- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Bagrada bugs are native to east and southern Africa, Egypt, Zaire and Senegal, according to the Center for Invasive Species Research at UC Riverside. They first appeared four years ago in Los Angeles County, and rapidly spread through Southern California and southern Arizona.
Surendra Dara, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, first wrote about bagrada bugs in his Strawberries and Vegetables Blog last January, when the pest was only found in Imperial, Riverside and Orange counties. Last month, Dara said the Santa Barbara agricultural commissioner received specimens from Solvang and found infestations of bagrada bug on mustard in other areas, making an official record of this pest in the county.
Conventional farmers are controlling bagrada bugs with pyrethroids and organophosphates like chlorpyrifos and malathion. However, because the bugs are so new to scientists, they haven’t yet figured out much in the way of organic controls, Dara said.
I doubt the bugs you saw a couple of years ago were Bagrada bugs. They lay eggs in the soil among other places, but they are not known to burrow into the soil. They cannot come from the seeds also. They can attack a variety of host plants, but the ones you listed are not their preferred hosts. I think they were some other insects. You can read my update on these bugs and see their size at http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8438.
Surendra Dara
I hand picked as many as I could and tossed them in soapy water. I tried to research them but could only come up with harlequin bugs that suggested I plant radish as a decoy.
Then they disappeared as the weather became colder only to reappear in much greater numbers the following year (2011) after they had overwintered in the soil! They came out in droves. I tried the radish thing - which they loved, but they still went for my other plants. (not my chard)
This year my home and school garden (Culver City) were infested!
They wiped out my entire crop of beloved arugula at home and all the kale, chard and lettuce in my school garden. I still see them mating in odd places. AND they fly.