Stink Bugs Love Warm Louisiana Weather

By Don Molino, The Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network

LSU Extension Service Pest Management Specialist Dr. Sebe Brown says the red banded stink bug arrived here in Louisiana from South America 17 years ago and they’re here to stay, unfortunately.

“They’re an evasive species and they will over winter here in the U.S.,” says Brown. “South Louisiana has a really good environment for them to over winter because the weather is almost sub-tropical. Extreme parts of south Louisiana, Texas and Florida definitely allow stink bugs to over winter very easily.”

While they do over winter in north Louisiana as well, but “When we have a normal winter our cold temperatures are enough to knock these insects back.  But this past year, since we really only had about three days of winter, we really didn’t have the killing freeze and frost we needed to control these insects,” Brown said.

“They were willing and ready to colonize soybeans a soon as February rolled around,” Brown continued. “We were starting to find them in clover, an alternative host so these insects never really went into diapause. They reproduced year round this year and that’s why we’re probably seeing increased levels in our beans.”