Stink Bugs Chomp Their Way to Michigan; How to Control Them

An insect that is as invasive as it is smelly has wormed its way into Michigan fields and orchards, causing problems in some isolated “hot spots,” Michigan State University Extension Service says.

The brown marmorated stink bug, indigenous to China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, hasn’t been detected in great numbers, the Kalamazoo Gazette/MLive reports, but Michigan farmers are concerned they could attack some of the state’s prized apple, cherry and peach crops in large numbers.

They were first detected in Berrien County in 2010, according to Michigan State University Extension Service, and have since been recorded in Eaton, Genesee, Ingham, Lenawee, Monroe, Allegan, Clinton, Kent, Oakland, Oceana, Wayne, Macomb, Livingston, Saginaw, Bay, Antrim, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Kalamazoo, Ionia, Ottawa and Van Buren counties.

The epicenter for infestations of the voracious eaters is still East Coast states like Pennsylvania, where they first slipped into the U.S. in the 1990s in a shipment of goods from Asia, as well as West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware.

Related:

• An Easy Way To Get Rid of Stink Bugs

But they’re chomping their way across the country because there’s no predator to stop them and because the chemical defense – a skunky smell – they emit when something threatens them is unappetizing, National Geographic reports. Stinkbugs have now been found in 41 U.S. states.

So far in Michigan, stink bugs have only been reported in “nuisance” numbers.

In Stevensville in Berrien County, where the most significant populations of stink bugs have been detected, Bob and Cathie Buckley say they’ve dealt with hundreds of stink bugs on their 6.5-acre property, a former blueberry patch.

“I dislike them intensely,” Bob Buckley told the Kalamazoo Gazette. “If you grab them with a tissue, they release the odor. I have been trying (to control) them with flying insect killer. It works but you have to use a lot.”

Chemical treatments aren’t the only way to control the foul-smelling bugs.

A group of researchers from Virginia Tec found that pan of water and a light to attract them is all that’s needed to create a perfect stink bug doomsday storm. (Click the link to find out more.)

By the way, a stink bug’s ability to emit an odor through holes in its abdomen is a defense mechanism, meant to prevent it from being eaten by birds and lizards. Simply handling the bug, injuring it, or attempting to move it can trigger it to release the odor.

(Patch editor Mary Ann Barton contributed to this report.)

___

Photo courtesy of Rutgers University