Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/643470
www.goodfruit.com Good Fruit Grower MARCH 1, 2016 29 management practices. That booklet should be available in June. At present, only a handful of growers in the southwestern corner of the state are fighting major infestations. For most growers, fortunately, it probably won't be a serious pest in the coming growing season, she said. "However, I think that anyone who is in the southern part of Michigan probably should be scouting for it if they haven't already been." She recommends placing traps, which have been baited with aggregation- pheromone lures, at orchard margins where the stinkbugs are more likely to be found. Another option is to simply place a tray under a tree limb during the day and bump the limb. This dislodges the stinkbugs, which will fall into the tray. "If growers catch 10 in a trap (or a tray) within a week, they should be concerned," she noted. This information will also help in tracking the pest's spread in the state and in the country. "Right now, it seems to be confined between certain northern and southern latitudes, and Lower Michigan falls within that range. Whether there's some limiting factor preventing it from moving farther north or that it just hasn't expanded into those areas yet, we'll just have to wait and see," Wilson remarked. She added, "In the meantime, we're just trying to help growers be in the know and in the loop, so the brown mar- morated stinkbug doesn't cause a major disruption as it has in other places." • Leslie Mertz, Ph.D., is a freelance writer based in Gaylord, Michigan. PHOTO COURTESY GARY BERNON, USDA APHIS