More On BMSB

Oregon State Universities' Nik Wiman has been working on the brown marmorated stink bug problem here in the Pacific Northwest and talks about similarities and differences to other native stink bugs.

WIMAN: Just briefly on our native stink bug pests and I'll contrast this with how BMSB is different. All stink bugs are piercing/sucking insects. They can damage fruit when the insert their mouth parts into it. With our native stink bugs though they are primarily developing outside of the crops and then they move in when their native host plants and nest. And the damage comes from the adults. Typically we don't have economic thresholds for stink bugs and they're very cryptic.

And Wiman talks about the differences.

WIMAN: The big difference with the brown marmorated stink bug is that it lacks natural enemies of course in the U.S. and also it has vegetative feeding. Really intense vegetative feeding. A big difference with this bug is it does very well in the urban environment so you get these large urban populations and one of the major research questions that we have yet to answer is how much these urban populations are affecting populations that show up in crops.

Wiman says that they are now starting to see the stink bugs in natural habitats and are attacking the native species and native hardwood forests.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.