2013 Stink-bug Damage Update

Stink bug on Golden Treasure pepper, with
serious damage beginning near stem

Damage to vegetables by brown marmorated stink bugs was “mixed” here at Meadow Glenn this summer.

Early in the vegetable growing season I noticed a stink bug or two, but not enough to concern me.  They got my attention later, however, when I found 10 or 20 on the small green pods of my two Crimson Select pepper plants—and a few more on my two Golden Treasure pepper plants.  I then closely examined my tomatoes and found a few more stink bugs.

Since stink bugs are skillful at avoiding capture when I try to remove them manually from garden plants, I had researched possible insecticides and chose bifenthrin, a commonly available pyrethroid, to spray when needed.  I follow directions to the “T” and use the longer California standard for “Days to Harvest” for both tomatoes and peppers.  So when I found the bugs, I sprayed the pepper plants carefully, and I sprayed the main stems of my 25 tomato plants and any stink bugs that I found on fruit.  I sprayed once a week another two or three times—and was relatively free of stink bugs for most of the remainder of the growing season.

“Most of the remainder” means that I didn’t notice stink bugs again until today, when I noticed two stink bugs on two of our remaining Golden Treasure peppers.  I hadn’t sprayed for more than a month.  Today I noticed two stink bugs on two of our few remaining Golden Treasure peppers.  I just squished the bugs thumb and finger—not a disposal method I recommend to squeamish gardeners or those with sensitive noses—since this late in the season I see little value in spraying again.

How much damage did my tomatoes and peppers suffer from stink bugs this year? 

Stink-bug damaged peppers,
Crimson Select (top) and Golden Treasure (bottom)

Tomatoes showed little to no fruit damage.  Loss of Crimson Select peppers has been nearly 100% on my two plants despite multiple sprays.  When the stink bugs puncture pepper cells, bacteria enter through the punctures and in most cases the peppers over time become unattractive before totally collapsing.  Even though my two Golden Treasure pepper plants were next to the Crimson Selects, I lost only two or three of the early pods, though several more showed minor damage.

Bottom line:  Stink bug news here at Meadow Glenn was good for tomatoes and bad for peppers.  Now that nighttime temperatures are sinking, we’re finding a few adults inside our house, likely looking for cozy wintertime hiding places.  Today we found four or five, and they’ve all failed their first swimming test in a bottle of soapy water.

My experience with the stink bugs in 2013 may not be typical.  J.S., a Master Gardener in Harford County—about an hour away—in an email recently told her sad story:  “I read the GIEI blog … about the wonderful tomatoes and the lack of stink bugs.  I could have cried.  I lost about 60% of my corn, all my cherries, peaches, pears, and apples and now am losing about 40% of my tomatoes to stink bugs.  I guess they just love me best.  Oh, whoopee!”

What impact did brown marmorated stink bugs have on your gardens this year?

In the Environment section of Monday’s Washington Post, Darryl Fears reviews regional stink-bug happenings in his article, “Stink bugs are plentiful in Mid-Atlantic states, and they’re ready to come indoors for winter.”

Knock, knock.  Got a cozy place for winter?

Stink Bugs: Invasion Update from the Washington Post

“Stink Bugs Migrating to the Deep South” by Darryl Fears in today’s Washington Post gives an update on what’s happening in battle with brown marmorated stink bugs.  Though stink-bug numbers seemed to be down in the mid-Atlantic in 2011, the invasive insects are expanding their territory and are an increasing concern in agricultural regions of the South.  To compound the problem, another Asian stinkbug, sometimes called the kudzu bug, is now established in Georgia, where it’s chomping away on kudzu, of course, but also food crops, such as soybeans.  To update yourself on the stink-bug problem, CLICK HERE.

Stink Bugs: New Research Findings

Stink bugs devastating two of our tomatoes

What have scientists learned during the last year in studies of the brown marmorated stink bug, the East Asian invader that is threatening many of our garden and field crops?

Last week I found on the Internet two new research papers, “Summary of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Infestations of Maryland Crops” and “2011 Insecticide Trails to Evaluate Control of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug,” by three University of Maryland researchers, Galen Dively, Cerruti Hooks, and Terry Patton.

I’m going to tell you several of the research findings that I find fascinating, but I do not claim to be a scientist, so this posting is merely one gardener’s report about what he read in the two papers.  I assume the two reports will be two of many building blocks on which experts will build future research projects and from which they will draft, hopefully, recommendations for both commercial food growers and backyard gardeners for the 2012 growing season.

The first paper covers the impact of the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) on a variety of crops: small grains; field corn; soybeans; apples, grapes, and peaches; raspberries; pumpkins; tomatoes; peppers; summer squash; sweet corn; green beans; eggplant; okra; spring/fall cabbage, spring/fall broccoli, kale, bok choi, onion, beets, cantaloupe, cucumber, watermelon, sweet potato, and white potato.   Since most readers of this blog are backyard gardeners, I’ll focus on typical garden vegetables.  The second paper covers the effect of various insecticides on BMSBs.

Here are highpoints plus an occasional comment, which I will label as such:

Stink bugs on our young raspberries

Research methodology: “Field studies to investigate BMSB population dynamics and feeding injury in selected crops were conducted in 2011 at three UM research farms … where significant infestations were present.  Key field, fruit and vegetable crops were grown according to recommended commercial practices and not treated with insecticides, unless otherwise indicated.  All crops were in close proximity with each other and close to woodlots.  Whole fields, orchard blocks, or small plots, depending on the crop, were sampled weekly to assess population densities of BMSB adults, egg masses, and nymphs….  Vegetable crops were also harvested to measure and characterize cumulative fruit injury over the crop cycle.  To monitor BMSB activity, pheromone and blacklight traps were operated at five research farms from May to late September and serviced either daily or three times a week.”

Number of stink bugs:  Numbers were significantly less than in 2010 at the western Maryland site but 2.5 to 3 times more at other locations.  Comment: This confirms anecdotal reports from other gardeners, that there seemed to be “fewer stink bugs overall” in 2011, but perhaps just as many or more in our gardens.

Peak population:  “Peak captures at Beltsville and Upper Marlboro exceeded 400 per night during the 3rd week of July,” but peaks on some crops came in August.   Comment: Early July was when I surrendered and began using a pyrethroid spray in our vegetable and fruit gardens.

Pheromone traps:  “Both types of pheromone traps failed to capture stink bugs during the peak period.  Only a few adults and nymphs were captured later in the summer.”

Stink bugs on our lilac

Host plants:  “Clearly, this introduced tree [Paulownia], along with the Tree of Heaven, is a major reproductive host….”  Comment: Brown marmorated stink bugs are natives of China and other East Asia countries, as are Paulownia and Tree of Heaven.  Stink bugs probably are attracted by plants from “back home,” so to speak.  I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to see hundreds of stink bugs on our lilacs, another East Asia native.

Proximity to woods and buildings:  Scattered through the papers are indications that stink bug numbers are higher on crops near woods or buildings and on crops at the edges of fields.  Comment: Backyard gardeners may have the worst exposure to stink bug damage because gardens often are close to buildings, trees, and shrubs.  Also, gardens often are not large enough to have “edges” and “centers” sufficiently distant to affect the level of stink bug damage.

Apples, grapes, and peaches: “Infestations were relatively low compared to the two previous years because these crops were treated with combinations of insecticides plus Surround on a 10-day schedule.”

Raspberries: “Adults colonized plants during mid-June and sustained high populations to early September….  Feeding caused severe fruit damage, rendering the crop unmarketable.  Raspberries were undoubtedly a favorable food source for adult BMSB, but relatively few nymphs were present….”

Pumpkins:  “No adults or nymphs were present.”  Another casual inspection “revealed no evidence of feeding injury or nymphal development.”

Tomatoes:  Stink bug activity seemed to begin when fruit began to ripen, though relatively few adults and nymphs were found.  “It is possible that stinkbug adults move in and out of tomatoes following a diurnal pattern, since numbers detected did not account for the fruit injury which ranged from 32 to 48% of the total number of fruit harvested.”

Peppers: Tests include a variety of peppers, including bell, banana, and hot jalapenos.  Depending on variety, damage ranged up to 86% of the crop.  “Two hot types … were less susceptible to fruit injury, and, unexpectedly, a black bell variety … showed no evidence over the entire crop cycle.”  Comment: The paper names all varieties tested.

Summer squash: “If more attractive crops are available, squash will likely not be a preferred host plant.”  Comment: Stink bugs destroyed all young fruit of my zucchini plants.

Sweet corn: On the Eastern Shore, stink bug populations haven’t reached damaging levels.  However, at other locations, significant “kernel injury (average range of 4 to 26 collapsed kernels per ear), and incomplete kernel fill were recorded on 95 to 100% of the mature ears….”

Green beans: “Green beans harbored the second highest population density of BMSB per unit area….  Later plantings of green beans and lima beans that developed pods in September and October experienced less BMSB activity and no pod damage.  Like late-planted sweet corn, these plantings possibly avoided injury because of the more attractive soybeans grown nearby.”

Eggplant: “Eggplant harbored the third highest population density of BMSB per unit area.”  “BMSB may have a minor impact on eggplant quality; however, feeding on stems and fruiting bodies could cause abnormal abortion of buds and young fruit, thus reducing yields.”

Okra: “BMSB seasonal activity and infestation levels were similar to that of eggplant.”

Cabbage, broccoli, kale, bok choi, onion, beets, cantaloupe, cucumber, watermelon, sweet potato, and white potato:  “Intensive sampling for other insect pests and periodic inspections produced no evidence of BMSB activity and feeding injury.  However, these crops may be more attractive and susceptible to stink bug feeding if isolated and not grown close to more preferred host plants.”

Here’s a typical conclusion from the second paper’s bell pepper section on the effectiveness of several insecticides on stink bugs: “All 12 insecticide treatments provided significant reductions (61-96%) of stink bug numbers,” though only some insecticides reduced the level of fruit injury significantly.  There were some suggestions of “the possibility that some adults may have recovered after certain treatments.”  Comment: Though insecticides are named in the paper, they should not be used until they have been approved by appropriate government review agencies. 

I’m happy to read that researchers are making progress in their stink-bug studies, and I look forward to future application of research findings from these researchers and others that will benefit those of us who grow crops, whether by hundreds of acres or in our backyard gardens.

If you want to review the research papers, CLICK HERE.  The two papers appear together at that link.  The first paper includes photos of damaged vegetables.  The second includes charts detailing effectiveness of insecticides used in the studies.

Stink Bugs: Chainsaw 128, Peach Trees 0

Stink bugs on my tomato

Stink bugs this year destroyed most of Frank Gouin’s peach crop, so Frank’s going to take his chainsaw to his 128 peach trees.

Is that an overreaction to the stink-bug invasion?

Adrian Higgins, the Washington Post’s “On Gardening” columnist, told Frank story in Thursday’s edition.  Frank is a horticulturist who has tended his orchard from Day One 20 years ago, when he started rootstock from seed and the next year grafted buds of his chosen varieties onto the rootstock seedlings.  He’s been a realistic peach grower who been spraying his crop every 10 to 14 days to manage all sorts of pests and diseases.

And then came the stink bugs.  In 2009 Frank lost about two percent of his crop.  Last year he lost 10 percent.  This year he lost 60 percent. 

Higgins wrote:  “Scientists are working hard to find a natural predator for the bug, but for Gouin, time has run out.  After a lifetime of dealing with and beating pests, he is calling it quits.  This winter, he will take a chainsaw to his 128 peach trees.”

And Frank isn’t alone.  Recently one of my gardening friends announced, “I’ve had it.  The stink bugs have destroyed everything.  I’m not going to plant a tomato next year.”  Others have told me that stink bugs have taken all the enjoyment and satisfaction out of vegetable gardening.

What to do, what to do, what to do?  Fruit and grain growers face huge, if not potentially catastrophic, challenges.  We consumers may see higher food prices and have new questions about pesticide residues in our food.

I haven’t surrendered.  My tomato yield improved significantly this year because I periodically used a commercially available garden spray that kept the stink bugs largely, but not totally, off my growing tomatoes.  I’m learning to share a little and don’t mind a few “pin pricks” or “dimples” or other evidence of stink-bug feeding on my tomatoes.

Please “take five” to read Adrian Higgins’ article about Frank Gouin and its short sidebar, “Beating the stink bugs.”  CLICK HERE.

Stink Bugs: 52 More in Trap

Another 52 stink bugs

In earlier postings I reported on my experiment with a Rescue Stink Bug Trap.  Two weeks ago I reported that after two weeks the trap contained 106 brown marmorated stink bugs, the lures still were attracting stink bugs, and that I re-hung the trap and would report periodically.

Today was the end of the fourth week the trap has been operating with the original two-week lures, which other trap users had told me attract stink bugs much longer than two weeks.  Late this afternoon I took apart the trap and counted 52 living and dead stink bugs.

The total for my one trap is 158 stink bugs over a four-week period.  I have noticed over the last week or 10 days—most of which have been cloudy with periods of drizzle, showers, or rain—that the stink bugs are much less evident where I had been seeing them in significant numbers.  Our two lilacs a few weeks ago (see my posting of September 1) contained hundreds of congregating stink bugs, and I could find scores any time I looked for them in the Tomato Patch.

Now I see few of them, but when I do, they’re most often on the white trim of our house and, in late afternoon, on its warmer western and northern walls.

I re-hung the trap again after I removed the stink bugs today and I’ll do another count in two weeks.  The weather the next few days will be warm, near 80°F. during the day and the 60s at night, but cooler fall weather will arrive Friday.  Perhaps the cooler temperatures will cause the stink bugs to seek permanent winter cover and fewer will enter the trap.

If you want to read my posting of two weeks ago about how the stink-bug trap worked during the first two weeks, CLICK HERE.

A Pile of 1,202 Stink Bugs

Come and get 'em!

When I saw four Rescue Stink Bug Traps around our neighbors’ home and vegetable garden, I asked if I could count the brown marmorated stink bugs when they cleaned out the traps and replaced the lures.  A recent email from Debbie and Jeff said to come and get four bags of stink bugs, one bag hanging on each trap.  The traps had been in place for four weeks with their original “two-week” lures.

Wow, what great neighbors—they gave me their stink-bug harvest!

I made the rounds of their four traps last Thursday morning and retrieved the sealed plastic bags with mostly dead stink bugs. Each of the bags contained living stink bugs, which indicated to me that the lures were still attracting their quarry long after their advertised two weeks.

I put down the gate of my pickup, laid out old newspapers, slowly maneuvered the living stink bugs into a bottle of soapy water, and with a plastic fork began separating and counting the dead bugs. 

Here’s what I found—plus a few comments:

Four bags of stink bugs to count

Trap One, with solar-powered LED light to attract stink bugs at night, is, like all four traps, located in the lawn.  This one is near the detached garage and about 60 feet from the family vegetable garden.  It contained 332 stink bugs of all sizes (phases or instars), including many first instars about the size of a dog tick.  This number included 10 green stink bugs, another species.

Trap Two, without LED light, contained 378 stink bugs, including one green one, again in all phases. This trap is about 25 feet from the vegetable garden, where most tomatoes show pin pricks from stink bug feeding and where stink bugs still feed on the fruit.  This was the largest count, so did absence of an LED light increase the catch?  I don’t think so.  I suspect the number is evidence of the trap’s proximity to an excellent food supply—garden vegetables.

Trap Three, with LED light, contained 305 stink bugs, including an amazing 68 live ones.  What fun I had getting them out of the plastic bag and into the bottle of soapy water.  Two managed flights to safety, but they are in the count.  I have no idea about why there were so many live bugs in this one trap.

After the count, a pile of 1,202 stink bugs

Trap Four, with LED light, contained only 187 stink bugs.  Why so few?  The message on the bag said it all: “Dropped Catch.”  Oops, accidents do happen, but if we don’t get a National Science Foundation mega-grant, you know why.  When I looked at the collection from this trap, I noticed that all but a few were the larger phases of stink bugs, so I assume that the smaller captives got lost in the grass when they were dropped.  How many were lost?  I decided I’d estimate by averaging the number of bugs in the three other traps, which came to 338.  That suggests that about 151 stink bugs were lost when dropped.

Bottom line: The four traps contained 1,202 stink bugs plus the estimated 151 lost for a total of  about 1,353.

Were Jeff and Debbie impressed by their catch?

Debbie:  “No, I thought after two weeks the traps would be overflowing, but that was not the case.”

Jeff:  “No, but hope springs eternal that we will have fewer of the smelly, fair-weather bugs in the house this winter.  I’ve killed more with pesticide around the flood lights by the garage at night.”

Have the traps reduced the stink bugs in your vegetable garden?

378 stink bugs in nearby trap while these
continued to damage tomatoes

Debbie: “No.  In fact, most of the blooms in our vegetable and flower garden were decimated.  Although the garden was green, every one of the gigantic sunflower heads was thoroughly enjoyed by the bugs.”

Jeff:  “Yes, but the number of bugs in the garden was a few orders of magnitude greater than in the traps.  Stink bugs increased production costs, and although one of the traps was about 25 feet from the garden, the stink bugs preferred the green, leafy vegetation over the green and yellow hard plastic of the traps.” 

Do you think you’ll use them again next year?

Debbie:  "First let’s see how the seven-week refills work.”

Jeff:  “Next year perhaps we’ll set the four traps either under the lilacs or near the back porch light.”

The four traps, with new lures installed on September 13, are now attracting a new collection of brown marmorated stink bugs.

Did the Stink Bug Trap Work?

Time to count the trapped stink bugs

Monday was Day 14 of my experiment with the Rescue Stink Bug Trap, and since the manufacturer said the attractant used in the trap was good for two weeks, I decided to take down the trap and count how many brown marmorated stink bugs it had caught.

Trap directions include a section on “Empty and Reload Trap,” but the directions are simpler than actually doing it when there are live stink bugs moving about inside the trap.  To simplify matters, I put an inch of water in a bucket, added a few drops of dishwashing liquid, and then took apart the trap inside the bucket, shaking the “cone” and “trap chamber,” tapping them on the side of the bucket, and occasionally flicking a stink bug into the suds with a finger.

I was surprised at the number of stink bugs in the soapy water, but many were still practicing their best doggy paddles, so I waited for a half hour until the soapy water had taken its toll.  Then I used a plastic spoon to dish out and line up the dead stink bugs on a paper towel for easy counting.

106 stink bugs

Total: 106 brown marmorated stink bugs, from mature adults to early instars (phases), plus a moth, an ant, a host of gnats, and a few other soggy insects that I didn’t recognize.

What’s my opinion of the Rescue Stink Bug Trap? My feelings are mixed.

On the positive side, the trap caught 106 stink bugs, which means those 106 stink bugs won’t be trying to get into our house when the weather cools, perhaps as early as this weekend.  The trap has excellent instructions and was easy to assemble.

On the negative side, considering the number of stink bugs residing at Meadow Glenn, 106 stink bugs are about as significant as one of the commas in the text of this posting.  Before I took the trap down, I looked around its target area.  On the nearby Japanese maple I counted 17 stink bugs on the main trunk and major branches.  Around our front door and on the gutter were another 23.  In short, I think the trap made no appreciable difference in the number of stink bugs we’re dealing with.

What was the cost of stink bugs caught—always an interest of this Frugal Gardener?  A trap retails for about $20.00, so the cost for each stink bug caught was about 19¢.  If you hate stink bugs, that may be an acceptable cost, but if you have thousands or tens of thousands and wish to protect a large area with multiple traps, well, go figure with your calculator. 

Now nine feet from
our front door

What next?  I reassembled the trap and hung it nine feet from our front door, as the trap’s instructions suggest hanging it in late summer or fall “within 10 feet of house to intercept stink bugs before they enter homes to overwinter.”

Before I re-hung the trap, did I replace the two original two-week lures with new seven-week refills as the manufacturer suggests, at a cost of approximately $10?  Another trap user tipped me that original lures last much longer than two weeks, so I’m using the originals still and will check occasionally to see how long they attract the critters, though by frosty mid-October, most stink bugs will have found overwintering spots.

After one day in its new location, the trap has lured seven stink bugs into its “trap chamber.”

Stink Bugs: I’ve Found Hundreds of Them

Stink bugs hiding under lilac leaf

I’ve discovered Stink-Bug Central, at least in the landscape here at Meadow Glenn.

During gardening year 2011 I’ve been alert to brown marmorated stink bug comings and goings, and I’ve posted about some of them. Early this growing season I’d find five or 10 stink bugs on each fruiting head of our developing blackberries and raspberries.  Then they attacked our tomatoes, especially the larger varieties, even before they began changing from green to red.  I planted squash and cucumbers in late June to avoid borer problems but found the late-growing plants were manna from Bob for the stink bugs, which attacked both foliage and fruit.

Last month I noticed stink bugs in fairly large numbers on the trunks and larger limbs of our Japanese maple trees and in lesser numbers on our native maple, oak, dogwood, and redbud trees.

Recently I realized I had ignored our spring-flowering shrubs, so when I pruned a hedge of forsythia on Tuesday, I checked the shrubs and also a nearby lilac bush.  The 20-foot hedge of forsythia was stink-bug free, but the lilac shrub….

Stink bugs on lilac branch

Wow!  Large numbers of stink bugs were hiding in the lilac shrub, especially on leaves shadowed by other leaves and in leaves that had curled a bit.  As I looked closely, I noted major damage to the leaves and new growth.  Surprised, I went to the opposite end of the house to inspect our second lilac.

As I approached the second lilac, I accidentally brushed a low-hanging branch with my right shoulder and then ducked instinctively as a horde of buzzing insects bounced off me.

Hornets?  Wasps?

No, scores of buzzing, flying stink bugs from just one lilac branch.

More stink bugs on lilac branches

I took a close look at both lilacs.  Many leaves hosted groups of four or five.  Large groups—scores of stink bugs—gathered in multiple places on branches.

How many brown marmorated stink bugs were in our two lilacs?  There must have been hundreds, if not thousands, on the two bushes.

If you had stink bugs in your landscape last year and haven’t seen many this year, and if you have a lilac plant, investigate.  You may be shocked at the numbers of bugs you find, and you may know the answer to your question, “Where are the all the stink bugs this year?”

My discovery of stink-bug central may also answer a question about lilacs.

Several weeks ago, Ellen asked, “Did we have any lilac blooms this spring?”

“I can’t remember any,” I replied.  “Perhaps it was the weather.”

Or perhaps in summer and fall 2010 the brown marmorated stink bugs destroyed the buds that would have been lilac blooms in spring 2011.

Seems possible to me.

What do you think?

Stink Bug Experiment: Assembling and Hanging a Trap

Basic "Stink Bug Trap"

The trap is set. The Home & Garden Information Center asked local Master Gardeners to volunteer to try out a commercial “Stink Bug Trap” that is commonly available in stores—and to report their observations about how they work.

I unwrapped a trap yesterday afternoon, assembled it, and hung it 12 feet from our front door on fencing protecting a Knockout rose. The location is strategic. Brown marmorated stink bugs last fall found multiple ways into our home via our storm door and its retracting screen. The trap also is 16 feet from a Japanese maple that seems to be home turf for scores of stink bugs, and it’s 29 feet from a tomato plant that has scores of stink bugs sipping on the sweet juice of fruits that are damaged beyond human use.

The trap I’ve hung is a “Rescue Stink Bug Trap” by Sterling International, Inc. You’ve probably seen them on sale in neighborhood stores. List prices at one online source: $19.95 each trap and a two-week supply of lure or “Stink Bug Attractant,” a pheromone designed to entice the bugs into the trap. Replacement, seven-week lures cost $9.95 each. A blue LED “Stink Bug Light” ($17.95) is offered to help lure the insects from indoor living places during fall and winter.

Strategic location

The basic kit was simple to assemble. I took 15 minutes, most of which was my reading of all instructions so I would have a good feel for this product. Assembly directions were clear. No tools are required—just fingers. There are nine parts plus several twist-ties for hanging the trap outdoors, all clearly identified in the brochure. After you read directions, assembly shouldn’t take more than two minutes.

The two-sided brochure that comes with the trap is well designed and full of good information. Major sections include: “Summer Outdoor Use Instructions” and “Indoor Use during Fall, Winter, and Spring.” Subsections include “Initial Setup,” “Reusing the Trap,” “Empty and Reload Trap,” “Trap Placement,” and “Helpful Hints.” All information also appears in Spanish.

One of the “Trap Placement” points helped me decide where to hang it. I hung it on a fence—with the trap touching the foliage of a plant, in this case a branch of the Knockout rose. The brochure explains why such “contact” is important. Only mature stink bugs fly. The juveniles have to hike into the trap—via the fence or the rose foliage.

29 feet away...

My stink-bug experiment has begun. Periodically I’ll report what’s happening.

Tomato Patch: Coping with Stink Bugs

What's that on the window?

“Where are the stink bugs this year?” friends asked in May and June.

“Outside breeding so we’ll have a generous supply trying to figure out how to get into our homes in September and October,” I usually replied. It’s late August now, and the brown marmorated stink bugs have started to show up on our windows and sunning themselves on the western sides of our homes in late afternoon.

I’ve seen them all summer, of course, in our gardens. Their favorite foods at Meadow Glenn include tomatoes, raspberries, blackberries, green beans, cucumbers, and squash.

Stink bugs dining on Virginia Sweets tomato

In the Tomato Patch, the stink bugs seemed especially attracted to two large-fruited varieties, Virginia Sweets and Brandywine Red. Virginia Sweets is a large yellow tomato with reddish blush. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that the stink bugs like the big yellow because researchers have found the bugs have some preference for that color. I haven’t figured out why the bugs preferred the Brandywine Red to the nearby Brandywine (Sudduth’s Strain) fruit.

The small Sungolds seem untouched, though I haven’t used a magnifying glass to verify that fact. The larger red Juliets showed minimal damage, though I think my picking at “breaker stage” this year helped minimize the bug attacks.

Brandywine with stink-bug "pinpricks"

In mid-June, when I saw the carnage the stink bugs were starting on our berries and tomatoes and realized my daily attempts to control the bugs by drowning them into soapy water was not going to be effective, I balanced the risks and began periodic spraying with a commonly available garden spray, Ortho Max Lawn & Garden Insect Killer (bifenthrin), which lists stink bugs among the insects it kills. I strictly followed directions and the more stringent California “days to harvest” after each spray. My decision to use a pesticide was difficult because I have had an essentially organic garden for at least 10 years.

Within 10 days the number of stink bugs went from “impossibly high” to “seldom seen.” Last year we harvested few raspberries, and those we did were usually stink-bug damaged. This year we harvested many quarts of beautiful berries. Last year we threw away many of our large tomatoes because of stink-bug damage. This year we have eaten most.

I've turned off the night light

Before dawn Sunday morning I found evidence of the stink bug hordes that soon will be seeking ways into our homes for protection from cold weather. As I stepped out of the garage to walk to our mailbox to get the Sunday Post, something caused me to glance up at the overhead night light. Scores of stink bugs swarmed around the light. Sunday night for the first time in 15 years I turned off the light.

Scientists from multiple disciplines are studying brown marmorated stink bugs and how they may be managed. I posted earlier about the EPA’s approval of pesticides for stone and pome fruits and for organic growers and about USDA experiments with tiny, parasitic wasps. An excellent overview of what’s happening is the University of Maryland Extension’s Entomology Bulletin, which details symptoms of the insect’s damage on crops and ornamentals and includes outstanding photographs. To link to the bulletin, CLICK HERE.

Stink Bug Update: EPA Approves Insecticides on Emergency Basis

The brown marmorated stink bug invasion made page one of today’s Washington Post, where the headline proclaims: “With a stink bug boom, harvests could go bust: Entomologists weight ways to squash pest’s propagation, migration.”

The story by Darryl Fears tells of the devastation the stink bugs are doing to crops, the threat they pose as they expand across the nation, and research the USDA is conducting in Delaware on a natural predator, a minute Asian wasp that the Post describes as “not much bigger than the period at the end of a sentence.”

Those things aren’t news to those who’ve been reading Stink Bug Updates here, but buried deep in the Post series is some genuine news: “The EPA has approved two insecticides, including dinotefuran, sold under the names Venom and Scorpion, for emergency use. The poison is effective, farmers said, but has a major downside.” The downside, of course, is that the insecticide kills beneficial insects too, leaving growers dependent on expensive chemicals.

The Post article, however, did not mention several points of the EPA announcement: (1) The approval of dinotefuran covers only the states of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. (2) The approval is for use on stone and pome fruits, such as peaches, plums, cherries, apples, and pears. (3) The EPA earlier had approved dinotefuran for use on a variety of crops, such as leafy vegetables, grapes, and potatoes.

The biggest unreported news, I think, is that when the EPA approved dinotefuran, it also approved an insecticide that organic farmers may use, a product that “contains azadirachtin and pyrethrins, which are derived from botanical ingredients.” The EPA announcement says the organic insecticide may be used in “organic production systems” and is “now approved for use on many crops where stink bug management is needed.”

The bottom line is that fruit growers in the mid-Atlantic states now have approved insecticides to combat stink bugs this growing season. If you’re buying “regular” tree fruits, they probably were sprayed with a chemical insecticide, and if you’re buying “organic” fruits or vegetables, they may have been sprayed with a “botanical” insecticide.

To read the EPA announcement, CLICK HERE.

To read the Washington Post article, CLICK HERE.

Tomato Patch: How to Save More Tomatoes

Should I pick this partially ripe Brandywine Red?

Do your heirloom tomatoes crack and get moldy before you think they’re ripe enough to pick? Do your cherry tomatoes all but split before your eyes the day after it rains? Do brown marmorated stink bugs and birds start eating your ripening tomatoes before you do?

Then read on to learn what I’ve just learned—and maybe your heirlooms will split and mold less, you’ll harvest your cherries before they split, and you’ll eat more of your tomatoes before the stink bugs do.
Here’s the story of what I learned last week that is changing the way I think about picking my tomatoes:

When I picked tomatoes for 10¢ a basket as a teenager in southern New Jersey, farmer Joe Uhland set the picking rules: the red fruit must be fully ripe and without major blemish or piece of stem—or the canning company would downgrade the load and Joe would be paid less. For nearly 60 years since Joe set the standard, I’ve been picking tomatoes when they’re fully ripe.

This bit of ancient wisdom, however, got a jolt last Thursday when I was researching on the Internet about the effect of extreme heat on tomatoes. I discovered a posting that directly challenged my belief that I should pick only fully ripe tomatoes. I laughed out loud when I read it. I was astounded—but it made sense.

This eureka moment came when I read a Kansas State University Research & Extension posting titled “Hot Weather Threatens Tomato Plants” and a sidebar caught my attention: “Harvested Tomatoes Can ‘Vine-Ripen.’” I’ll post a link below so you can read the posting if you wish, but here are the main points made by Chuck Marr, a Kansas State University horticulturist, now retired (with my additional comments in parentheses):

1. Tomatoes at full red-ripe stage have optimum nutrition, color, and flavor, but they don’t have to be on the vine to reach that point. (Let’s assume this applies to tomatoes of all colors.)

2. Tomatoes start producing ethylene gas internally when they reach full size and turn pale green from their earlier dark green. The ethylene regulates the ripening process. (Tomato growers in Florida, for example, gas their dark-green fruit with ethylene to turn them red in winter, so we can have beautiful red tomatoes that taste like green ones.)

3. When the tomatoes reach the “breaker stage”—about half green and half pink—“a layer of cells forms across their stem, sealing them off from the main vine. At this state, tomatoes can ripen on or off the vine with no loss of quality or flavor,” Marr explained. (If the variety produces a color of fruit other than red, determining “breaker stage” may be more challenging.)

4. Pick tomatoes at “breaker stage” and you can let them ripen slowly in a cool place—minimum of 50°F—or more quickly at higher temperatures—up to 85°F—( such as on your kitchen counter.) They will not ripen in your refrigerator (where the temperature is below 40°F).

Wow! After I got over the initial shock, I thought of several problems that “picking early” might solve:

1. In extreme hot weather, some red-tomato varieties stop making red pigments at about 95°F, so the fruit can be fully mature when it’s yellow-red. If you wait for the fruit to turn deep red, the fruit may begin to spoil before you decide to pick.

2. Some large-red varieties, including many heirlooms, tend to split when near ripe and often begin to mold or have other problems. If you pick them before they reach this problem stage, you will harvest better quality fruit. This has happened already this season in the Tomato Patch. A gnarled Brandywine Red split at its blossom end before it was fully ripe and began to mold. I tried to salvage some of the ripe fruit but had to discard most of it. Picking early may avoid the splits and the mold.

3. Many cherry tomato varieties are known to split—and begin a quick decline in quality—after it rains. One of my favorites, Sungold, does that regularly. It rained here Monday afternoon, and by Tuesday morning many of the ripening Sungolds already had split. Picking early may avoid such splits.

4. I admit I sometimes don’t know when the fruit of a particular variety is fully ripe. I grow Brandywine (Sudduth’s Strain) and often wonder how “pink” the fruit must be to be ripe. And how do I know when a Virginia Sweets is ripe? It’s described on its seed packet as a gold-red bicolor and a “golden yellow beefsteak … colored with red stripes that turn into a ruby blush.” Picking early may help me monitor the fruit as it ripens on our kitchen counter.

5. Think of all the critters that like to dine on tomatoes, from insects, such as the tomato-sipping brown marmorated stink bug, to traditional harvesters such as birds, squirrels, and the occasional box turtle. Picking early may mean I will enjoy my tomatoes more than they will.

Should I put so many tomatoes in one basket, so to speak, just because one posting by one horticulturist says I should pick earlier?

I did a quick Internet search about when to pick tomatoes. Many postings followed the traditional rule to pick only fully ripe fruit, but several others pointed out that wasn’t necessary. One, the Aggie Horticulture site of AgriLife Extension (Texas A&M University), gave this reply to a question about leaving fruit on plants until fully ripe: “Generally, yields will be increased by harvesting the fruit at first blush or pink instead of leaving them on the plant to ripen fully. A tomato picked at first sign of color and ripened at room temperature will be just as tasty as one left to fully mature on the vine.”

I’m “three score and 10 plus” years and still learning new things about picking and growing tomatoes, but perhaps that challenges of gardening what makes it so attractive, even to ancient gardeners.

I’m going to start experimenting by picking “breaker stage” tomatoes, and I think you should too. If you do, be sure to come back and Comment about how it works for you.

If you want to read the Kansas State University posting, “Harvested Tomatoes Can ‘Vine-Ripen,’” CLICK HERE.

Stink Bug Update

'Ha! They haven't found a silver bullet yet!'

The latest news about the brown marmorated stink bug is that there is no news.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture today (June 22) updated its information about the bugs with a news release that includes these sentences of interest to gardeners:

“While many research institutions are working to find ways to eradicate the pest, there is currently no quick or certain way for homeowners or farmers to control this pest, and there are no chemical recommendations currently available for homeowners or farmers to follow. Results from lab insecticide tests, showed that the stink bug only appeared to be dead after being exposed to an insecticide. After living in a coma-like state (or ‘moribund state’) for a week, the bugs appeared to come back to life, their bodies having broken down the insecticide.”

What’s a gardener to do then when stink bugs invade?

A simple option is to inspect your veggies and fruit and drop any stink bugs you find into a jar of soapy water. You’ll find another option in the University of Maryland Extension’s Home and Garden Information Center’s fact sheet and its video showing how floating row covers may be used to keep stink bugs off your garden plants. To access the fact sheet, CLICK HERE. To access the video, CLICK HERE.



To access the Maryland Agriculture Department’s complete June 22 news release, CLICK HERE.