Stink bugs

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by Warren

feldon, are you doing a fall crop?

Yes. Just a few varieties. Maybe 10 plants. I know that sounds insanely low, but after last year (granted it was a once-in-10-years early frost), I am not going to make such a large investment in tomato plants. In that space, I can grow parsnips (which I love) and other crops.

Tomatovator,

I don't think you'll see much in the way of stink bugs in Pennsylvania. They're really a South and Southeast sort of thing.

The problem with cloth is that the plants are already hot and humid, so anything like that would retain more heat and reduce fruitset and possibly cook the fruit. But at the end of the season, maybe it doesn't matter quite so much and it's more important to protect the few fruit that are left.

Next year, I'm going to plant more heavy hitters like Arkansas Traveler (which was sweeter than I think anyone expected, including me), Jet Star, and Cherokee Purple so that I have even more fruit early on and am not waiting for the stragglers.


Out of 2 plants, I'm gonna get about 8 Cherokee Greens. They were just LATE. I picked one and fire ants came out of it. I threw it over the fence before I got bit. YUCK!

I want to remember my tomato plants when they were big and bushy and loaded with fruit. I don't want to remember this:

[duajones]

Interesting note about the dr bonners soap that I have been spraying the stink bugs with. It appears to kill the adult leaf footed bugs and the brown or green stink bugs. But Ive noticed when I spray the nymphs with it, they fall down but soon after crawl back up the plant again.

[tomatonut]

Has any one tried Sabadilla for stink bug control? I read somewhere that it was an organic method for killing them. They get my tomatoes every year and I am so tired of it!

[celestina]

Would Neem oil work on stink bugs?

[feldon30]

I believe neem oil is not supposed to be applied when temps are above 85 degrees as it can burn the plants. I could be mistaken.

[duajones]

Here is an example of what I have been pulling for the past 3 weeks

[dice]

"Here is an example of what I have been pulling
for the past 3 weeks."

So you should have lots of saved seeds, eh?

(I guess that answers the question of whether
one should save seeds from earlier or later
fruit. In stink bug country, one should save seeds
from whatever fruit the stink bugs got to before
one could pick them.)

[Tomatovator]

I'm in western PA and just killed my first stink bug. I'm suprised to see any this early in the season. Since I saw one does that mean I will soon have many???

[Lee]

I'm in western PA and just killed my first stink bug. I'm suprised to see any this early in the season. Since I saw one does that mean I will soon have many???

I think if you are diligent enough about removing them from your plants, you will
reduce the total number that you have.
This is what I've done the past few years to reduce their impact... seems to work well in NC.

Lee

[Tomatovator]

Thanks Lee, I'll be diligent. They are nasty looking bugs.

[BigdaddyJ]

I can spit into Pennsylvania from where I garden here in northern Delaware and i can tell you most definitely we do have stinkbugs!


Stink Bugs and squash bugs feed on all cucurbits, but prefer squash and pumpkins. I no longer grow my summer zukes and that has helped. But I can't do without my cukes so I moved the cukes as far away from my tomatoes that I could and it worked very well. Only a few now settle over on the tomatoes.

Another trick is to place thin boards or shingles around your garden. These pests like to spend the night there. In the early morning spray the bejeebers out of them or whack them with the same board. LOL

[dice]

Will pyrethrum kill them? If so, you could spray
the bottoms of the boards.

[Tomatovator]

I've only seen 5 or 6 stink bugs this year and none have been on my tomatoes. I sprayed the last 2 that I saw in the yard with a solution of Dawn Ultra dish soap and they died within a minute or so.

[duajones]

Wanted to point out that recently I have started seeing stinkbugs on the millet that I planted late. I have sprayed them with the dr bronners soap, which kills them and then I rinse the plant off with water. I also sprayed the perimeter of the yard including weeds along fences and in the alley with ortho bug b gone. I have noticed a huge reduction in their numbers over the past couple weeks. Not sure if what I have done has helped or if it is the time of year that they start to diminish.

[Suze]

Originally Posted by duajones

Wanted to point out that recently I have started seeing stinkbugs on the millet that I planted late. I have sprayed them with the dr bronners soap, which kills them and then I rinse the plant off with water. I also sprayed the perimeter of the yard including weeds along fences and in the alley with ortho bug b gone. I have noticed a huge reduction in their numbers over the past couple weeks. Not sure if what I have done has helped or if it is the time of year that they start to diminish.

Based on what I am seeing (I have gotten a little lazy with the spraying lately) is that their numbers definitely have not diminished.

I'm seeing boatloads of the little buggers, so stick to your program if you're getting decent results with it.

They are doing quite a bit of damage to my peppers, and I will probably spray here in an hour or so, when the thermometer shows low 80's.

And I will especially target the millet in the front yard -- I can barely see the plumes for all the stinkbugs on them.