Stink Bug breakthrough...

16 years ago

...well, a minor one anyway, and one that may help home gardeners.

Just watered some of my garden, and in the course of doing it discovered that Stink Bugs can't stand getting their feet wet, just like Squash Bugs.

I had noted in another post that Squash Bug control is relatively easy on a small scale by watering infected cucurbits, which brings all the Squash Bugs to the tops of the plants where they can be easily picked off and destroyed.

The same is true with Stink Bugs--they all come to the tops of plants also, where they can be picked off.

Mentioned also that they're both the same family (or order): Hemiptera, which includes insects with a proboscis for sucking juice from plants (Aphids, Stink Bugs, Squash Bugs) or other insects--or even people, as in the case of female mosquitoes (males suck plant juices).

So get out the hose or watering can if you're a small scale grower and rid yourself of Stink Bugs and Squash Bugs.

Now I'll catch some from the tops of plants and see if my chickens will eat them.

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Comments (12)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
16 years ago
Mosquitoes aren't Hemipterans...just didn't want you to be confused over that point. ;-)
marylandmojo
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks, rhizo:

Replace mosquitoes with "cicadas"--that'll be a good Hemiptera replacement.

And makes sense since Hemiptera are true bugs.

Read that male mosquitoes suck plant juices and must have added them to Hemiptera of my own volition.
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novice_2009
16 years ago
maryland mojo, good posts on stinkbugs. I've got green ones in my herb/flower garden on west side of house.
I notice when the afternoon sun hits, they are more prone to come out on leaves, so I can get them. (I guess they like the warmth?)
Also, like you, I noticed that when I watered, some would come crawling up. Yep, don't like to get their feet wet, just like the squash bugs.
Great way to handpick em.
Now, how do we keep them from overwintering and wreaking havoc next year?
That's my question.
sandhill_farms
16 years ago
novice_2009 wrote:

"Now, how do we keep them from overwintering and wreaking havoc next year?
That's my question."

I don't have a problem with stink bugs but I do (occasionally) have a problem with squash bugs and other critters. The way I try and battle them is by keeping my growing areas, (as well as areas surrounding the gardens), clean and free of debris. My thinking is that this will eliminate places where they can overwinter.

Greg
Southern Nevada
Kimmsr
16 years ago
Keep in mind that many of the predators of those unwanted insects also overwinter in garden debris, so diligently cleaning the garden in the fall can eliminate winter homes for those too.
sandhill_farms
16 years ago
Well, kimmsr I guess using your logic would mean that the best thing to do is nothing - correct?

Greg
Southern Nevada
baygrower
16 years ago
I had many thousands in my 25x50 pepper patch and 20x60 tomato patch here in maryland...I have lost 90% of crop...I dedicated a small vaccum and have managed to kill most after a month and 6 vaccum cycles...

I realize this is no permanent fix,but wish i would have started in june...My neighbor has gardened 50 years next door and this is his worse year ever as well...

Would it be a good idea to burn my pepper and tomato plants in my barrel...I usually haul the debris deep in woods????

Where are the eggs laid???

I really appreciate the originator of these threads research..I have lots of work researching to do in coming months...
baygrower
16 years ago
EDIT on my last post...I realize the adults overwinter and mate the following spring/summer...They are all around my house trying to get in...Sealed my gable vents for attic...They were getting in thru screen that wasnt sealed on edges...
novice_2009
16 years ago
Yeah, I'm aware that fall cultivation, clean up of debris will eliminate their overwintering sites......as well as taking away places for the good guys to overwinter.
I live in the South, and where some places have one or two generations of a certain bug a year, we can have four or more!
So, last year I didn't clean up debris, cultivate, etc.
This has been a bad year for bugs- so it might be a good idea to do it this fall. However, after reading some posts, I'm not the only one who had bug problems. I blame some of it on the weather.
Problem with stinkbugs coming in house: I read that they can do this, attracted to heat and light. I live in a rented, old house with plenty of bug/mouse openings. It's rented, and right now we can't afford to seal it up properly...so that doesn't help me.
I see wasps flying around in the kids room, spiders(don't mind them too much) , leafhopper, etc. If it is outside, it gets in.
beeman_gardener
16 years ago
How about beneficial nematodes?
Seems they attack the larval stage of most soil living insects.
As most garden insects have a stage which live in the soil for part of their cycle, applied at the proper time and in the correct fashion I would think they're the best for 'green' gardeners.
I am trying them again this year, seems to be working for me as I had little damage this year.
novice_2009
16 years ago
beeman, beneficial nematodes sound great for the soil, but at what point of the stinkbugs life cycle is spent in the soil?
phebe_greenhouse
16 years ago
I appreciate your posts, baygardener, since we must live close to each other. I am not having the bad infestation some have had this year (though I DID lose a lot of squash!! didn't make the connection, somehow). But very likely I will have istinkbugs galore next year, so I'll need to be prepared to cope.

Some way..... or try to cope, anyway.