Stinky Swarm Wreaks Havoc ; Stink Bug Invasion Is Annoying Homeowners, Damaging Crops

Staff Writer

Brown marmorated stink bugs entered the United States about 12years ago - around Allentown - but they weren't expected to become anuisance.

Wrong.

A year ago, when the shield-shaped, erratically buzzing bugsbegan swarming Lancaster County homes, it was predicted they wouldremain a nuisance for freaked-out homeowners, but wouldn't damagecrops.

Wrong again.

As thousands of local homeowners can attest in recent weeks, theinvasion of the foreign pest is even worse than last year.

One Maryland researcher predicted stink bugs would "go biblicalthis year."

"Last Thursday, that really hot day, we had 30 calls an hour.It's pretty bad," said Ed Saunders of Tele-Pest Inc., a Lancaster-based pest-control company with six offices in the county.

And now, local fruit growers, farmers and backyard gardeners needto worry as well.

Greg Krawczyk, a Penn State Cooperative Extension fruitentomologist, has been at Cherry Hill Orchards in Pequea Townshipalmost weekly this summer, helping the well-known fruit growercombat swarms of the bugs.

Orchard owner Tom Haas estimated Wednesday that about 20 percentof this year's peach crop was damaged to the point it could not beoffered for sale. Some had to be sold for processing into juice,which brings a reduced price, while some was simply thrown out.

Damage by stink bugs feeding on the fruit took the form of smallindentations and dark spots inside.

"We still have plenty of good fruit," he said, but added, "It'sgoing to be challenging."

He's not suffering alone. He said he talked to a vegetable growerdown the street whose produce was damaged as well. And he says he'sheard of extensive damage to field corn in Maryland. Others saysweet corn was hit hard this summer.

Maryland's Department of Agriculture warned last week that theinsect is fast becoming a destructive pest for orchard owners andpossibly for soybean growers.

Dairy farmers fret that cows eating field corn or feed with deadstink bugs might make milk smelling like stink bugs - which is tosay, foul.

To meet the fast-arriving threat, for the first time in 10 yearsthe Penn State extension has advised Haas and suffering fruitgrowers to use lethal broad-spectrum pesticides to protect theircrops.

Normally, biological controls - often other predatory bugs - areused to combat individual pests.

But because there are no known natural controls for the foreigninvaders in the U.S. yet, more nondiscriminating chemical killersmay have to be used in the short term, unfortunately killingbeneficial bugs as well.

"The entire southern edge of the state is experiencing injury onfruit, corn and vegetables," Krawczyk reported Wednesday from thePenn State Fruit Research Center in Biglerville, Adams County.

"The fruit is perfectly edible and healthy, but, at the sametime, they're not able to sell at fresh markets. Much of it goes tothe juicer, which brings less money.

"It's a huge economical loss for the growers," Krawczyk said.

Various working groups, headed by the U.S. Department ofAgriculture, are scrambling to research the stink bugs' life cyclein hopes of finding an effective control to turn back the hordes.

This species of stink bug is native to Japan, Korea and eastChina. There are bugs that prey on the stink bugs there and keepthem in check.

But the natural enemies can't be released here until researchersdetermine they don't have unsavory consequences on the environmenthere.

"This will take a lot of time. In the meantime, we have to dowhat we can to help growers and farmers survive," said Krawczyk, amember of the Multi-State Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Working Group.

Last week, 15 members of Congress sent a letter to USDA SecretaryTom Vilsack and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency AdministratorLisa Jackson, calling on them to take immediate action to limit thedamage.

The quest for an antidote has already begun.

At a USDA lab in Newark, Del., researchers are studying parasiticwasps from the stink bugs' home range. But it will likely take twomore years before they can discover if the insects would harm otherspecies here.

A private company is working on an indoors trap for stink bugsthat uses a pheromone chemical as a lure. It might be ready by nextspring.

For farmers and orchardists, work has begun on traps that useattract-and-kill technology that can be sprayed onto crops.

Fast-reproducing stink bugs have been found in 15 states, withsmaller numbers in another 14.

Meanwhile, homeowners are seeing unprecedented waves of stinkbugs trying to get inside this fall.

The bugs, which can constrict themselves to the thickness of asheet of paper, are looking for any way into homes to ride out thewinter.

Some people flush the bugs down toilets or vacuum them up. Butthey smell when you handle them.

Local pest-control companies are doing a booming businessspraying low-level pesticides on the outsides and insides of homes.

But that has limited effectiveness, said Saunders of Tele-Pest.

"We really can't do much for people. There's no guarantee."

Warns Krawczyk, "They can feed on almost anything. There'snothing to stop them."

acrable@lnpnews.com

Stinky Swarm Wreaks Havoc ; Stink Bug Invasion Is Annoying Homeowners, Damaging Crops

Staff Writer

Brown marmorated stink bugs entered the United States about 12years ago - around Allentown - but they weren't expected to become anuisance.

Wrong.

A year ago, when the shield-shaped, erratically buzzing bugsbegan swarming Lancaster County homes, it was predicted they wouldremain a nuisance for freaked-out homeowners, but wouldn't damagecrops.

Wrong again.

As thousands of local homeowners can attest in recent weeks, theinvasion of the foreign pest is even worse than last year.

One Maryland researcher predicted stink bugs would "go biblicalthis year."

"Last Thursday, that really hot day, we had 30 calls an hour.It's pretty bad," said Ed Saunders of Tele-Pest Inc., a Lancaster-based pest-control company with six offices in the county.

And now, local fruit growers, farmers and backyard gardeners needto worry as well.

Greg Krawczyk, a Penn State Cooperative Extension fruitentomologist, has been at Cherry Hill Orchards in Pequea Townshipalmost weekly this summer, helping the well-known fruit growercombat swarms of the bugs.

Orchard owner Tom Haas estimated Wednesday that about 20 percentof this year's peach crop was damaged to the point it could not beoffered for sale. Some had to be sold for processing into juice,which brings a reduced price, while some was simply thrown out.

Damage by stink bugs feeding on the fruit took the form of smallindentations and dark spots inside.

"We still have plenty of good fruit," he said, but added, "It'sgoing to be challenging."

He's not suffering alone. He said he talked to a vegetable growerdown the street whose produce was damaged as well. And he says he'sheard of extensive damage to field corn in Maryland. Others saysweet corn was hit hard this summer.

Maryland's Department of Agriculture warned last week that theinsect is fast becoming a destructive pest for orchard owners andpossibly for soybean growers.

Dairy farmers fret that cows eating field corn or feed with deadstink bugs might make milk smelling like stink bugs - which is tosay, foul.

To meet the fast-arriving threat, for the first time in 10 yearsthe Penn State extension has advised Haas and suffering fruitgrowers to use lethal broad-spectrum pesticides to protect theircrops.

Normally, biological controls - often other predatory bugs - areused to combat individual pests.

But because there are no known natural controls for the foreigninvaders in the U.S. yet, more nondiscriminating chemical killersmay have to be used in the short term, unfortunately killingbeneficial bugs as well.

"The entire southern edge of the state is experiencing injury onfruit, corn and vegetables," Krawczyk reported Wednesday from thePenn State Fruit Research Center in Biglerville, Adams County.

"The fruit is perfectly edible and healthy, but, at the sametime, they're not able to sell at fresh markets. Much of it goes tothe juicer, which brings less money.

"It's a huge economical loss for the growers," Krawczyk said.

Various working groups, headed by the U.S. Department ofAgriculture, are scrambling to research the stink bugs' life cyclein hopes of finding an effective control to turn back the hordes.

This species of stink bug is native to Japan, Korea and eastChina. There are bugs that prey on the stink bugs there and keepthem in check.

But the natural enemies can't be released here until researchersdetermine they don't have unsavory consequences on the environmenthere.

"This will take a lot of time. In the meantime, we have to dowhat we can to help growers and farmers survive," said Krawczyk, amember of the Multi-State Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Working Group.

Last week, 15 members of Congress sent a letter to USDA SecretaryTom Vilsack and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency AdministratorLisa Jackson, calling on them to take immediate action to limit thedamage.

The quest for an antidote has already begun.

At a USDA lab in Newark, Del., researchers are studying parasiticwasps from the stink bugs' home range. But it will likely take twomore years before they can discover if the insects would harm otherspecies here.

A private company is working on an indoors trap for stink bugsthat uses a pheromone chemical as a lure. It might be ready by nextspring.

For farmers and orchardists, work has begun on traps that useattract-and-kill technology that can be sprayed onto crops.

Fast-reproducing stink bugs have been found in 15 states, withsmaller numbers in another 14.

Meanwhile, homeowners are seeing unprecedented waves of stinkbugs trying to get inside this fall.

The bugs, which can constrict themselves to the thickness of asheet of paper, are looking for any way into homes to ride out thewinter.

Some people flush the bugs down toilets or vacuum them up. Butthey smell when you handle them.

Local pest-control companies are doing a booming businessspraying low-level pesticides on the outsides and insides of homes.

But that has limited effectiveness, said Saunders of Tele-Pest.

"We really can't do much for people. There's no guarantee."

Warns Krawczyk, "They can feed on almost anything. There'snothing to stop them."

acrable@lnpnews.com