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March 1, 2011

A cure for stink bugs?

Is there a cure for the stink bugs that are plaguing Mid-Atlantic farmers and homeowners alike?

My colleague at The Sun, Mary McCauley, writes today that USDA researchers are working with a tiny "imported" wasp that lays its eggs inside the eggs of stink bugs. The wasp babies then eat their way out of the stink bug eggs, destroying the baby stink bugs in the process.

It is a fascinating story, but a happy ending is a couple of years off and farmers don't know if they can survive until then. Stink bugs, which have no native predators, are destroying crops like mad.

I wonder if we have learned any lessons about using one species to control another? I have no doubt that the imported wasps will destroy the sting bugs. But what will be needed to keep the wasps in check?

Mary tells me that these wasps do not sting people or animals. As a matter of fact, they only eat stink bug eggs. So you won't see them flying around the garbage can or around your picnic table.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Insects

Comments

Wel,, Japanese Beetles worked out so well. And kudzu. Could we just not be stupid anymore?

I am with you, Eve. Remember rockfish and baby crabs? -- Susan

Posted by: Eve | March 1, 2011 1:06 PM

Hmm...I wonder if that wasp will eventually be more of a burden when the stink bugs go away. I guess only time will tell.

Posted by: How to Get Rid of Stink Bugs | March 8, 2011 10:06 AM

Sounds great for the future! Keep us posted.
This spring, me & grandson (Montez), will continue our Holistic experiments in search of a 'green' remedy. Our biggest success in 2010, was our 'Concoction of sticky-stuff' in a spray bottle. It didn't kill them right away but their little legs & wings were frozen in-place: Outside - We picked them off and disposed of them in paperbags, the next day!!
Finally. to anyone out there - answer me this - How would we keep the imported, purchased, wasps from flying away ??AND/OR who would "Foot the bill for "imported live wasps' for every house & garden on the east coast"??

Doc. The wasps work by laying their eggs inside the sting bug eggs. The larva then eat the sting bug larva (eewww). The hope, I guess, is that the wasps find the sting bug eggs for us. -- Susan

Posted by: Doc Wilson | March 10, 2011 12:55 AM

The wasp are currently still being tested. It will take at least 2 years or more for them to gather the tests and confirm that the wasp is not harmful to the environment before they release them to the wild.

Posted by: stink bugs | March 11, 2011 12:56 AM

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About Susan Reimer

Susan Reimer has spent 16 years writing about raising kids - among other topics - in her column for The Baltimore Sun. And every time son Joseph or daughter Jessie passed another milestone - driver's license, college, wedding or a move to a new military duty station - she has planted another garden. Now she will be writing about those gardens - and yours - here on Garden Variety.

Susan isn't an expert gardener, but she wasn't an expert mother, either. Both - the kids and the gardens - seem to be doing well in spite of her.

She lives in Annapolis with her husband, Gary Mihoces, who loves to cut his grass but has noticed that there seems to be less of it every time the kids pass another milestone.

Follow @susanreimer on Twitter