Southern Luna County mobbed by ‘mustard bugs’ By Sylvia Brenner Jul 13, 2005, 08:22 am

COLUMBUS — They’re creeping, crawling, flying, tiny little insects that can be found swarming all over the desert and in residences‚ yards and homes. Even the Mexican border is not a border to these hungry little bugs on a relentless search for their next meal.
According to Border Pest Control owner Jim Dye, southern Luna County is the hardest hit area by cinch bugs. “They’re all over Luna, Hidalgo and Grant counties but south of Deming, it’s the worst,” he said.
Harmless to humans, but now starved for vegetation, the pesky insects, actually false cinch bugs, were happy campers until the abundant crop of wild mustard plants on which they had been feeding withered and died with the onslaught of high temperatures.

City of the Sun Foundation resident Maya (no last name) sweeps up dead false chinch bugs . Because her subterranean home is cool and moist, it attracted millions of the bugs.

“The excess moisture we had during the late fall and winter months produced a lot of mustard plants, just as it did Mexican poppies up on the mountains,” Dye said. “The desert was so green for a while and now all you see are dry straw-colored weeds. Wherever you see lots of these weeds, there are a lot of what we call mustard bugs.”
Because of the lush vegetation, more false cinch bugs laid more eggs and produced faster than they normally would. “Since it’s been about six weeks since the infestation, we figure the insects could be on their 12th generation or so,” he added.
But with the loss of their normal food supply, the pests have gone on a wild rampage, swarming and eating vegetation wherever it is available. The resulting problems are an example of an over-abundant Mother Nature.
“They’re everywhere,” said City of the Sun Foundation resident Maya (no last name given) who lives outside Columbus in a partially subterranean house.
“They came down through the rafters in drove so I sprayed the house and then went camping for a week. When I got home there were big black piles of the critters, dead bodies piled up behind and underneath everything. Now I’m sweeping them up by the dustpan full. And they’re still around but diminishing somewhat I hope,” Maya added
Luna County Master Gardener MaryKay Brady remains optimistic. “Give them about another two weeks and they will be gone. They just exploring for another food source,” she said.
Deming residents have made phone calls and sent e-mails to the Deming Headlight regarding the infestation in Deming locally.
But two weeks won’t be soon enough for some who have lost their entire gardens or portions of their chile crops to the little moochers. City of the Sun resident Ted Specker who was hoping to grow enough produce to sell at the new Columbus Farmers‚ Market which opens July 9, said, “Everything in my garden has been eaten. It’s a pestilence and they have destroyed everything.”
Meanwhile, across the Mexican border, early reports of chile crop devastation have come from Leanos Farms in Colonia Victoria. “Those chile plants are all chewed off,” said Mario Arras.
According to Dye, this is an “absolutely peak year” for the pests which could stick around until as late as the end of September “unless we get a couple of really hard, hard rains.”
In desperation, many local home owners have resorted to calling exterminators to spray their homes. “We’ve been taking care of as many as we can,” Dye said, “but it’s only a temporary relief of maybe one to four weeks. There are other things people can do to keep the pests out of their homes, like blocking all of the windows so no light comes through at night.
“The two things mustard bugs like are light and moisture,” Dye added.
Even Columbus Mayor Martha Skinner said she was approached by a resident who demanded she do “something about the vermin.”
Skinner admitted she was powerless over the situation.
“There’s nothing you can really do — and please don’t burn those dried mustard weeds,” Dye said. “It’s illegal and it’s also against the county ordinance. With the dry conditions and high winds, an out of control fire could cause an even bigger disaster. The mustard bugs will run their natural cycle. It’s just been a bad year for a lot of bad bugs.”