Stink bugs
 

I thought they might not be that bad this year but was I ever wrong. They are out in full force now as maybe 35 out of the last 50 fruit have been damaged by those pests. I planted millet hoping they would be attacted to it but I started it real late and it is still real small. What do you guys do with the affected fruit and how do you try to deal with them other than sucking them off with a vacuum. I have killed at least a hundred of them with no signs of it making a dent in their arsenal. Makes me wonder if I should even bother with a fall crop they are so bad

Every one you kill reduces their numbers, but eventually it's impossible to stop them.

Shelly & Roy (I wish we could get them to join T'Ville) say on their website that it's just impossible to stop them after a certain point. Hand picking and vacuuming is about all you can do. The bugs definitely try to find refuge in the densest foliage. They took hold in my Husky Red Cherry since the foliage is so dense it's almost impossible to see ripe fruit in there. Dwarves may not be best for Houston. :(

I'd look for them where the foliage is densest. Suze suggests not pruning but trimming, removing foliage and non-fruiting branches to "open up" each plant. This is for fungal issues as much as anything but will also provide fewer places for stink bugs to hide.

This will sound like a dumb question....but what is a stink bug? We don't get them up here, and so far haven't seen them on visits to Houston area. Are they only attracted to certain kinds of plants? veggies?

[quote=Zana;60018]This will sound like a dumb question....but what is a stink bug? We don't get them up here, and so far haven't seen them on visits to Houston area. Are they only attracted to certain kinds of plants? veggies?[/quote]

check this out

[URL]http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in534[/URL]

I remember Barkeater talking about using surround for stink bug control. I wonder if it was effective.

Triazicide is. I know, not so natural, but I'm tired of losing the bug battle here in San Antonio. Plus, it kills fleas, and my poor doggies.....

laurel-tx

I looked at one of the Triazicide websites and it says it kills on contact and lasts two months. Bryan, do you have to spray it on the stinkbugs or will they be affected by residual poison on the plant? I agree, not too natural, but the stinkbugs can get really bad here. Sometimes you just got to do what you got to do.

Maybe I can post video of sucking up stink bugs with my "Scorpion" hand-held vacuum cleaner. ;)

I've gotten about 30 of them so far.

I made up a 20ft hose to attach to a vac for sucking up stink bugs. Sucked up over a hundred I bet, plus I have killed many by hand. I am losing the battle no doubt

Killing every stink bug you see, wider plant spacing and some selective plant thinning are about all you can do, short of chemicals.

I know it's frustrating to keep finding them, but realize that every one you take out is potentially removing 1-2 dozen others that might otherwise have appeared. We all want perfect-looking plants with no disease or bugs, but it's just not possible in S.E. Texas, so we have to settle for damage control. I'm very happy with the number of tomatoes I am getting now and my initial ideas of increasing the number of plants from 24 to 36 now seem absurd. ;)

Ahh here is THAT topic. Yep I am in Louisiana, stink bug heaven. Well this is what I have done this year. I started off making 3 trips through the garden a day and inspecting each plant removing every single spot of a stink bug I would see by picking them off the leaves and plant with my bare hands, I gave up the vacuum, it works, but I do better to keep them from getting away with my hands. I've perfected the simple technique of simply throwing them on the ground and spinning my shoe on them against the ground. Or I crunch them between two leaves heh. Well this was fine earlier on, but here they come, more and more start poping up. It is hard to me to even get a Flamm without any stink bug damage, which is sad because we really do like the Flamms. Step 2": So anyway I ordered some DR' Bronners baby mild, which is an unscented pure castile soap, 'a soap made from all natural oils, including olive oil'. I use a 3 tablespoons of this per gallon for stink bugs at least. It will kill them if you hit them dead on., so you have to spray the plants down really well. Takes care of all aphids and other stuff as well. Works well if you can really get every little hidden spot. Then after spraying the plant shower the ground for just a sec for any fallen bugs. The problems: The downfalls to this is that even pure healthy soap can soak into the skins somewhat if you don't hose the plants down with clean water (at least an hour later to make sure the stink bugs are dead). I've seen them stop dead in less then a few minutes. I'm sure if you got them well, they are gone in less then 20. But if you leave the soap over night, then you need to make sure you wash them maters well when you pick them. Or you may find yourself peeling them. A slight soapy flavor on the skin is not terrible but can totally destroy the perfection of a great tasting tomato. I have been canning a bit, just cutting off the stink bug soapy skins *laugh* but it fixes the problem, and I like to use the fresh tomatoes for pizza sauce, or jam, and various other things. Usually if the stink bugs have not destroyed the tomato, the inside is still fine if you can get rid of all the skin. Not real fun to do with smaller tomatoes though.

If your plants are the main source of these stink bugs, then you may be able to eliminate them this way. But if your like me,
and have fields of farm land right by, and no matter what you do they still keep coming, then you may have to start experimenting. For example, I may try instead of spending money on soap. I may buy praying mantises and roley-polys. I hear they eat stink bugs, but I need to research that. I wonder what it is like out west, bet they don't have these problems, too dry.

They're starting to get heavy here. About half the time, they get away before I can get to them with the vacuum.

[quote=feldon30;60814] I'm very happy with the number of tomatoes I am getting now and my initial ideas of increasing the number of plants from 24 to 36 now seem absurd. ;)[/quote]

LOL, my thoughts exactly

Looking at the link, I swear that the brown stink bug is what I thought was a squash bug. They get to my squash every year, but leave my tomatoes alone.
Are they in the same family???

Thanks,
Tyff

Every tomato I have picked the last few days has bad stink bug damage. I have killed several every day with no slow down in their damage. Found a huge Jet star yesterday that was hiding from me. Beautiful tomato except for the stink bug damage. Im at the point where I feel like pulling the plants with the exception of my Cherokee Purple which is off by itself and hasnt really been bothered by the pests. Very discouraging to say the least.