This is the eleventh 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 13 nymph and 19 adult BMSB were captured in traps at eight out of the 63 sites being monitored during the week of Sept. 15-22, 2014. This is slightly down from the previous week, but new areas are reporting activity.
Sites where we captured BMSB this week include one peach orchard in Van Buren County, one peach orchard and one urban site in Berrien County, and roadside sites near soybean fields in Lenawee and Ingham counties. Homeowners near Stevensville, Michigan in Berrien County continue to report BMSB aggregating on the sides of their houses this week.
Also this week, we received the first confirmed report of brown marmorated stink bug damage to late peaches in a commercial orchard in eastern Ottawa County. The grower who reported the damage found a single BMSB adult in the orchard where the damaged fruit was found.
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.
