Michigan brown marmorated stink bug report for September 29, 2014

More activity was reported this week, but except for a few hotspots, trap catches remain very low. More reports of aggregations on commercial and residential buildings are coming in from urban and suburban sites across Lower Michigan.

This is the twelfth weekly report of the Michigan State University Extension brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) statewide monitoring program for 2014. This monitoring network has been set up to provide early warning should BMSB start showing up in greater numbers in fruit and vegetable production areas.

A total of 86 nymph and 71 adult BMSB were captured in traps at nine of the 90 sites being monitored during the week of Sept. 22-29, 2014. This is up from the previous week, but the majority of these are from only three sites, all of which are in Berrien County. The Niles/Stevensville, Michigan area continues to be a major hotspot for this insect.

No new damage was reported in any fruit production areas, but reports came in this week from Niles, Stevensville, Lansing and Flint, Michigan of aggregations on both residential and commercial buildings.

The monitoring network uses pyramid-style, pheromone-baited traps set up at sites that favor BMSB, near riparian areas and along major transportation corridors in the following counties: Monroe, Lenawee, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, Ingham, Lapeer, Saginaw and Bay on the east side of the state, and Antrim, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Oceana, Newaygo, Kent, Ionia, Ottawa, Allegan, Van Buren and Berrien on the west side of the state. The majority of the sites in the network include farms that grow a variety of fruit and vegetable crops including apples, tart cherries, sweet cherries, peaches, blueberries, raspberries, tomatoes, peppers and sweet corn. In addition, some of our traps have been placed along roadsides next to field crops, or in urban and suburban areas where homeowners have reported seeing BMSB in the past.

To learn more about how to monitor for the brown marmorated stink bug, distinguish it from other similar-looking stink bugs, what crops it favors, and management strategies should populations reach the threshold where management is necessary, visit MSU’s Brown Marmorated Stink Bug website.

The weekly BMSB statewide monitoring report has been funded through Project GREEEN and Michigan State University Extension. This output is generated through a network of MSU Extension field staff and campus specialists. We would like to acknowledge the following team members and thank them for their weekly scouting efforts and input into this report: Peter McGhee, Michael Haas, Bob Tritten, Mark Longstroth, Brad Baughman, Carlos Garcia, Amy Irish-Brown, Lina Rodriguez Salamanca, Ben Philips, Ben Werling, Mark Whalon, Karen Powers, and Nikki Rothwell.

Dr. Gut’s work is funded in part by MSU’s AgBioResearch.

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