Kudzu Bugs Asian Stink Bugs - multiplying and moving inside for the winter UGH

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University of GA College of Ag Science says that Kudzu Bugs, Megacopta cribraria, are spreading throughout the south, multiplying season by season AND that they want to set up winter residences in our homes.

 

If you travel to, from, around and out of GA, for heaven 's sake check your shoes and gear and get a hot water car wash as you leave the state.


here's a link to the whole story by Sharon Dowdy    click

here are some of the highlights

Almost two years ago, a tiny immigrant pest arrived in Georgia, and there’s nothing the state’s immigration office can do to make it leave. The bean plataspid, or kudzu bug, munches on kudzu and soybeans and has now set up residence in four Southern states.

N.C. crops Kudzu Bug nymphs
Homeowners consider the bug a nuisance. Soybean producers shudder at the damage it causes. And many are hoping it will prove to be a kudzu killer.

By studying the pest for the past year, Gardner has determined wisteria, green beans and other legumes are the bug’s true hosts in the landscapes and home gardens. A plant becomes a true host of the insect when different life stages of the insect are found on the plant, he said.

Having a few hundred uninvited house guests is bothersome, but the bugs are not harmful, and they don’t feed on indoor plants.

They are sucking on Kudzu stems (yippee) but also valuable crops (oh, blast) AND to control them on your wisteria they would have to be poisoned every day because they hatch so quickly (yikes).


The spread of Kudzu to date from http://cobbloviate.com/2010/08/

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