Kudzu Bugs arrived in NC last year. They are a major problem for soybean farmers. They are an annoyance to me. They will certainly destroy my beans, but my livelihood does not depend on crop yields.
Luckily, in a small garden setting these guys are easy to eradicate by hand. It takes just a few minutes to go down my little row of beans with a small pitcher of soapy water. I hold the container under the plant, tap and shake. The bugs fall right into the soapy water to their death. They're not too disgusting to handle - sort of like lady bugs - but when you try to grab them they drop to the ground, blend right into the mulch, and live to suck another plant dry!
After today's initial assault on the Kudzu Bugs I will do a daily check of each plant. I've been looking forward to fresh, delicious, green soybeans. I'm not willing to let some bug do away with them!
Debbie Roos is our Agricultural Extension Agent. Here's a portion of what she has to say about the Kudzu Bug on her website, Growing Small Farms:
"The kudzu bug (Megacopta cribraria) was introduced to the U.S. in 2009 and is now found in most North Carolina counties. A true bug roughly the size of a lady beetle, it uses its piercing sucking mouthparts to rob plants of water and nutrients and can cause significant yield loss.
The kudzu bug is primarily a pest of legumes such as kudzu, wisteria, beans, and soybeans. Some growers have observed them feeding on sunflowers and they may be observed congregating on many different plants. We are still learning about its hosts and potential damage here in North Carolina. Market farmers will primarily be concerned about kudzu bug damage on edamame and all types of beans. They can cause up to 75% yield loss in soybeans. They also seem to like congregating on figs and grapes but as far as we can tell they don’t seem to be feeding on these crops. However, this is a new pest so we don’t yet know all its hosts, and it may acquire new hosts here in the U.S."
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