Kudzu Bug

CHARLESTON — They’re swarming. Thousands upon thousands of tiny, green creatures are turning up on plants, trees, houses and even boat rails across the Lowcountry.

The kudzu bug.The latest invasive nuisance, this one courtesy of Asia.

Two years after appearing in the Upstate, hordes of them are showing up on the coastal plain.

The upside? The bug eats kudzu. The downside? It eats soybean and other bean plants. The swarms can infest a house in the winter.

Oh, and if you rub or crush it, it reeks — like its cousin, the stink bug.

A few kudzu bugs first were noticed on the coastal plain in the fall, two years after appearing in the Upstate.

One was identified in the soybean field at the U. S. Vegetable Laboratory in Charleston.

With an early warm spring, the bugs have let loose. Reports of outbreaks keep coming.

“Right now they’re going bananas. They’re just all over the place,” said J.C. Chong, a Clemson University entomologist at Pee Dee Research and Education Center.

Bill Plaster of Knightsville, near Summerville, found a clump of the match-head-size bugs on his fig tree two weeks ago. The next day, the bugs swarmed the smaller branches of his two sizable wisterias.

They’re still there.

“It’s absolutely covered,” Plaster said.

Maybe the worst news: They first turned up in Atlanta in 2009, and DNA testing in both states indicates that all these millions of kudzu bugs came from a single female, said entomologist Merle Shepard.

They don’t have any natural predators here that anyone has found.

“There’s just nothing keeping them in check,” said horticulturist Tony Bertauski of Summerville.

They don’t fly en masse, but they seem to be attracted to high places and bright colors, which may explain why they swarmed on the white boat rails of a research vessel at the research center at Fort Johnson.

That also seems to be why they swarm into houses in colder weather, when they leave the soybean fields to lay low for the winter.

“They like the eaves and sides of houses, and if they can squeeze inside, they will,” Shepard said.

Remedies include vacuum cleaners and pesticides.

But don’t get your hopes up too high.

Plaster tried pesticides.

“They’re obviously very resistant,” he said.

Thanks for stopping by our booth (213) at the ACS Home Show in Downtown Wilmington Convention Center.

We are in process of upgrading our customer online access to the new premier customer portal. Included in the upgrade are enhanced reports, secure online bill pay and a much more user friendly interface. We are excited about the new changes and hope you will benefit as well. We will be sending out an email with detailed instructions on how to log in and access the new portal.

All of us at Integrated Pest Management, Inc would like to thank all of our existing customers for their business and we look forward to another successful year.

Shane Faulkner

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Visit our new show room featuring many of the products we use for pest prevention, moisture control, and DIY products.

Smart-Vent Flood Vents, Sante Fe Advance Dehumidifiers, X-cluder Fill Fabric, Protecta Bed, Bedlam just to name a few.

Order online or visit our showroom for our ever expanding product line.  Offering the best products available.

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Winter finally arrived. With the cold air, be on the look out for unwanted pest entering in unsecured openings. Check all your door seals, window seals, foundation vents and areas where electrical or plumbing enter.

Need an inspection, call 800-747-5383 or click here to schedule an appointment today.

It’s hard to enjoy your backyard with mosquitoes hanging around.

Here are a few things you can do to:

Eliminate Standing Water-Tip over buckets, pots, children’s toys or anything that can collect water. Dispose of unused tires which are perfect habitats for breeding.  Clean your gutters to eliminate debri that may encourage the harborage of not only mosquitoes but roaches.

Consult a professional about having your yard treated. Having a special event? Call to schedule a one time treatment or sign up for our discounted barrier spray applications for season long protection.  We also offer an automatic misting system for protecting defined areas.

Did you know?
Mosquitoes go through four stages in their life-cycle: egg, larva, pupa, and adult or imago. Adult females lay their eggs in standing water, which can be a salt-marsh, a lake, a puddle, a natural reservoir on a plant, or an artificial water container such as a plastic bucket. The first three stages are aquatic and last 5–14 days, depending on the species and the ambient temperature; eggs hatch to become larvae, then pupae. The adult mosquito emerges from the pupa as it floats at the water surface. Bloodsucking species of mosquitoes live as adults for periods ranging from a week or two to several months, depending on the species, the gender, the season and the conditions. Some species even overwinter as adults.

Mosquitoes have mouthparts that are adapted for piercing the skin of plants and animals. While males typically feed on nectar and plant juices, the female needs to obtain nutrients from a “blood meal” before she can produce eggs.

There are about 3,500 species of mosquitoes found throughout the world. In some species of mosquito, the females feed on humans, and are vectors for a number of infectious diseases affecting millions of people per year.

Mosquitoes are a vector agent that carries disease-causing viruses and parasites from person to person without exhibiting symptoms themselves.

The principal mosquito borne diseases are the viral diseases yellow fever, dengue fever and Chikungunya, transmitted mostly by the Aedes aegypti, and the parasitic diseases malaria carried by the genus Anopheles and elephantiasis (also known as Lymphatic filariasis). Though originally a public health concern, HIV is now thought to be almost impossible for mosquitoes to transmit.

Mosquitoes are estimated to transmit disease to more than 700 million people annually in Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico, Russia and much of Asia with millions of resulting deaths. At least 2 million people annually die of these diseases.

Methods used to prevent the spread of disease, or to protect individuals in areas where disease is endemic include Vector control aimed at mosquito eradication, disease prevention, using prophylactic drugs and developing vaccines and prevention of mosquito bites, with insecticides, nets and repellents. Since most such diseases are carried by “elderly” females, scientists have suggested focusing on these to avoid the evolution of resistance.