You wrote: "I see no correlation between an introduction of this harmful insect in Pennsylvania and its presence in Oregon."

Although I'm not certain what you mean by that, but let it be know that it is here in OR, at least in the northern part of the state.

Hi, jean001:

What I meant by that statement is that I doubt the Stink Bug migrated from Allentown, Pennsylvania, where it was first detected 8 years ago, to your state of Oregon.

If so, it would appear that it would be present in every state between Pennsylvania and Oregon, a distance of about 3,000 miles.

In the second part of my statement I surmise that it probably got to Oregon the same way it got to Pennsylvania--in produce imported from an Asian country. And since there's a lot of Chinese produce being imported into the U.S. these days, no doubt we'll be seeing that insect and others we've never heard of when we buy such produce at local grocery (and big box) stores, as new, imported insects and/or their eggs arrive hidden amongst the produce.

I doubt every shipment of produce arriving from Asia can be checked closely enough to locate something as small as a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug.

Or, quite possibly it was imported separately by shipping ports.

Um, is this the same brown stinkbug that I saw so much of this summer? Everytime a tomato ripened, or a cuke, there he was. I handpicked(with gloves) as many as I could, but they do fly. I'm now dealing with green stinkbugs in my flower/herb garden, and these guys are just as destructive and elusive. I can't find the egg clusters ( from pics should be easy to spot). I see their damage to foilage, but have only seen one or two to catch.

Been away for awhile, and in that time, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug has achieved much more notoriety in my state of Maryland, and many other states--19 others, according to the USDA.

Seems my warning has already come to pass--sadly. As I previously noted, these bugs are adaptable and eat anything and everything. I believe I mentioned they suck the juice from BASIL--ordinarily thought to have insecticidal qualities.

So it appears we have a new harmful insect that will be with us indefinitely.

A picture of the bug covers the entire front page of the Howard County Times in Maryland, in an article titled "Little Bug, Big Stink; (invasive bug wreaking havoc in the mid-Atlantic)".

So here's what the research says:

1. First detected in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1998, and believed to have arrived in shipping container from Asia.

2. The word "marmorated" refers mostly to the white bands on the antennae.

3. The "stink" is a defense mechanism emitted when the BMSB feels threatened and has two aromatic chemicals--Trans-2-decenal and trans-2-octenal (the former of which is also found in Cilantro).

4. According to the Howard County (Md.) Times, the BMSB lives between 6 and 8 months. According to Wikipedia, the BMSB lives a couple of years.

5. Do BMSBs have any natural enemies in the U.S.?:

"There are various native natural enemies that do feed on BMSBs including predatory stink bugs, assasin bugs, and two egg parasitoids. Unfortunately they attack many species of insects; because of the sheer numbers of BMSBs, they are unable to control them at this time."

6. Why are they a problem?

"The potential exists for the BMSB to become a significant agricultural pest. In fact, severe damage to apples, peaches and pears has already been reported in parts of Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia".

**My note: Severe damage has occurred to many vegetable crops and other fruit crops as well.

7. "The USDA's Agricultural Research Service has formed a work group aimed at securing funding for research on the life cycle of this exotic breed of stink bug, and techniques to control it in a sustainable way."

(**Yay--Government to the rescue.)

8, "Are the BMSBs breeding in my home over Winter? Are they making some sort of 'nest'?"

"No. During the Winter months, the BMSB enters a type of hibernation called diapause. During this time, they do not feed and they do not reproduce. In fact, females are incapable of reproducing until early Spring".

9. And most interesting, for me:

"Why do BMSBs collect in large clusters?"

"When a BMSB finds a site that is suitable for over-wintering, it releases a chemical called an aggregation pheromone. The aggregation pheromone is a scent that attracts other BMSBs to the area".

Ah, hah! A clue to the solution!

Why not duplicate the scent (in the laboratory) of the aggregation pheromone, and use it as an attractant to gather all the BMSBs into traps--much like Japanese Beetle traps--but much larger, to contain the sheer numbers of BMSBs?

(When you develop such an attractant, please send 10% of the fortune you accrue from the sale of this chemical attractant directly to me.)

Also, for small-scale gardeners, there's always the WATER control I mentioned previously. BMSBs hate water, and will immediately migrate to the tops of vegetable plants that are watered, where they can be picked off or pushed into (funneled) containers of soapy water (or alcohol).

Yes I have them here in Northern California as well. They attack an have devastated my pomegranates for two seasons now. Anyone please help!!!!

I have my share of stink bugs. Worst year ever, but really no more than a dozen. So hard to catch. I hate Walmart. We live in a really small town so we don't have alot of options. Trying to grow all of the veggies we eat and shop somewhere else. Our food bank gets lots of food from Walmart. We are infested with German cockroaches because they are uncontrolled by Walmart. I killed 3 of them in the house in one week. I try not to keep cardboard or paper bags in the house because of them. They love to eat the glue in those things.

In NW Oregon we started having real problems with BMSB in 2012. They were abundant on my blackberries, but nothing else as far as I could tell. Over the winter 2012/2013 I found many inside my house where I had not in years past. Oddly enough, this year I have seen but one in my small blackberry patch. It was on a blackberry that I put in my mouth... yech! But still, I haven't seen any others in my fruit trees, berry vines, or veg garden.

Eggplant, tomato, corn, and cayenne pepper on the list.

Here is a link that might be useful: Host Plants of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in the U.S.

New background article.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ohio State factsheet

Organic control of stink bugs is hard.

Pyrethrins and sabadilla work, but they'll only take care of what's there and they're quite mobile creatures unless they're in an enclosed environment (house, greenhouse, etc).

The stink bugs attacking your plants now could be attacking your neighbor's plants tomorrow (and vise-versa). One of the more annoying traits they have is that they seem to like sampling and moving...so they'll put a bunch of feeding spots on your crops rather than having a single "bad" spot.

If they lay eggs, then you'll have to deal with the eggs when they hatch.

Some people advise DE or soap sprays. As a Southerner dealing with these bugs for years all I can do is wish you good luck and plan for a "Plan B" if you go this course.

If you only have a few around, knocking them off the plant and smashing them works...their "bad smell" is a bit overrated, imo...or maybe I just don't mind as much. Learn what their eggs look like so you can smash them (or remove the leaf they're laid on). This is a lot harder (to practically impossible) with trees vs common crops, though.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Wed, Jul 31, 13 at 1:31