Stink bugs mainly feed on fruits, vegetables, seeds, and other plant tissues by piercing them with specialized mouthparts and sucking out their juices. Their diet varies by species, but common pest stink bugs can damage apples, peaches, tomatoes, corn, soybeans, and many garden plants. Some stink bug species are predators and eat other insects instead. Indoors, however, stink bugs usually aren’t searching for food. Understanding what stink bugs eat can explain why they appear in gardens, farms, orchards, and homes.
What Do Stink Bugs Eat?
Most plant-feeding stink bugs are not picky eaters. They may move between trees, vegetable plants, weeds, and crops throughout the growing season. Their feeding can leave fruit discolored, misshapen, or damaged beneath the skin. Brown marmorated stink bugs are particularly well known for feeding on a very wide range of plants.
10 Foods Stink Bugs Eat
Plant-feeding stink bugs have piercing-sucking mouthparts rather than chewing jaws. They insert their mouthparts into fruits, seeds, stems, or other tender plant tissues and extract fluids. Brown marmorated stink bugs are particularly adaptable and can feed on many different host plants. Here are 10 foods commonly attacked by stink bugs.
1. Apples
Apples are a common food source for several stink bug species, especially the brown marmorated stink bug. The insects pierce developing fruit and suck juices from beneath the skin.
Feeding damage may create sunken areas, discoloration, or corky tissue underneath the peel. Apples can become misshapen if stink bugs attack them while the fruit is still developing.
Orchards can provide abundant food because stink bugs may move among fruit trees throughout the growing season.
2. Peaches
Stink bugs readily feed on peaches and other stone fruits. Their mouthparts can penetrate the softening fruit and reach nutritious plant fluids.
Feeding may leave small puncture marks or damaged areas beneath the skin. Young peaches can become distorted after repeated feeding.
Other stone fruits that may attract plant-feeding stink bugs include nectarines, plums, and cherries.
3. Pears
Pears are another fruit regularly attacked by stink bugs. Both adults and older nymphs can feed on developing pears.
Damage is not always obvious immediately. As the pear grows, affected tissue may become hard, discolored, sunken, or corky.
Fruit trees growing near wooded areas can sometimes experience more stink bug activity because some species move between natural vegetation and cultivated crops.
4. Tomatoes
Tomatoes provide soft fruit that stink bugs can easily pierce.
When feeding on tomatoes, they insert their mouthparts through the skin and remove fluids from the tissue underneath. This can create pale, yellowish, or cloudy areas on the fruit.
Although damaged tomatoes may remain attached to the plant, their appearance and internal texture can decline significantly after repeated feeding.
5. Peppers
Bell peppers and other pepper plants can also serve as food sources. Stink bugs may attack both developing fruit and tender plant tissues.
Feeding injuries can create small discolored spots and reduce fruit quality. Gardeners may notice adults or nymphs resting on stems, leaves, or fruit during warm weather.
Stink bugs often move among different vegetables rather than remaining on a single plant.
6. Corn
Corn provides several potential feeding sites, especially developing kernels.
Stink bugs can pierce through plant tissue and feed on kernels while ears are developing. Damage during sensitive growth stages may interfere with normal kernel development.
Cornfields can also provide shelter and food before stink bugs move into neighboring crops later in the season.
7. Soybeans
Soybeans are an important food source for several agricultural stink bug species.
They commonly target developing pods and seeds. By inserting their mouthparts through the pod, they can feed directly on the developing seed inside.
Heavy feeding may result in poorly developed, shriveled, or damaged beans. This is one reason stink bugs can become economically important pests in agricultural fields.
8. Beans
Green beans, lima beans, and other legumes can attract stink bugs.
The bugs may feed on pods, developing seeds, stems, or other tender tissues. Beans are especially vulnerable while pods are forming.
Damage may leave malformed pods or underdeveloped seeds. Stink bugs can move into vegetable gardens from nearby weeds or other host plants as their preferred foods change during the season.
9. Berries
Some stink bugs feed on berries and other small fruits, including raspberries and blackberries.
Soft fruits provide easily accessible juices. Feeding can cause discoloration, deformation, or localized tissue damage.
Stink bugs may also leave their characteristic defensive odor if disturbed while fruit is being harvested, making their presence particularly unwelcome around berry crops.
10. Nuts and Seeds
Developing nuts and seeds are important foods for many stink bugs because they contain concentrated nutrients.
Depending on the species and location, stink bugs may feed on crops such as pecans, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, and developing seeds from numerous wild plants.
Their ability to use many different plant hosts helps explain why certain stink bugs survive successfully across farms, gardens, and natural environments.
What Do Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs Eat?
Brown marmorated stink bugs are highly adaptable plant feeders. They can use a remarkably wide range of cultivated and wild plants throughout the year. Instead of remaining dependent on one crop, they often move between different host plants as fruits and seeds become available.
Common Foods of Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs
They commonly feed on:
- Apples
- Peaches
- Pears
- Cherries
- Grapes
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Corn
- Soybeans
- Beans
- Tree fruits
- Developing seeds
Their broad diet is one reason brown marmorated stink bugs can become significant agricultural and garden pests.
How Stink Bugs Feed
Stink bugs do not bite chunks from fruits or chew holes like caterpillars.
They have a narrow, beak-like feeding structure called a rostrum. The insect inserts this into plant tissue and draws out fluids.
Feeding can damage cells beneath the surface even when there is only a tiny mark on the outside. Fruit may later develop discolored, sunken, or corky areas around feeding sites.
What Do Stink Bugs Eat in the House?
Seeing stink bugs inside does not necessarily mean they have found a food supply. Brown marmorated stink bugs commonly enter buildings in fall to find protected overwintering sites. Once sheltered indoors, they become relatively inactive and depend largely on energy reserves accumulated before entering the structure.
Do Stink Bugs Eat Food Inside Homes?
Stink bugs generally do not infest kitchens in the same manner as ants, cockroaches, or pantry beetles.
They are not normally interested in:
- Bread
- Meat
- Cheese
- Crumbs
- Stored cereal
- Pet food
- Household garbage
A stink bug walking across a kitchen wall is therefore usually seeking shelter rather than looking for human food.
What Do Stink Bugs Eat in Winter?
Overwintering stink bugs generally reduce their activity and feeding considerably. Those sheltering inside buildings typically survive by using stored energy reserves rather than feeding regularly.
Warm indoor temperatures can sometimes cause them to become active and crawl toward windows or lights.
This does not mean they are breeding or feeding extensively inside the home. Their main goal during winter is survival until outdoor conditions improve.
Do Stink Bugs Eat Other Insects?
Not every stink bug is a plant pest. The stink bug family includes predatory species that actively capture and eat other insects. These beneficial stink bugs can help control caterpillars, beetle larvae, and other arthropods that damage plants.
Predatory Stink Bug Diet
Depending on the species, predatory stink bugs may attack:
- Caterpillars
- Beetle larvae
- Sawfly larvae
- Other insect larvae
- Small insects
- Insect eggs
Predatory stink bugs use their piercing mouthparts to puncture prey and consume its body fluids.
Because some species are beneficial predators, identifying the stink bug before controlling it can be useful.
What Do Baby Stink Bugs Eat?
Stink bug nymphs eventually eat many of the same plant foods as adults.
Very young nymphs may remain clustered around their egg mass immediately after hatching before dispersing. As they grow, plant-feeding species begin feeding on suitable leaves, stems, fruits, pods, and seeds.
Older nymphs can cause crop damage similar to adults because they use the same basic piercing-sucking feeding method.
What Plants Do Stink Bugs Eat?
Stink bugs can feed on both cultivated crops and wild vegetation. Their ability to move between plants helps them survive when one particular food source becomes unavailable. Gardens containing fruit trees, vegetables, legumes, and seed-producing plants can therefore provide multiple feeding opportunities during the growing season.
Plants That Commonly Attract Stink Bugs
Potential host plants include:
- Fruit trees
- Tomato plants
- Pepper plants
- Corn
- Soybeans
- Beans
- Sunflowers
- Berry bushes
- Ornamental trees
- Weeds and wild plants
Removing every host plant is neither practical nor necessary. Instead, regularly inspect valuable garden plants for stink bugs, egg clusters, and young nymphs.
What Do Green Stink Bugs Eat?
Green stink bugs are primarily plant feeders. They commonly attack seeds, fruits, pods, and developing plant tissues.
Depending on where they live, they may feed on soybeans, beans, tomatoes, fruit crops, and numerous wild plants.
The southern green stink bug is also an important crop pest in warm regions and can damage a variety of vegetable and agricultural plants.
FAQs
1. What is a stink bug’s favorite food?
There is no single favorite food shared by every stink bug species. Many plant-feeding stink bugs prefer developing fruits, seeds, and pods. Apples, peaches, pears, tomatoes, corn, soybeans, and beans are among the foods commonly attacked by pest species.
2. What do stink bugs eat and drink?
Plant-feeding stink bugs obtain both nutrients and moisture by piercing plant tissue and sucking fluids. They may feed on fruits, seeds, pods, stems, and other tender tissues. They do not normally need to drink from a separate water source while actively feeding on plants.
3. What do stink bugs eat inside the house?
Stink bugs usually eat very little while overwintering inside a home. They enter buildings mainly for shelter and survive largely on stored energy. They do not normally infest human food, pantry products, furniture, wood, clothing, or other household materials.
4. Do stink bugs eat tomatoes?
Yes. Several plant-feeding stink bugs attack tomatoes by piercing the fruit and extracting fluids. Their feeding can produce pale or cloudy spots, discoloration, and damaged tissue beneath the skin. Repeated feeding may significantly reduce the appearance and quality of developing tomatoes.
5. Do stink bugs eat other bugs?
Some do. Although many familiar stink bugs feed primarily on plants, several species are predators. Predatory stink bugs may eat caterpillars, beetle larvae, insect eggs, and other small arthropods. These species can actually be beneficial in gardens because they help control plant-damaging insects.