holly, Nellie Stevens Holly, Blue Point or Blue Arrow Juniper, Maki, podocarpus, and bright and tight cherry laurel. And the common things between all of these is that they grow upright, they don't take up a whole lot of space in terms of depth, so they won't shade out everything that your neighbors is growing in his yard. They stay in place, and they look good, and they're evergreen. The other thing, if you don't wanna do that, heck, just put up a fence, you know? Good fences make good neighbors.

Tip Of The Week

Stinkbugs

Stinkbugs can be a problem when they come in to spend the winter with you in your house, and they can also be a problem outside in your garden. So let's address the first one:

• Stinkbugs in your house: Now, the one thing you never wane to do when you see a stinkbug is step on it or squash it or hit it with a flyswatter. Because if you do, it releases these noxious chemicals that smell horrible. It's your punishment for ending that stinkbug's life.

So what you want to do is just get him to crawl up on something or trap him in a jar or something like that, carry him, and let him go outside. You can also use one of those portable vacuum cleaners and just kind of suck up them if there's three or four or five of them around, suck them up, and then just empty it outside. You don't have to kill them.

• Stinkbugs outdoors in your garden: They can become a problem because they're a pest. Especially in my garden on my vegetable plants, like tomatoes and peppers and squash. They like to feed on the fruits of those vegetables. And when they do, they actually ruin them, and the fruits don't develop properly, and then they just fall off. Now, so what can you do to keep stinkbugs off your plants outside? Well, I'm gonna recommend three things. They're all safe:

1. First, it would be a botanical insecticide called Neem oil, which is very safe to use. It's made from an extract of the tropical neem tree. Neem oil is an insecticide, but it's also a fungicide, and it's safe to use, and you can get it just about anywhere.
2. Another is a safe product to use, which is a natural product, natural insecticide, is a product called spinosad, which is S-P-I-N-O-S-A-D.
3. The third way to control stinkbugs is a really fun way. This is what I like to do:

Step 1: I like to get a wide-mouth vase. And I put about three drops of liquid detergent in the bottom, fill it up about halfway with water, and then shake it up and make it all sudsy.

Step 2: Then what you do is you go out, you check your plants, all your pepper plants, your tomato plants. Whenever you see a stinkbug on them, you hold the vase just underneath the leaf or the stem where the stinkbug is.

Step 3: And you hold it just underneath, and then you tap the leaf with your finger. Stinkbug will immediately drop off the plant and fall into the vase of the soapy water. And because there's soap in the water, he can't get out, and he drowns.

About Ask Grumpy

Ask Grumpy is a podcast featuring Steve Bender, also known as Southern Living’s Grumpy Gardener. For more than 20 years, Grumpy has been sharing advice on what to grow, when to plant, and how to manage just about anything in your garden. Tune in for short episodes every Wednesday and Saturday as Grumpy answers reader questions, solves seasonal conundrums, and provides need-to-know advice for gardeners with his very Grumpy sense of humor. Be sure to follow Ask Grumpy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you don't miss an episode.

Editor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.