Materials with a long residual activity are usually more effective because adults often leave and re-enter the crop. Scout your fields, and treat with a registered insecticide when damage appears, or when insects appear in damaging numbers. Timing treatments while pest populations are mostly nymphs can improve insecticide efficacy. Stink bugs can be hard to kill with insecticides. Additionally, some organically-approved insecticides show activity against stink bugs, but field efficacy data in support of such chemistries are limited. These wasps help to reduce the numbers of nymphs occurring on plants. One of these, the samurai wasp, Trissolcus japonicus, has been intentionally released as part of a biological control program aimed at regulating BMSB populations. The most important natural enemies of stink bugs are a few species of parasitic wasps that attack eggs. Be more cautious when planting in locations nearby stink bug overwintering sites, such as wood lines and human dwellings such as sheds and barns.
This is especially worth considering when planting into no-till fields with high residue coverage, since furrows are less easily crimped closed by mechanical planters. For seedlings, ensure good coverage of seed when planting to avoid stink bug feeding on plant crowns. In these ways and others stink bugs can reduce crop profitability by way of yield reduction and or reduced fruit marketability.Ĭontrolling weeds and wild fruit trees adjacent to fields helps prevent some species of stink bugs from invading spring crops in high numbers. Stink bug feeding on cole crops, such as cabbage, causes wilting and can kill the plant in severe cases. Stink bug feeding on corn seedlings can cause lateral shoots to form, known as “tillering”, and feeding on ears can make kernels discolored and create entries for bacterial and fungal pathogens to enter the plant. For young plants, stink bug feeding can cause seedlings to die or be malformed.
Stink bugs skin#
In vegetables, such as tomatoes and peppers, and tree fruit such as apples, feeding can cause dimpling and discoloration on fruit skin and fruit flesh. In beans, feeding on pods can cause seeds to become discolored, malformed, or cause seeds to be aborted (Figure 1). This feeding can weaken plants and cause buds and fruit to be malformed and or discolored. Description of DamageĪdults and nymphs insert stylet-like mouthparts into plant tissues, inject digestive enzymes, then drink partially-digested plant juices. They can also sometimes become a nuisance pest to homeowners when they move into human dwellings in search of overwintering sites. Stink bugs feed on a wide variety of host plants, doing the most damage on tomato, pepper, bean, okra, pecan, and fruit crops. Stink bugs can be found throughout Virginia, but are more abundant in the warmer regions of the state. According to iNaturalist, thirty-six stink bug species have been spotted in Virginia, but only a few of them are considered common pests.
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