The ONE OFFICIAL STINKBUG THREAD!

[Willis]

Focus on Stink Bugs
Notice: 2011 Stinkbug threads have been merged into this odoriferous topic

The Definitive STINKBUG Primer: Courtesy of the Audubon Society(PVAS)

Many of you have asked for documents presented at the stink bug lecture by Dr. Tracy Leskey on Wednesday, February 9th. She has generously agreed to let us post the "Biology of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug" powerpoint and a copy of the Pyramid Trap Construction" details. Thanks for joining us at the lecture, and many thanks to Dr. Leskey for sharing these resources! Here are those documents as well as some other links to information about stink bugs.

• Pyramid Trap Construction details
• Stink-bug infestation is topic of Wednesday talk - article in Herald-Mail prior to NCTC talk
• Nearly 400 jam into auditorium to learn more about stink bugs - article about NCTC talk
• Tips from Home and Garden Information Center of the University of Maryland
• Stink Bug Info from Virginia Tech.
• Fact Sheet from the University of Pennsylvania
• Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Damage Survey and Monitoring Effects
• Biology of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug handout from talk at NCTC
• Leskey Working Group Report

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The Potomac Valley Audubon Society and the National Conservation Training
Center are co-sponsoring a presentation about the Brown Marmorated Stink
Bug the evening of Wednesday, February 9.

The program will be held at NCTC at 7:00 p.m. in the large Byrd Auditorium in
the Entrance Building.

Admission is free and anyone is welcome to attend.

The presenter will be Dr. Tracy Leskey, entomologist at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville.

Dr. Leskey and her colleagues at the Research Station are in the forefront of
research into the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, and she co-chairs a special USDA
working group that is trying to find ways to respond to the problems the insect
poses.

Native to China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug was
apparently introduced into the U.S. in eastern Pennsylvania in the late 1990s.
Since then, it has become firmly established throughout the Middle Atlantic
region and is rapidly spreading to other parts of the country.

First thought to be simply a nuisance, the insect has quickly proven to be an
increasingly serious agricultural pest that is capable of causing widespread
damage to fruit and vegetable crops. Fruit growers in the Eastern Panhandle
have been particularly hard hit over the past couple of years.

[KatherineA]

Where is the NCTC Byrd Auditorium ? Kearneysville? Harpers Ferry? Shepherdstown?

I want to murder all of these bugs that even think about showing up next year in my garden

[Wormdoc]

It's just past Shepherdstown, other side of it as you head to S'town from here. The website gives directions. http://training.fws.gov/

[KatherineA]

Thanks! I remember seeing that conglumeration of buildings

[rooneymom]

Can we bring a bunch of "samples" with us?

Actually this sounds like a great presentation. I've marked it on my calendar and hopefully can make it.

[sidhe]

Car pool anyone?

[OzGirl]

I am forwarding this announcement to some of the local wineries/wine makers. Serious potential problem for their grape crops.

[LFE]

The US post office should offer a discounted... if it fits, it ships package offering for anyone willing to pack and ship stink bugs to places like Iraq... :-)

[Tony]

Call me a skeptic but this just sounds like more explanations of why we can't control these things. If a good solution has been developed, let's hear it.

[KatherineA]

I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon researching organic methods to control stinkbugs in the garden and did not come up with much. Some people swear by Neem oil, others by pyrithriums (sp??) (made from chysanthemums but it is instantly toxic to bees) others by pepper spray or a soap spray.

I could not find one organic method that a company would actually say this works in the garden and is safe.

So I don't think that a solution has been developed for gardens, especially if you want to go organic.
I do plan to try the spray recommended for the house by Ms. Dunleavy in a thread this summer.

[LFE]

Greenhouse or screens.
- noting of course that screens may block to much sun.. presenting you with another problem... however beside stink bugs we are tired of killing squash bugs and my wife won't let me just dump poison all over them (so what if I don't eat any of it :-)

[KatherineA]

Captain Jack's bug killer stuff works for squash bugs and is organic (at least that is what the label says). It worked for everything but the stinkbugs last year.

The stinkbugs ate my bean crop and ruined most of the tomatoes. I will never forgive them and they all must die

[LazerFlash]

I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon researching organic methods to control stinkbugs in the garden and did not come up with much.

The problem is that in order for anything to be effective, any control has be more than just a on-time topical control. That is, something needs to be in place that effectively interrupts their life cycle for several generations. From what I've read, there really hasn't been enough research to determine at exactly which point would be the most effective. I have read some promising research that recommends treating the underside of plants where the adults lay their eggs so they don't stick and fall to the ground. Unfortunately, as anyone with roses knows, it's incredibly difficult to treat the underside of most plant leaves. One thing I did find out that is kind of surprising: The life cycle of these bugs seems to be one of incomplete metamorphosis. That is, they don't go through the egg-larvae-pupae-adult stages. It's more like another extreme pest, the grasshopper/locust family. The eggs hatch into immature nymphs which sort of physically resemble the adults and then grow larger through their lives. One thing that still isn't known for sure is exactly how long that life really is. I have read some studies that claim they can live up to 10 years - which for a bug is a long time. (Cicadas notwithstanding.)

[sidhe]

How do they deal with them in their native lands? No, I'm not suggesting that we import another pest to get rid of a pest, just curious.

[LazerFlash]

How do they deal with them in their native lands?

Actually, they don't - at least not terribly effectively. We are fortunate in one respect. A VERY close cousin to the bug that has become our nemesis is actually a blight on food crops in some regions of the world (Africa). At least for us, the economic impact isn't as great as losing, say, an entire wheat crop.

[grafxgirl]

Our kids find the stink bugs, give them names, and build lego houses for them. Usually by the time they are finished playing with the stink bugs they are dead.

[grafxgirl]

It's just past Shepherdstown, other side of it as you head to S'town from here. The website gives directions. http://training.fws.gov/

I grew up in the area, just around the corner from the NCTC.

[Tony]

Our kids find the stink bugs, give them names, and build lego houses for them. Usually by the time they are finished playing with the stink bugs they are dead.

Ours usually start stinking long before they drop dead. Yesterday the cat found one in her bed and after a minute of play we were both driven from the room for hours. It seems one gets more sensitive to the smell over time.

[sidhe]

I'm planning on going to "learn" about these evil beasties, anyone want to ride along?

[Wormdoc]

I'm planning on going, as well, Sidhe. Want to carpool?