Looks like a bad year for stink bugs.

b54red · June 22, 2016

I have been seeing increasing numbers of stink bugs of all kinds for about a month now. I decided not to wait any longer because they were starting to sting my tomatoes and bell peppers. I used the spray that worked so well last year to rid myself of these horrible little creatures and I am hoping it will work as well this season.

I mix between a cup and a cup and a half of food grade DE in a gallon jug filled 2/3 full with water. I then shake it vigorously for a few minutes or until my arms get tired. I then pour it through a very fine stainless steal strainer into my backpack sprayer. I then add a very heavy dose of Permethrin along with 4 tablespoons of Dawn dishwashing liquid. I then fill to the 2 gallon or slightly more mark on my sprayer and shake it a bit. I then spray all my plants with this mix along with the mulch underneath making sure to get the bottoms of the leaves. I did this about 5 days ago and haven't seen a single stink bug since.

Last year I had to use this mix twice over the entire season to keep the stinkbugs, leaf footed bugs, whiteflies and aphids under control. I'm afraid I may have to use it more often this year since the influx of stinkbugs came much sooner and in much greater numbers this year. When I was picking a few bell peppers last week every one I picked had at least 4 small stinkbugs on them so I knew I had to act before they got larger and really did some damage. I also was finding them all over my tomatoes.

This mix is very deadly because it keeps on working due to the fine layer of DE that gets on everything. Until it gets washed off by a heavy rain it is very effective at taking out the juveniles of all the insects both good and bad. I waited longer than I should because I like to wait til my beneficial insects have moved on which they did about two weeks ago when the temps hit over 100 for a couple of days. I don't know where they go but it must just be too hot in the garden for them to thrive even though there seemed to be plenty of food for them. My garden was wrapped up in ladybugs from March thru May but I haven't seen a one since the end of May so with the stinkbug invasion I thought it was time to bring out the big guns and see if I could get them under control before they damaged too much of my fruit. I hope it works as well as last year or hopefully even better.

Bill

Cole_Robbie · June 22, 2016

Thanks for the recipe. I have them every year. The best I can do is trellis and prune well. The higher-up tomatoes don't get bitten, but any sprawling vines in grass get eaten to the point of being non-marketable.

They ate up the first Maglia Rosa I picked. It's a bush of a plant, and it's hard to see the bug activity through the dense foliage.

Tracydr · June 26, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Thanks for the recipe. I have them every year. The best I can do is trellis and prune well. The higher-up tomatoes don't get bitten, but any sprawling vines in grass get eaten to the point of being non-marketable.

They ate up the first Maglia Rosa I picked. It's a bush of a plant, and it's hard to see the bug activity through the dense foliage.

Interesting-the green stink bugs and leaf footed bugs that I get seem to go for the top of the plant first.
I do have a ton of dragon flies which seem to eat anything. Recently,my gunieas and Peacoks discovered the garden and they seem to be doing a good job hunting bugs,especially horn worms and grasshoppers.

Starlight · June 26, 2016

Thanks for the recipe Bill. I'll keep it in mind for later in the season if I need it. So far I been lucky only saw one and some new kind of wasp that has come around took care of it.

Have no idea what this new wasp is. It's body is orange with black rings and deep black wings. It been catching mainly bigger prey like the pest that sort of looks like a grasshopper but not. It finds it's prey, kills it then comes around my work area and digs holes in the ground and then buries the kill, covers it completely up and flies off looking for more. I don't know if it saving this for food for later or if it is disposing the pests for me.

Did you grow cukes, squash or eggplant this year? I started real later, just a few weeks ago some cukes and think that is the reason I don't have the stink bugs this year. They only seem to me to come around when those crops are growing.

Tracydr · June 26, 2016

I bought Surround to try this year. Most of mine were ruined by stink bugs last year.
So far,not seeing many,just a few on the asparagus. But,I don't have many fruits yet so time will tell. I'll start spraying the surround as I start getting more fruits.
I also planted sunflowers and amaranth as trap crops,although the asparagus seems to be the best trap so far.

BigVanVader · June 26, 2016

I have had them bad as well. I have been using straight Dawn soap spray. It kills them in seconds. I water the squash with the hose and all the bugs come to the tops and I blast em. I spray neem as well but tbh I have no idea if it helps as I still have plenty of bugs eating my stuff.

b54red · June 27, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

I have had them bad as well. I have been using straight Dawn soap spray. It kills them in seconds. I water the squash with the hose and all the bugs come to the tops and I blast em. I spray neem as well but tbh I have no idea if it helps as I still have plenty of bugs eating my stuff.

I tried the Dawn for a while but they kept coming back in ever greater numbers until I used the mix I mentioned above. I also found that the repeated use of Dawn strong enough to kill stinkbugs had a negative impact on my foliage health. Now I don't need to use it very often unless we get a lot of hard rains washing the DE residue off.

Bill

Cole_Robbie · June 26, 2016

I must have the invisible kind. I have not seen any stink bugs...just the damage they leave.

b54red · June 27, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I must have the invisible kind. I have not seen any stink bugs...just the damage they leave.

Usually if you see a few then you have a big problem and if you see a lot then you better act quick or they will ruin your tomatoes and peppers. It is amazing how well hidden they are most of the time.

Bill

b54red · July 1, 2016

We have had several hard showers and most of the DE has been washed off my tomatoes and peppers. I only used the mix on the very lowest parts of my plants but now I am seeing a lot of spider mites hitting higher up and now with the DE gone the stink bugs are back on my bell peppers and leaving those nasty spots. I guess I'll have to try again but afternoon showers are the rule right now and so I won't get the long term benefit that spraying later in the dryer months give me. If it doesn't rain today I will apply it again late this afternoon. The stinkbugs haven't come back in large numbers yet but the spider mites are really messing up some of my plants.

Bill

Starlight · July 3, 2016

Pass some rain up this way Bill. I have had less than an inch in the past two months. Hear the thunder, maybe get a little breeze and then zip, nada, nothing. It moves on to somebody else.

I'm surprised you are getting the spider mites. I thought they didn't care for moisture?

b54red · July 3, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starlight

Pass some rain up this way Bill. I have had less than an inch in the past two months. Hear the thunder, maybe get a little breeze and then zip, nada, nothing. It moves on to somebody else.

I'm surprised you are getting the spider mites. I thought they didn't care for moisture?

The rains we have been getting are very hard and last only a few minutes or less so we don't get much benefit but it is hard enough to wash off the sprays. I had to water yesterday because most of the showers we have had ended up being no more than 2/10ths of an inch but to hear them you would have thought we got at least half an inch or more.

We have had a lot of very very hot days so far this year and the spider mites have attacked much earlier than usual especially since the plants are so healthy. Or rather were. I got out and sprayed 5 gallons of my mix this morning early and at daylight it was nearly 80 so I think we may have another very hot day. This past June has been one of the hottest that we have had in my 40 years of gardening. We need some good heavy rains that last all day to break the heat cycle for a spell.

Bill

Starlight · July 6, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by b54red

The rains we have been getting are very hard and last only a few minutes or less so we don't get much benefit but it is hard enough to wash off the sprays. I had to water yesterday because most of the showers we have had ended up being no more than 2/10ths of an inch but to hear them you would have thought we got at least half an inch or more.

We have had a lot of very very hot days so far this year and the spider mites have attacked much earlier than usual especially since the plants are so healthy. Or rather were. I got out and sprayed 5 gallons of my mix this morning early and at daylight it was nearly 80 so I think we may have another very hot day. This past June has been one of the hottest that we have had in my 40 years of gardening. We need some good heavy rains that last all day to break the heat cycle for a spell.

Bill

I wish we would get a rain like that. It's so dry here the ground is like pure dust when you walk. We got a quick spit of a rain yesterday. Just enough to raise the muggy meter even higher. It's terrible when it's 6 am and the temps are already in the 80's and humidity so bad you can't breath or hardly move.

I did go out last night and bleach spray as a preventive. This heat and humidity playing havoc on my sunflower containers. Getting a bit of gray mold on them in spots on leaves. Been removing them and have been the past two nights spraying them with a weak bleach spray. You ever bleach sunflowers before? What about cucumbers? Does the bleach spray help them?

I culled about 17 plants the past couple of days. Most all of them were determinates. That and with the major water restrictions have kept only those I like the flavor of to eat. The plants I culled were healthy, just starting to get a bit raggedly with the plant being done. No sense letting them get in bad shape and infect the good ones. I've saved hundreds and hundreds of seeds off those plants so share back so didn't mind seeing them go. With restricted water and just a few fruits left on plants, I couldn't see trying to keep them going.

You see the forecast for this weekend. Pure misery for creatures and plants alike. Even if we don't get rain, a cooling breeze sure would be nice.

b54red · July 6, 2016

I have never used the bleach spray on Sunflowers but I don't see why they would be any different than other things. I use the bleach spray on my cucumbers every time I spray my tomatoes.

I am now having gray mold problems big time on some of my black tomatoes especially my JDs Special C Tex. I sprayed about a week ago but the scattered showers bringing rain at different times but not in a quantity that will water the plants has created havoc here. I can't keep a fungicide on and my pest spray gets washed away leaving my spider mite problem unresolved. Hopefully I can get out this afternoon and spray the bleach spray again. I was up early enough to do it this morning but the mosquitoes were impossible so I decided to wait and hope for better conditions this afternoon. Rain is forecast for mid afternoon and hopefully it will come and go before dark and cool it off enough to get out and take care of my spraying.

I'm afraid this heat and humidity along with the fact that our freezer is well stocked with tomatoes has put a real damper on my enthusiasm for gardening now; but I do need to take care of my newer plantings so I can have some fresh tomatoes in the fall. It is just hard to muster up the courage and energy to get out in that steam bath and so much. I'm finding it hard to just go out and pick the ripe ones now since all I can do with most of them is give them away.

Bill

MrSalvage · July 6, 2016

4 1/2 oz of the concentrated bleach killed off my sunflower pedals. It also spotted up my squash blossoms. They were yellow with white spots. lol

Sunflowers are done however the squash recovered and is kicking butt.

June 22, 2016	#1
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Looks like a bad year for stink bugs. I have been seeing increasing numbers of stink bugs of all kinds for about a month now. I decided not to wait any longer because they were starting to sting my tomatoes and bell peppers. I used the spray that worked so well last year to rid myself of these horrible little creatures and I am hoping it will work as well this season. I mix between a cup and a cup and a half of food grade DE in a gallon jug filled 2/3 full with water. I then shake it vigorously for a few minutes or until my arms get tired. I then pour it through a very fine stainless steal strainer into my backpack sprayer. I then add a very heavy dose of Permethrin along with 4 tablespoons of Dawn dishwashing liquid. I then fill to the 2 gallon or slightly more mark on my sprayer and shake it a bit. I then spray all my plants with this mix along with the mulch underneath making sure to get the bottoms of the leaves. I did this about 5 days ago and haven't seen a single stink bug since. Last year I had to use this mix twice over the entire season to keep the stinkbugs, leaf footed bugs, whiteflies and aphids under control. I'm afraid I may have to use it more often this year since the influx of stinkbugs came much sooner and in much greater numbers this year. When I was picking a few bell peppers last week every one I picked had at least 4 small stinkbugs on them so I knew I had to act before they got larger and really did some damage. I also was finding them all over my tomatoes. This mix is very deadly because it keeps on working due to the fine layer of DE that gets on everything. Until it gets washed off by a heavy rain it is very effective at taking out the juveniles of all the insects both good and bad. I waited longer than I should because I like to wait til my beneficial insects have moved on which they did about two weeks ago when the temps hit over 100 for a couple of days. I don't know where they go but it must just be too hot in the garden for them to thrive even though there seemed to be plenty of food for them. My garden was wrapped up in ladybugs from March thru May but I haven't seen a one since the end of May so with the stinkbug invasion I thought it was time to bring out the big guns and see if I could get them under control before they damaged too much of my fruit. I hope it works as well as last year or hopefully even better. Bill

June 22, 2016	#2
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Thanks for the recipe. I have them every year. The best I can do is trellis and prune well. The higher-up tomatoes don't get bitten, but any sprawling vines in grass get eaten to the point of being non-marketable. They ate up the first Maglia Rosa I picked. It's a bush of a plant, and it's hard to see the bug activity through the dense foliage.

June 26, 2016	#4
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	Thanks for the recipe Bill. I'll keep it in mind for later in the season if I need it. So far I been lucky only saw one and some new kind of wasp that has come around took care of it. Have no idea what this new wasp is. It's body is orange with black rings and deep black wings. It been catching mainly bigger prey like the pest that sort of looks like a grasshopper but not. It finds it's prey, kills it then comes around my work area and digs holes in the ground and then buries the kill, covers it completely up and flies off looking for more. I don't know if it saving this for food for later or if it is disposing the pests for me. Did you grow cukes, squash or eggplant this year? I started real later, just a few weeks ago some cukes and think that is the reason I don't have the stink bugs this year. They only seem to me to come around when those crops are growing.

June 26, 2016	#5
Tracydr Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7 Posts: 3,207	I bought Surround to try this year. Most of mine were ruined by stink bugs last year. So far,not seeing many,just a few on the asparagus. But,I don't have many fruits yet so time will tell. I'll start spraying the surround as I start getting more fruits. I also planted sunflowers and amaranth as trap crops,although the asparagus seems to be the best trap so far.

June 26, 2016	#6
BigVanVader Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Greenville, South Carolina Posts: 3,099	I have had them bad as well. I have been using straight Dawn soap spray. It kills them in seconds. I water the squash with the hose and all the bugs come to the tops and I blast em. I spray neem as well but tbh I have no idea if it helps as I still have plenty of bugs eating my stuff.

July 1, 2016	#10
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	We have had several hard showers and most of the DE has been washed off my tomatoes and peppers. I only used the mix on the very lowest parts of my plants but now I am seeing a lot of spider mites hitting higher up and now with the DE gone the stink bugs are back on my bell peppers and leaving those nasty spots. I guess I'll have to try again but afternoon showers are the rule right now and so I won't get the long term benefit that spraying later in the dryer months give me. If it doesn't rain today I will apply it again late this afternoon. The stinkbugs haven't come back in large numbers yet but the spider mites are really messing up some of my plants. Bill

July 3, 2016	#11
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	Pass some rain up this way Bill. I have had less than an inch in the past two months. Hear the thunder, maybe get a little breeze and then zip, nada, nothing. It moves on to somebody else. I'm surprised you are getting the spider mites. I thought they didn't care for moisture?

July 6, 2016	#14
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I have never used the bleach spray on Sunflowers but I don't see why they would be any different than other things. I use the bleach spray on my cucumbers every time I spray my tomatoes. I am now having gray mold problems big time on some of my black tomatoes especially my JDs Special C Tex. I sprayed about a week ago but the scattered showers bringing rain at different times but not in a quantity that will water the plants has created havoc here. I can't keep a fungicide on and my pest spray gets washed away leaving my spider mite problem unresolved. Hopefully I can get out this afternoon and spray the bleach spray again. I was up early enough to do it this morning but the mosquitoes were impossible so I decided to wait and hope for better conditions this afternoon. Rain is forecast for mid afternoon and hopefully it will come and go before dark and cool it off enough to get out and take care of my spraying. I'm afraid this heat and humidity along with the fact that our freezer is well stocked with tomatoes has put a real damper on my enthusiasm for gardening now; but I do need to take care of my newer plantings so I can have some fresh tomatoes in the fall. It is just hard to muster up the courage and energy to get out in that steam bath and so much. I'm finding it hard to just go out and pick the ripe ones now since all I can do with most of them is give them away. Bill

July 6, 2016	#15
MrSalvage Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: VA - Zone 7A Posts: 344	4 1/2 oz of the concentrated bleach killed off my sunflower pedals. It also spotted up my squash blossoms. They were yellow with white spots. lol Sunflowers are done however the squash recovered and is kicking butt.