Although not currently threatening major production areas in Tennessee, both the kudzu bug and brown marmorated stink bug continue to expand their territory.  Both species are a documented pest of soybean, and the brown marmorated stink bug attacks many crops and is a major threat to tree fruits and some vegetables.

On August 2nd, I documented the presence of kudzu bugs on kudzu in both Kingston (Roane County) and Knoxville (Knox County).  At both locations, scattered nymphs were found near I-40.  Brown marmorated stink bugs were easy to catch in sweep-net samples of soybean plots located on the East Tennessee Research and Education Center in Knoxville.  This stink bug has been documented in Knox County before, but as far as I know, this is the first confirmation of substantial numbers on soybean in Tennessee.  You can search for previous articles about both species on this page.