The news on this front is really scary – whether you’re a massive commercial farmer, orchard grower or small time homesteader. What started as a couple of bugs being introduced into the United States via shipping from Asia has turned into an epidemic of scary proportions. According to National Geographic, the brown marmorated stink bug was responsible for 37 million dollars worth of damage in the nation’s apple crop alone in 2010. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/03/130301-asian-brown-marmorated-stink-bugs-pests-agriculture-farming-science/
And the stinkbug population is growing at an alarming rate since their natural predator – a particular parasitic wasp – is not native to this country. An estimated 60 percent increase was expected in the bug’s population in 2013 alone. Meanwhile, as scientists consider importing the stinkbug’s only known predatory wasps and releasing them here in America, the Hubby and I are faced with an unimaginable infestation of our own right here on The Little Half Acre that Could.
I dealt with stinkbugs on the North Carolina coast in my little raised bed garden in a friend’s backyard but they weren’t that big a problem. After all, how hard could it be to maintain less than 120 square feet? But it wasn’t going to be so easy here on our new homestead. I needed to arm myself with as much information as was available.
At the left is a photo of the brown marmorated stinkbug, or BMSB, courtesy of NC State University’s Cooperative Extension Service. Here’s their article on the BMSB in North Carolina, and here is the fact sheet for North Carolina.
A little research taught me that stinkbugs love to feed on the blooms of two particular trees. The silver maple is one, but their favorite tree by far is the Ailanthus tree (another Asian import also called Tree of Heaven because of its rapid growth). Guess what we had all over the property? We cut the huge silver maple down in the front yard because it shaded the entire front of the property and, on half an acre, you need all the growing space you can find. Little did we know that we were ridding ourselves of one of the brown marmorated stinkbug’s favorite foods. Then there were all the Ailanthus trees. We had lots of them, both on our property and some on the adjoining property.
We promptly cut down several large Ailanthus trees with diameters from four to six inches. And we cut down more saplings that I can count. But the bad news? According to one online source, cutting them down doesn’t actually kill them. Apparently, they just put out new growth from the old stumps. Gimme a break.
I’m sure there are sprays that could be applied but that doesn’t fit with permaculture principles, so I’m going to gang press Hubby (also known on this blog as “The Innocent Bystander”) and dig up all the roots on the saplings. On the bigger trees, we’ll just continually cut new growth down. The good news is, there are stinkbug traps available online and plenty of how-to instructions on the Internet if you want to make your own. And I have turned into an absolutely fearless killing machine. I’ve always caught spiders and other “critters” and put them outside but NO stinkbug will survive if I spot him before he can flee! I already have two pairs of shoes that I can’t wear anywhere except here on the homestead because – oddly enough – they stink from all the “stinkbug-killing-stomping” I’ve been doing since August. I will have to be vigilant and merciless in seeking out their eggs wherever they may lay them. I will have to empty every single box in the shed each winter to find their favorite hibernation spots. I counted – and promptly killed – over sixty this winter alone in boxed goods in the shed. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve chased around the house and destroyed since August, but I’m sure it’s beyond one hundred. I have only just begun to fight.
If I had known that we were buying a homestead in the middle of a stinkbug breeding factory, would we still have bought this particular property? Perhaps not. But hindsight is 20/20 as they say and now I’m hoping that, by employing the sound practices of permaculture, I can lessen the problem. By developing a very diverse landscape I’m hoping to remove any “welcome” sign that the stinkbugs may perceive. By building traps and putting them next to their favorite food sources I’m hoping to capture and destroy many of them. And, by being ever vigilant in removing their eggs as I find them, I’m hoping we can overcome (or at least deal with) this huge problem. Stay tuned.
