Invasive pests like the three-inch Asian stink bug thrive during summer heat waves, and many agriculture experts are expecting a repeat of last year’s outbreak that harmed fruit crops, particularly on the East Coast.
In late June, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency ruling allowing orchard farms along the mid-Atlantic coast to use two lethal insecticides to mitigate the pests. But Monday the the insect diagnostic lab run by the University of Wisconsin at Madison reported the bug has made its way to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois and warns it will be a full-blown epidemic in those states in less than four years.
Elsewhere in the garden, plants are sensitive to higher temperatures during extreme heat, particularly if cooling doesn’t take place at night. The most vulnerable plantings are those that were just put into the ground because they don’t have time grow deep enough roots to soak in moisture.
