Did you find a brown, foul-smelling bug in your house? It’s probably a western conifer seed bug. Here’s how to get rid of western conifer seed bugs and all you need to know about them.
Unsure what to do about the Western Conifer seed bugs that showed up in your home? This article will help you out.
These common pests are a huge nuisance in nurseries, garden centers, and pine seed producers.
Also known as the pine bug, it causes plenty of damage by feeding on coniferous seeds.
Although the bug doesn’t bite, it releases a pungent odor and can hurt you with its proboscis if it feels threatened.
How To Identify Them?
The Western Conifer seed bug is a large insect that grows up to about an inch and has a narrow body.
Apart from the abdomen, which has black and yellow stripes on it, this bug is reddish brown.
It’s easy to mistake the bug for the marmorated stink bug or the assassin bug because they look the same and have other similar characteristics.
Both bugs release a foul odor to deter predators.
Despite its name, the Western Conifer Seed Bug is not a seed bug but rather a leaf-footed bug. It is much more dangerous than the stink bug, and it’s important to know how to identify them.
The western conifer seed bug has three main identifying features that distinguish it from the stink bug:
- Western conifer seed bugs have narrow bodies, while the stink bug is a broad-bodied insect.
- Its legs are wider and in the shape of a leaf at the end.
- While the stink bug’s antennae have white bands, the leaf-footed bugs do not.
How To Know if Your House is Infested With Them?
When the western conifer seed bugs come into your home, you need to act fast to get rid of them. This starts with the detection of the infestation in the first place.
This can be a little hard, considering these bugs don’t build nests indoors or cause any structural damage.
Carefully inspect wall vents, cracks, and crevices to look for them in the winter months.
Other places where you might find them include areas near an electrical outlet, door and window frames, baseboards, etc.
The foul stench given off by the western conifer seed bug when disturbed will help you detect them too.
How To Remove Seed Bugs From Your House?
Using chemical insecticides in your home is hazardous, especially to children and pets. However, you can use them outdoors, such as in your garden.
Throw out the bugs
Whenever you come across a leaf-footed bug in your home, don’t hesitate to pick it up and throw it out.
However, you might want to wear gloves or use a paper towel to avoid getting the stink spray on your skin. If you don’t want to hold them, sweep them away with a broom instead.
Spot treatment
Keep a spray bottle of direct-contact insecticide aerosol handy. When you find one, spray it on them.
Hold the spray can about 12 to 15 inches away from the bug. Spray over an area of 2 sq. ft. for about two seconds.
Residual insecticide
If you have a western conifer seed bug infestation in your home, the insects likely come from nearby foliage.
You may use a permethrin-based residual insecticide to treat trees and shrubs in your garden. It will affect the central nervous system of the bugs, leading to paralysis and eventually killing them.
How To Prevent An Infestation?
Since using chemical pesticides isn’t the best way to deal with insects in your home, you should try to prevent the infestation from breaking out in the first place.
Seal up hiding places and entry points
Start by sealing the common hiding places and entry points of the bug. While a sealing caulk should suffice for small cracks, crevices, and holes, you may have to use copper mesh for large voids.
Keep your yard clean.
Remove rodent nests, dead foliage, mulch, and debris from your yard. They offer the bugs perfect hiding places.
Pheromone traps
You may use sticky pheromone traps to capture the insects and get rid of them.
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Frequently asked questions
Why are there western conifer seed bugs in my house?
Although pine seed bugs primarily live on trees, you might find them in your home from late summer to the end of winter.
The dropping temperatures force them to seek out a warmer place to spend the winter months, which is exactly what your house offers.
What do you do with western conifer seed bugs?
Using insecticides to kill western conifer seed bugs indoors isn’t a smart idea. Just throw or sweep them out of your home.
As for the ones in outdoor spaces, you may use residual or direct application insecticides. You can also use sticky traps to trap them and throw them out.
Can you squish the western conifer seed bug?
Never squish a western conifer seed bug. Not only would it release the pungent odor in defense, but its crushed body will leave its strong odor on whatever surface you do it.
Even when throwing them out, handle them gently and avoid touching them with your skin.
What kills seed bugs?
The tough exoskeleton of the pine seed bug protects them from a variety of pesticides. However, insecticides based on Indoxacarb, Imidacloprid, and permethrin can kill them.
You should avoid using bug zappers, as they will make the bugs explode and spray the stinky liquid all over.
Wrap up
Unfortunately, this is a very common pest in the United States. Although they don’t usually cause any type of leaf damage, the damage they cause to the seeds can result in stunted seed growth.
Although this isn’t a big problem unless you’re trying to grow coniferous plants, a large number of these pests can fill your home with their pungent odor.
On a positive note, their life cycle isn’t quite ideal for rapid infestations as they reproduce only once a year. So if you can kill the ones in your house, you are rid of them for good.
Thank you for reading!
e of the emails were merely inquiries, there are quite a few that were somewhat humorous and others that showed how alarming a situation these bugs can generate! Read the emails below to know more.