Although not currently threatening major production areas in Tennessee, both the kudzu bug and brown marmorated stink bug continue to expand their territory. Both species are a documented pest of soybean. The brown marmorated stink bug attacks many crops and is a major threat to tree fruits and some vegetables.
On Aug. 2, Scott Stewart, IPM specialist with the University of Tennessee Extension, documented kudzu bugs on kudzu in both Kingston (Roane County) and Knoxville (Knox County). At both locations, scattered nymphs were found near I-40.
Brown marmorated stink bugs were easily caught in sweep-net samples of soybean plots located on the East Tennessee Research and Education Center in Knoxville. This stink bug has been documented in Knox County before, but this is the first confirmation of substantial numbers on soybean in Tennessee.
Kudzu Bug, Stinkbug Continue Spread Into Tennessee
To find out more about these invasive species or other pest-management alerts and strategies, please go to http://news.utcrops.com/.
Also, to find out more about pest alerts in your region go to www.farmassist.com/PestPatrol.
Supported by Endigo ZC, Besiege and Centric insecticides from Syngenta, the Pest Patrol hotline (1-877-285-8525) offers timely pest updates from university entomologists and Syngenta agronomists across the country. Receive reports on current threat levels, local area outbreak predictions, treatment recommendations and more.
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