Stink Bugs in Blueberry

Damage to blueberries by stink bugs.

Damage to blueberries by stink bugs.
Photo by Jerry A. Payne, USDA,
Bugwood.org.

Stinkbugs can damage green and ripe berries.
Photo by Rory Register,
Rory’s Photography, Bugwood.org.

Stink bugs are often more brightly colored with orange or red markings. Nymphs are wingless, although wing pads are apparent.

Facts:

• Stink bugs overwinter as adults in ditch banks, under boards or other similar materials.
• They become active in spring when temperatures rise above 21 C (70 F).
• Each female oviposits up to several hundred eggs.
• Nymphs hatch and pass through five instars before becoming adults.
• Approximately 4 to 5 weeks elapse between hatching and adult emergence.

Damage:

• Can damage larger green and ripe fruits.
• They also can raise their brood within fruiting clusters.
• Pierce plants with their needlelike mouthparts and suck sap from pods, buds, blossoms and seeds.
• The degree of damage depends, to some extent, on the developmental stage of the plant when it is injured by stink bugs.
• Immature fruit and pods punctured by bugs become deformed as they develop.
• Seeds are often flattened and shriveled.
• Germination is reduced.

Control:

• Hand-picking may lower number sufficiently to prevent injury.
• Chemicals may also be used.

Reference:

Carlson, Elizabeth. Stink bugs (Brown and Green). Retrieved 02 July 2010.