A Simple Effective Organic Spray For Stink Bugs

[saltmarsh]

Finally, something safe, fairly inexpensive, and organic that kills the bloody things.

Rosemary Tea

To make 2 liters of tea you will need:

2 liters of water

1/8 cup of Rosemary leaves (a typical coffee measuring spoon)

1 teaspoon molasses

1/2 teaspoon Palmolive Orange dishwashing liquid

Put the water and Rosemary leaves in a nonreactive pot and bring to a boil covered. Reduce heat to a slow boil and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. When the tea has cooled, strain and pour half of the tea into a 2 litre drink bottle. Add the molasses to the drink bottle. Shake well to disolve the molasses (it will foam. allow foam to dissipate). Finish straining tea into bottle. Add dishwashing liquid.

To use. Pour into a sprayer, hand or tank, spray full strength onto bugs. This is best done early in the morning or late in the afternoon when they are less active.

I'm testing this on their eggs also, but don't know the results yet. I'll update with those results later.

I originally made this tea for use on Spider Mites. The problem is I don't have any Spider Mites to test this on. So help me out on this one. If you have Spider Mites make some of the tea, spray the foliage where the Spider Mites are and repeat every 3 days and let me know the results.

The recipe is scalable for larger amounts. To make 3 gallons at a time, use 3 gallons of water, 3/4 cup of Rosemary leaves (fresh or dried are equivalent), 2 tablespoons of molasses, and 1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid. Give it time to cool, don't try to work with hot liquids. Claud

[kayrobbins]

This is the first year I have not seen any stink bugs but I am sure they will be back so I have saved this information for future use.

[Dewayne mater]

I love the idea of this! Those don't look like the stinkbugs we have though. Ours are the nasty imports, brown marmorated stink bugs. http://njaes.rutgers.edu/stinkbug/identify.asp
Hoping for some more feedback on this tea!

Dewayne Mater

[b54red]

I've always had a few of the green stinkbugs but this year we have been invaded by those nasty imported brown ones. I have my own Rosemary bush so I have plenty of it on hand. I may try it on spider mites and see if it works but I would need a lot more than two liters. It takes over 2 gallons for one treatment of my tomatoes but I may mix some up and try it. Always love it if I can find a safer way of getting rid of real pests.

Bill

[Kazfam]

Would it, could it work on squash bugs?

That would be a plus!

[luigiwu]

I'm also curious, why the "Palmolive Orange dishwashing liquid" - instead of say, blue Dawn. Its very specific!

[Stvrob]

I wish I saw this thread earlier. Stinkbug invasion here!

[saltmarsh]

Originally Posted by Kazfam

Would it, could it work on squash bugs?

That would be a plus!

It has killed every kind of stink bug I've sprayed it on including squash bugs. If you look closely the dark bug on the paper towel is a squash bug.

I specified the Palmolive Orange dishwishing liquid because it contains Orange oil which enhances the insecticidal properties of the dishwashing liquid. It's a cheap two fer. The stuff even kills Tomato Hornworms. Claud