By Steven Voser

The brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) is an insect that comes from China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. The bug was accidentally introduced into the United States in the late 1990s, where it quickly spread and became a common pest. In recent years, the stink bug has also appeared in Europe. Unfortunately, stink bugs really like cannabis, and they can cause massive damage as they devour your precious plants.

HOW TO RECOGNISE STINK BUGS

The stink bug grows to about 1.7cm in size, and you can recognise it by its characteristic hard and wide shell in the shape of a shield. Most stink bugs have a brown colour with markings in other colours, but there are also bright-green stink bug varieties. The stink bug earned its name because it releases a pungent odour that smells like coriander when disturbed or crushed. This is how the bug wards off natural predators such as lizards or birds.

Although harmless to humans, the stink bug can attack your cannabis plants. The bug feeds off the leaves and flowers, and they particularly love to devour developing seeds. If you don’t take care of a stink bug infestation, they can cause great damage to your plants.

Stink Bug Cannabis

HOW STINK BUGS GET TO YOUR CANNABIS PLANTS

Just like many other cannabis pests, stink bugs want to move into your warm home during the cold winter months. They find their way into your house and then into your grow tent through windows and chimneys, pipes and power connections, and other cracks and crevices. So, as a first line of defence against the cannabis-loving bug, you should check your home and seal up these types of openings so you can keep the pest out. If you’re using insect screens for doors and windows, or on the inlets of your grow room or tent, make sure the screens are intact and don’t have any holes. If necessary, repair or replace the screens.

HOW TO GET RID OF STINK BUGS

1. Clean Your Growing Area

If you spot stink bugs around your plants, the first thing you should do is clear and clean your entire growing area. Get rid of all debris such as weeds and old leaves under your plants. If you keep your growing area clean, the bugs have less to eat and no place to hide.

Indoor Stink Bug


2. Carefully Remove Bugs

Before you go all out squishing every stink bug you see or start spraying insecticides, know that it is better to remove them from your grow room instead. If you squash them or they die from spraying and you don’t remove them, they will release an unpleasant smell and will stink up your growing area. Even worse, the dead bugs will normally attract other pests such as ants, which you want to avoid.

Stink Bugs Cannabis Plants


3. Check For Stink Bug Eggs

Make sure that you not only check for the bugs themselves, but also their eggs. If you have a stink bug infestation, chances are you may also find characteristic patches of white stink bug eggs on your cannabis plants’ leaves. You will of course need to get rid of the eggs because this is where the bugs will be hatching from. The safest choice is to remove and dispose of any leaves with suspicious patches on them.

Stink Bug Pest


4. Take Your Cannabis Plants Outside And Use A Hose

A good way to go about getting rid of the bugs and the eggs is to take your cannabis plants outside. Remove the leaves where you see eggs and use a garden hose to spray the bugs off your plants. It will also help if you shake your plants; the bugs should simply autumn off. Have a bucket with soapy water nearby where you drop the bugs as you collect them. Afterwards, flush the bugs that you collected, as well as the leaves with eggs on them, in the toilet.

Stink Bug Outdoor


5. Use A Vacuum Indoors

If you can’t carry your plants outside to get rid of the stink bugs with a hose, you can also use a vacuum inside your grow room. Shake your plants so the bugs autumn off, and then vacuum or sweep them up with a broom and dustpan. Here too it will help if you have a bucket with soapy water ready to collect them. If you’re using a vacuum for the stink bugs, make sure you dispose of the vacuum bags right away. The dead stink bugs left in the vacuum will otherwise make your house stink!

Stink Bug Indoor  

6. Use Neem Oil To Get Rid Of Them

Cannabis growers use neem oil for all kinds of cannabis pests, including stink bugs. Neem oil is a very safe natural insecticide, and it also works as a prophylactic that keeps many pests away. It works well against stink bug eggs and their larvae, but it is not as effective if you want to get rid of adult stink bugs. The reason for this is that their hard shell and coating makes them relatively difficult to kill.

Neem oil is safe, and you can use it up until the day before harvest; just make sure you don’t spray it directly on your buds, otherwise it can badly affect the taste of your weed. For a neem oil spray, you can use a garden pressure sprayer or a small hand sprayer. Carefully read the instructions on how to use the sprayer. Make sure you spray the undersides of the leaves as well; don’t do it in bright sun. The best time to spray your cannabis plants is shortly before your lights go out, or if you spray outdoors, in the evening or early morning.

Neemazal - Neem Oil

Neem oil serves as a completely natural way to protect your cannabis plants against pests.

Buy Neem Oil

7. Use A Strong Insecticide As A Last Resort

Unless you have a massive stink bug infestation, it should be relatively easy to get rid of them with the above-mentioned methods. Only if nothing helps and you find that you can’t control the bugs should you resort to stronger insecticides. But before you spray to get rid of the bugs, make sure that you have removed as many of them as you can find. Otherwise, the dead bugs will just stink up your grow room and attract more pests.

Stink Bug Insecticide

HOW TO PREVENT STINK BUGS

No question, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. After all, eliminating pests is something one only does when an infestation has occurred. For healthy cannabis plants and a bountiful harvest, the best tactic is always prevention. Here is what you can do to keep stink bugs away:

1. Inspect Your Cannabis Plants Daily

A lot of cannabis problems, including bug infestations, are not always obvious at a quick glance. Most of the time, you may only see that something is wrong with your plants when an infestation or disease has already progressed. But if you carefully inspect your cannabis plants every day, you can spot problems early and can take action before more harm is done. Check the leaves of your cannabis plants (including the undersides) and remove any foliage with eggs as soon as you spot them.

Stink Bug Leaves  

2. Cover Your Plants If Your Grow Outdoors

If you grow outdoors, consider garden fabric and row covers to protect your plants from stink bugs and many other pests and predators. Stink bugs are relatively large, so they can’t get through the fine mesh of protective covers. The covers are usually made from lightweight polyethylene and are easy to use. They are affordable and can usually be found at any well-sorted gardening shop.

In addition to protecting your cannabis plants from stink bugs, caterpillars, and other large insects, the covers can also protect your plants from wind damage and birds.

HOW TO GET RID OF STINK BUGS — IN CONCLUSION

Unlike much harder-to-spot pests such as mites or thrips, stink bugs are fortunately large enough that you can easily identify them. Most of the time, you should be able to get rid of them safely and quickly. Just be watchful and keep an eye on your grow.

Happy Growing!




Cookies settings

We are requesting your permission to use your data for the reasons stated below:

Functional cookies

Functional cookies help our website to function optimally and allow us to personalise certain features.

Preference cookies

Preference cookies allow us to remember information that influences the way our website looks, including your preferred language based on your region.

Analytical cookies

Analytical cookies give us insights into website traffic and customer behaviour, including how many people visit our site, how long they browse for, and which parts of our site they visit.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small pieces of data from a particular website that get stored on a user’s computer while they’re surfing the internet. Cookies have several different functions. Some of them track browser activity that enables businesses to deliver targeted advertisements. Other cookies serve to remember user login details to different websites to make jumping on social media, or other sites, a more fluid process. Because each cookie has its own unique ID, these pieces of data allow website owners to measure the unique traffic coming into their site.

Why do we use cookies?

Cookies come in handy when you visit our website. They ensure you stay logged in, that you can shop safely, and that the items you add to your cart stay there before you make a purchase. But cookies also help us. The data they provide allow us to improve our website and enable us to present you with targeted advertisements that are compatible with your interests.

What kind of cookies do we use?

Functional cookies

Functional cookies help our website to function optimally and allow us to personalise certain features.

Preference cookies

Preference cookies allow us to remember information that influences the way our website looks, including your preferred language based on your region.

Analytical cookies

Analytical cookies give us insights into website traffic and customer behaviour, including how many people visit our site, how long they browse for, and which parts of our site they visit.

How can I disable or delete cookies?

Not a fan of cookies? No worries. You can disable them (with the exception of necessary cookies) in your browser settings. However, blocking cookies may impact your browsing experience and prevent you from enjoying all of the technical features of our site.

Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: