Lexington, KY 40546
Online at: www.uky.edu/KPN
Number 1253
ANNOUNCEMENT
-IPM Training - March 2
FIELD CROPS
-Results of County Stink Bug Survey – Year 1,
2010
ANNOUNCEMENT
IPM Training – March 2
By Patty Lucas
Mark your calendars now for the 2011 IPM
Training to be held on Wednesday, March 2, at
the UKREC in Princeton. We will start at 9 am
and end at 3:00 pm. Application will be made to
offer CEU’s for Certified Crop Advisors and
pesticide education hours. More details will be
provided in Kentucky Pest News after the New
Year.
FIELD CROPS
Results of County Stink Bug Survey – Year 1,
2010
By Doug Johnson, Ric Bessin, Jerry Brown,
Clint Hardy, Carla Harper, Tim Hendrick,
Darian Irvan, Cam Kenimer, Tom Miller, Andy,
Mills, Traci Missun, and Diane Perkins
Kentucky is beset on all sides by invasive stink
bugs. Whether or not these non-native species
will be important in our agriculture is yet unsure,
but what is undeniable is the fact that they will
arrive here and some of them soon!
Objectives: We have two objectives with this
study. First, to develop a robust data set
describing stink bugs found in field crops. Of
specific importance is establishing the species
November 23, 2010
FRUIT
-Stone Fruit Perennial Canker
present and their relative numbers one to
another, before the arrival of the several invasive
species that are headed toward us. Second, to
sample for the presence of several invasive
species that will possibly be destructive to
Kentucky’s crops.
Methods: To fulfill these objectives we
established survey locations in the following
twelve Kentucky counties: Ballard, Boone,
Caldwell, Carlisle, Carroll, Daviess, Fayette,
Fulton, Hancock, Hickman, Meade, Oldham.
Ten of these counties were chosen for their
location on the borders of Kentucky (Ohio and
Mississippi rivers). The remaining two counties
(Caldwell & Fayette) were selected because they
contain UK-College of Agriculture experiment
farms. In each county three soybean fields were
selected by the County Extension Agent for
Agriculture and Natural Resources (CES-ANR).
In each soybean field, beginning with the onset
of the reproductive stages, a series of 100
sweeps were taken with a 15” sweep net in each
of four successive weeks. A single sweep was
composed of the sweeping across the rows in a
figure “8” pattern. Insects were separated from
plant material, collected, placed into 95% ethyl
alcohol and held in a cool location until picked
up for identification. Stink bugs were counted
and identified to species. Species identifications
were made by Drs. Bessin and Johnson based on
McPherson and McPherson 2000.

Figure 1. Location of counties surveyed for stink bugs in
2010.
RESULTS & Discussion
(Note: photos of these stink bugs may be viewed
at: KPN No. 1242, Aug.10, 2010
http://www.ca.uky.edu/agcollege/plantpathology
/extension/kpnindex.htm)
Species Collected:
Brown stink bug Complex: brown stink bug,
Euschistus servus (Say); dusky stink bug,
Euschistus tristigmus (Say); onespotted stink
bug, Euschistus variolarius (Palisot de
Beauvois). We expected to find these species,
but to the best of our knowledge, before this
project we did not have any data on their
distribution or relative numbers of one species to
another in Kentucky soybean fields.
Green stinkbug complex: green stink bug,
Acrosternum hilare (Say), and redshouldered
stink bug, Thyanta sp. Again, we expected to
find these species, but to the best of our
knowledge before this project we did not have
any data on their relative numbers or statewide
distribution. We did believe from experience
that the green stink bug would be the dominant
species in terms of numbers. The redshouldered
stink bug is an unlikely pest of soybean and corn
in KY. However, it could become important
because it is easily mistaken for the redbanded
stink bug (an invasive).
Predatory stink bugs: spined shoulder bug
(group), Podisus sp. This predatory stink bug
was found in relatively small numbers as was
expected.
Important stink bugs not found: Perhaps more
important than what we found are those species
which we did NOT find.
Southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.)
This insect is known to very occasionally occur
in TN (particularly west TN) and would not be a
big surprise to find in KY. It has been the major
stink bug pest in the “deep south”. We are quite
happy not to have collected any.
Brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha
halys (Stal)[ Note:This stink bug has been
detected in Kentucky. See Kentucky Pest News
No. 1251, Oct. 26, 2010,
http://www.ca.uky.edu/agcollege/plantpathology
/extension/kpnindex.htm].
Redbanded stink bug, Piezodorus guildinii
(Westwood), and the Bean platastid, Megacopta
cribraria (Fabricius). These bugs (the bean
plataspid is not technically a stink bug) are
invasive species and occur in neighboring states
(or in the case of the bean plataspid is moving
outward from N.E. GA). The brown
marmorated is already in eastern and central
KY. We are likely to see it across Kentucky as it
moves with people. It is most likely to occur
first in urban areas with interstate connections.
All of these stink bugs have the potential to be
important pests of our field, fruit and vegetable
crops.
In total we collected 659 stink bugs. Certainly,
the green stink bug complex (472 individuals
collected) was much more common than the
brown stink bug complex (184 individuals
collected). As expected the most common
individual species was the green stink bug, with
317 collected. This was just short of ½ the total
collection. The Rarest stink bug was Podisus sp.,
spined solider bug (a predator), with just 2
collected. It is a bit disappointing that we
captured so few predators. However, the result is
not unexpected.
Future Efforts: We expect to repeat this survey
in 2011 & 2012. Additionally, we intend to add
about four to six counties to fill in gaps along
the Ohio River, the western portion of the KY-
TN border and along the I-64 corridor into
Kentucky. This is only one of several efforts to
obtain descriptive information about the stink
bug complex in Kentucky and to detect invasive
stink bugs as soon as they arrive. Those
interested in stink bug pest management should
feel free to send collected stink bugs to Dr.
Johnson at the UK-Research and Education
Center in Princeton, KY. Please collect the stink
bugs into alcohol and take them to you county
CES office and they will forward the sample to
Dr. Johnson.
References:
McPherson, J.E. and R. M. McPherson. 2000.
Stinkbugs of Economic Importance in America
North of Mexico. CRC Press Boca Raton, FL.
FRUITS
Stone Fruit Perennial Canker
By John Hartman
Stone fruits such as peach and plum in
Kentucky, exposed to drought stress during the
2010 summer and fall, are potential targets for
perennial canker disease. Perennial canker, also
known as peach canker, Cytospora canker or
Valsa canker, is a destructive fungal disease
caused by Leucostoma cincta and L. persoonii.
These fungi can be found in the orchard as
opportunistic colonists of wounds, dying twigs,
pruning stubs, and winter-damaged buds or
wood. The fungi then invade healthy tissues
when the trees are growing under stressful
conditions such as drought.
Symptoms. Perennial canker disease may begin
as sunken cankers on the twig which can result
in girdling and death of the twig (Figure 2).
Tiny fruiting structures (pycnidia) of the fungus
form in the canker (Figure 3) and in humid
weather, may exude orange spore masses visible
with a hand lens. Large, diffuse cankers may be
formed in scaffold limbs, in narrow-angled
branch crotches, or on the trunk. Cankers may
develop a roll of callus at the margins (Figure 4)
and gradually enlarge until infected limbs are
girdled and then die. Trunk cankers can rapidly
kill the entire tree. Cankers often exude a dark
brown or amber-colored gummy substance
(Figure 5). Gummosis commonly occurs as a
result of perennial canker disease, but the gum
also flows in response to any wound, whether it
is due to insects such as peach tree borer,
mechanical injury such as that resulting from
winter cold or spring frost, or other diseases
such as bacterial canker.
Disease management. Perennial canker must be
prevented if peaches, plums and cherries are to
thrive in the garden and orchard. Disease
control practices must reduce ports of entry for
the canker fungi, moderate tree stress, and
reduce levels of the causal fungi.
• Late fall fungicide applications to
control peach leaf curl and plum
pockets, and spring sprays for brown rot
may help suppress perennial canker.
These sprays should be applied now or
very soon, after leaves have fallen and
trees are dormant.
• Fruit trees should be fertilized according
to soil test results, and unnecessary
injury including those caused by insect
pests should be avoided.
• Prune out and destroy badly cankered
limbs. Avoid the temptation to prune
out dead and diseased branches now.
Pruning activities should be delayed
until growth starts in the spring. Fall
pruning can severely weaken and stress
trees and can predispose them to winter
injury and subsequent infection. Branch
stubs and very close flush cuts should be
avoided.
• New peach orchards need to be
established in sites with good air
drainage away from abandoned or fence
row peach trees using varieties that are
well adapted for Kentucky.
• When training young trees, narrow
angled crotches should not be left
because these are potential sites of
infection.
• Provide irrigation during dry periods.
• Avoid unnecessary injuries.
 Figure 2. Peach perennial canker showing the sunken,
dead area surrounding the dead bud or twig where the
infection likely began.

Figure 5. Gum formation in a perennial canker on plum.

Note the dark brown glob of gum between the two
amber-colored globs of gum.

Figure 3. Tiny black fungal pycnidia can be found in the

canker (C. Kaiser photo).

Figure 4. This stone fruit tree has developed callus "rolls"

as a defense in response to perennial canker disease (APS
photo).
Note: Trade names are used to simplify the
information presented in this newsletter. No
endorsement by the Cooperative Extension Service is
intended, nor is criticism implied of similar products
that are not named.