Pest In Your Home Could Be A 'Stinker' For Your Wallet
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Dealing with stink bugs is an uphill battle. They always seem to find an "in" to the warmth and shelter of your home. The pests also are expected to be a big problem for farmers this spring, and a real pain for your bank account.
"You could see 20 to 50 stink bugs per tree later in the season," said Norm Schultz, with Linvilla Orchards in Media, Pennsylvania. Schultz says his crews scout the fields each week and the problem is that there is little to do to ward those stink bugs off what they want to devour.
"Peaches, apples, pears, field corn, sweet corn, peppers, tomatoes, grapes, soybeans, raspberries," Schultz listed.
Unfortunately for our wallets, George Hamilton can go on and on. He's a pest management expert at Rutgers, trying anything to rid farms of these expensive creatures.
"We had growers here in New Jersey that sprayed on a weekly basis and still had 30 percent damage in their crop, which is not economically acceptable," Hamilton said. "Those who didn't spray had levels as high as 90 percent damage."
He says organic farmers don't have anything to help. He has applied for a $10 million grant to field-test insecticides but a safe, effective solution, so far, has been elusive.
Reported by Ian Bush, KYW Newsradio
