A local grower was surprised yesterday morning by the huge bug infestation depicted in the photos below suddenly appearing in his berry field.
Photo 1: A mass of false chinch bugs crawling up a support post.
Photo 2: A mass of false chinch bugs making their way across the bed plastic.
However, these bugs are “false chinch bugs” and while pretty scary, they do not damage berry fruit and in fact will very likely either die out or move on out in a few days. These bugs are usually associated with weedy fields or pastures that contain the mustards they prefer to feed on. As with most of these cases in our area around this time of year, a nearby field or meadow has been disturbed, usually mowed, and they end up migrating to an adjacent field.
So, if any others of our readers are seeing this, it’s just a signal to keep calm and carry on.
If you want to know more, there is more information available on the false chinch bug:
https://ucanr.edu/blog/strawberries-and-caneberries/article/false-chinch-bugs-move
And of course the UC IPM guidelines have excellent information on it as well:
https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74153.html
7/23/2025 update
A grower a week or so sent me the picture and let me know that he is seeing damage on fruit following in the very area that was previously infested with a large number of false chinch bugs. The area close by which did not suffer the infestation was fine and no damage. So, we have proof positive these infestations of false chinch bug DO carry a risk of fruit damage, at least for the time that they are present, along with the temporary issues of fruit contamination. Good thing to make a note of for future encounters with this pest, and a big thank you to the grower for pointing this out to us.
Photo 3: Damage to fruit left behind following a large incursion of false chinch bugs. Quite similar to lygus bug damage.