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The brown marmorated stink bug

5/9/2013

This bug is not a lily pest. It is the brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys (BMSB), a native of Korea that has been ravaging crops in the eastern US for the past several years. It has recently become established in Ontario, around Hamilton. The photo was taken by our Swiss biocontrol colleague, Dr. Tim Haye, who is mapping the distribution in Europe where the bug is also invading (the site is in German, but Google will provide an entertaining translation).

In addition to its impact on crops and garden plants, the BMSB is a nuisance in the fall when it invades homes looking for places to spend the winter.

Tracking this pest is essential to developing an effective management plan. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food asks that anyone who believes they have found this bug contact them at 1-877-424-1300 or ag.info.omafra@ontario.ca . Specimens and high quality photos are essential since there are native stink bugs that look similar. You are also welcome to upload photos using my Report an Infestation page.

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BIocontrol update

5/9/2013

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We are now authorized to release a second biocontrol agent in Canada: Lemophagus errabundus. It is too late to arrange for a shipment this year, as our Swiss colleagues need to start collecting and rearing them a year in advance. Release is planned for summer 2014 here in Ottawa.

A shipment of Tetrastichus setifer is due in next week for release in Ottawa in June.

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Time to Squish those eggs!

5/8/2013

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Several of you have written to me about hand-picking adults off your plants. While this is a useful thing to do, remember to check the plants for the orange eggs. Although this is time consuming, the eggs can be easily squished, and squishing eggs now sure beats removing the horrid larvae in a couple of weeks!

Unfortunately, lily beetles are long lived as insects go, so you’ll need to check for eggs until sometime in July, depending on the weather.

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They're back!

5/1/2013

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After an exceptionally late start to spring, gardeners in eastern Ontario are finally enjoying some perfect spring weather. Lilies are starting to sprout and the beetles are are emerging from their winter hiding places. A.B. from Ottawa sent the photo above, and explains that the beetles are hammering her lilies, which are still only a couple inches tall. I planted some lily bulbs on Sunday, in my tiny backyard garden. We moved in last summer, and there were no lilies in the garden, which the neighbours tell me had been neglected and overrun with weeds for the last few years. Yet despite the fact that the lilies I planted are nothing but tiny white nubs that had sprouted in the peat moss the bulbs had been packaged in, by this morning they had been colonized by the red menace.

The beetles are out in our experimental gardens too, where they will find refuge from all the local gardeners who would like to squish them. These lucky beetles will be pampered. We need them to produce plenty of offspring to provide hosts for the parasitic wasps we will release later this summer: Tetrastichus setifer and Lemophagus errabundus.

At home though, I will be merciless….

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The brown marmorated stink bug

BIocontrol update

Time to Squish those eggs!

They're back!

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