On the wall, on the lookout... No more fun - or: Invasion of the Chinese rice bug

Personally, I have already developed an insanity bordering on hysteria that now prevents me from opening my windows, because when the sun shines on them, there are at least five green beetles sitting on the pane or frame - ready to invade my beloved home. Despite my caution, they feel right at home in all my rooms and buzz around. Yesterday one got caught in my hair - that was the highlight.

Now there is war.

As it loves mild winters and hot summers, it now likes to stay with us. It causes damage in agriculture and in the garden, but is primarily a very unpleasant contemporary that buzzes monotonously through our homes.

Come to stay

The green rice bug(Nezara viridula) is an emerging pest in Austria and parts of Germany that can cause damage to a very wide range of host plants. So-called sucking damage causes spotting, but also corking and deformation on numerous vegetable, fruit and arable crops.

The green rice bug originally comes from East Africa and, like so many other bugs, was brought to us by the merchandise trade.

As it likes the climate in our region better and better, it stays and multiplies without restraint.

What to do?

Examining the plants for eggs, larvae or nymphs (young animals) is the first thing mentioned in every forum and report - this may work on balcony boxes, but from the size of an allotment garden it becomes difficult. Not to mention agricultural areas.

Personally, I don't think this method is feasible, especially as these nasty green intruders are unlikely to be impressed by garden fences. So if the dear neighbor doesn't collect them, maybe his rice bugs will come to me and have parties? That would be even nicer.

Insecticides are out of the question for me - but according to forum experts, they wouldn't help anyway, especially in adulthood.

Then there is still the possibility of a natural adversary - when this opened up to me, I wanted to cheer. Then I read that you "simply" have to put (preferably pregnant) ichneumon wasps on the eggs of the green rice bug so that it lays its eggs on them and the rice bugs can't hatch. Really? On the eggs? So this possibility also turned out to be irrelevant.

All that remains is to wait for a winter with lots of frost and precipitation... the only solution to all our problems.

Information on the occurrence of the green rice bug is requested for monitoring purposes. Click here for the form.