Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The first NEERA1306 SAES-422 annual meeting was held on December 3, 2103 at the Alson H. Smith, Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Winchester, VA as part of the 2013 Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) Working Group Meeting. During the presentation portion of the meeting, several project participants presented results of studies conducted during the summer of 2013. These included: Tom Kuhar, Virginia Tech - Virginia field crops and vegetable pest management research update. Greg Krawczyk, Penn State - BMSB traps, lures and ... PA experience from the 2013 season. Chris Bergh, Virginia Tech - Emergence of adult BMSB from overwintering sites George Hamilton, Rutgers - Comparison of two BMSB sampling methods in peaches. The business portion of the meeting was held during lunch. During the meeting participants gave brief state updates which included new developments, issues and problems encountered, questions regarding future activities. Key highlights included: Delaware reported that they are beginning to see an increase in native parasitism of BMSB egg masses in sweet corn. The levels are not currently high enough to provide any level of control. New Jersey reported that in their pheromone trap trial that they were seeing several predators entering the traps to feed on BMSB adults and nymphs present in the traps. Most prevalent were spiders and cantharid larvae. Virginia saw similar activity in their traps. Ohio is seeing increased homeowner levels in various parts of the state and although they are beginning to see agricultural damage, spotted wing drosophila is a currently a bigger concern. They have questions about whether or not they should use kill strips in their pheromone traps. The group discussed this and concluded the strips should be used. Pennsylvania saw normal, but spotty pressure. They also had no new areas experiencing damage. A question posed to the group was "Why some areas have populations while others that should do not. No answer could be arrived at; however, it may be related to use of the new pheromone improving monitoring or increased awareness by growers resulting in more insecticide use. Virginia has been looking at different trap styles and placement in vegetable fields. The group then discussed if and why some may work better than others. A general discussion was then held regarding how many states have reporting web sites and how we might connect them all to provide better resolution on BMSB's distribution. The New Jersey and Pennsylvania sites are now connected through the bugwood.com site. Others states could be added. New Jersey will contact other states about this. The group then discussed how far south BMSB might move and how their distribution appears related to elevation. No answer was arrived at. The final discussion was regarding the next annual meeting. It was agreed that it should again be held in conjunction with the 2014 BMSB Working Group meeting.

Because this project was approved with a start date of October 1, 2013 there are no accomplishments to report at this time.