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What's eating your seedlings? Could be bagrada bugs

Colorful stink bug cousin can devastate young leafy greens

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 14, 2020

Female, left, and male bagrada bugs. The pests have been
taking hold in California since 2008. (Photos courtesy UC IPM)

What’s eating your cabbage and broccoli seedlings? According to several Sacramento accounts, it may be bagrada bugs.

These stink bug cousins usually are most active in February and March when wild mustard (their favorite food) is rampant across the Central Valley. But a wave of recent bagrada bug sightings has been reported in local community gardens as well as backyard vegetable beds.

Size comparisons, from left: Lady beetle, bagrada bug,

stink bug, harlequin bug.

Also known as the “painted bug,” the bagrada bug ( Bagrada hilaris ) looks similar to the harlequin bug but is smaller. Less than 1/4-inch long, the bagrada bug is black with orange and white markings; harlequins have no white markings. According to the UC Cooperative Extension master gardeners, the harlequin is three times the size of a bagrada bug.

Bagrada bugs go after young seedlings and leafy greens. That’s why they can be particularly devastating now, when gardeners are setting out cool-season transplants.

According to the master gardeners, bagrada bugs tend to attack cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, turnip and mustard greens. This bug also attacks related cruciferous crops such as radish and arugula. Ornamental landscape plants such as alyssum, candytuft, nasturtiums, rockcress, stock and wallflower can be infested.

Bagrada nymphs and adults.

Under mild conditions, bagrada bugs can have several generations in one growing season. Their nymphs are bright red-orange and black, and often mistaken for lady beetles. In Southern California, they tend to peak in late summer and early fall (as in right now).

An invasive insect native to Africa, bagrada bugs were first discovered in California in 2008. They got a foothold in Los Angeles before spreading throughout Southern California. By 2013, they were found in Fresno and Monterey. Now they’re established in Sacramento, too.

They love mustard but will eat other kinds of leafy greens, too. Like other stink bugs, they jab their needlelike mouthpart into their food and suck away. Their damage looks like a little starburst on the leaf surface.

Like other invasive stink bugs, they have few if any natural enemies; birds don’t like to eat them. Pesticides aren’t affect on them either.

Besides wild mustard, their favorite host plant is sweet alyssum. That flower can attract masses of these bugs; don’t companion plant alyssum with your cabbage or broccoli.

But sweet alyssum can be used as a lure to bagrada bug death. Get a pyramid-shaped stink bug trap (such as the Rescue-brand stink bug trap), but substitute a piece of alyssum for the bait. (Bagrada bugs won’t respond to other stink bugs’ bait.)

Another method of control suggested by the master gardeners: A sheet of paper and a handheld vacuum. Place the paper under a plant suspected of bagrada bug invasion and gently shake the plant. The bugs will fall out onto the paper. Then, vacuum them up.

In the meantime, protect young seedlings with individual covers or hot caps.

For more on bagrada bugs and controls: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74166.html

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Keywords:

UCCE master gardeners gardening Sacramento integrated pest management stink bugs garden pests invasive pest insects

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Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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