AK Trials Begin Next Week

Next week, attract-and-kill (AK) plots will be established at 9 farms spread among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia. We'll be comparing these blocks that are protected by pheromone technology to blocks managed by growers using their typical program for brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB). It looks like we will have much high stink bug pressure this year, as we have already had two blocks at separate farms reach spraying threshold in other ongoing projects, and trap captures in the hundreds in some cases. Last year, we had very encouraging results under lower population pressure, so we are excited to see what this field season brings, especially with the higher BMSB pressure.