Profile view of an adult brown stink bug on the bud of a crape myrtle.

Friend or Foe? Beneficial and Pest Stink Bugs

As a native species, pecan is associated with many native beneficial and pest insect species. Granted, there are exotic insect species now established in the U.S. that are associated with pecan and likely will be forever. These include the beneficial multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, and the pestiferous brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys....

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Damage on a leaf caused by an outbreak of leafminers.

The Leafminers of Pecan

When we think of pecan foliage being damaged by arthropods, we usually focus on pecan aphids first, and deservedly so. Aphid damage to pecan foliage can be severe and warrants your attention. But there are other arthropod species that also feed on and damage pecan foliage, some leaving behind damage more noticeable than others. Several...

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Pecan Weevil larva eats its way out of an inshell pecan.

Keeping up with late-season pests

Thoughts of pecan weevil, stink bugs, hickory shuckworm, and black pecan aphid likely indicate we have made it to the late season. After months of pecan scab worries and its treatments soon coming to an end for many growers, now it’s time to fend off those nut-attacking pests and keep pushing back against the black...

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Images from the pecan world

A father once told his son that a person should never miss an opportunity to keep their mouth shut. Sage advice I should consider more often, and I’ll add to it—one should keep their eyes and ears open. Whether we realize it or not, each of us uses a somewhat unique learning style, usually relying...

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Tilehorned prionus adult beetles—male and female laid side by side for comparison. The female is larger with shorter antennae.

Beetles that feed on pecan roots

We are all familiar with the concept that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Managing insects attacking pecan is no different considering that the same squeaky pests get the proverbial grease. Pecan foliage laden with aphid honeydew and chlorotic spots elicited by the black pecan aphid cannot be ignored nor can those pecan kernels laid...

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A green stink bug sits on the corner of an inshell pecan as it feeds.

Monitoring Stink Bugs, an Annual Pecan Pest

Stink bugs are serious, annual pests of pecan. Their feeding on developing nuts before shell hardening leads to “black pit” of the embryo and nut abortion. After the shell hardens, damaged nuts remain on the tree and are harvested. Stink bug feeding injury on nuts with hardened shells and mature kernels usually is indicated by...

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A knifepoint reveals the density of obscure scale on a pecan tree.

Obscure Scale: A Stealthy Pest of Pecan

A handful of pest species cause most economic injury to pecan year after year. Pests attacking the developing nut include the stink bug complex, pecan weevil, hickory shuckworm, and pecan nut casebearer, while the aphid complex and mites attack the foliage. Occasionally, other pest species may cause sporadic injury, but their activity is usually limited...

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A adult black pecan aphid and her nymphs sit on the yellow, chlorotic spot that they created on this once green pecan leaf.

Pecan Aphids, Part II: Feeding Biology

In the first of this three-part series on the pecan-feeding aphids (March 2019), I covered how different aphid species distribute on pecan foliage. At the end of that article, we questioned why nymphs of the blackmargined pecan aphid and yellow pecan aphid favor the underside of the pecan leaf, but a proportion of black pecan...

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