Um, that doesn't damage your plants? I would think the suction would damage the leaves if it was strong enough to get the bugs. I'd think pinching, picking and throwing etc would be less work, and less electricity or toxic batteries.

A FWIW, use the small shop vac, stuff a leg of panty hose in the hole, leave 3 to 4 in sticking out. Reinsert hose into panty hose plus machine

When your done, remove the panty hose, tie open end in a knot, and dispose

:-)

The small shop vac is difficult to use as it requires two hands one to carry the vac and the other to hold the hose. Therefore I don't have a hand free to support the plants and it does cause a bit of damage to the plants. The damage has not been that big a deal as I decided the corn would have to be sacraficed as a trap crop.

I've found trying to hand smoosh leaf footed bugs to be tricky as those buggers are fast, some escape the vac too.

I don't like using strong toxic chemicals even if it is on a trap crop and since hand picking wasn't really working I decided the vac might be the lesser of evils.

I don't really need to bother with the panty hose since I've found opening the vac over a bucket of soapy water to be acceptable for disposing of sucked bugs. I don't have a ready stock of pantyhose since I don't wear them. That would be a pointless $$.

I have heard of people using a vac for squash bug control so I thought I'd ask around.

I am still looking for something a little easier to manuver in the garden than carrying a shop vac pulling a cord and trying not to suck the whole plant into the hose because I have no hands free.

I was feeling pretty discouraged for a few days after the leaf footed bugs showed up (I just hope they aren't attacking the citrus.) Peggy who also lives in FL mentioned that she doesn't do much about bigs in any case since they don't seem to desimate all her crops, just some. I'm trying to adopt more of that attitued since I did get some harvest of squash/zucchini before the plants started suffering and I got cucumbers before things got too bad. I still think I'll be spraying BT some as I don't think I would have gotten many cucs at all without it.

Anyway, still looking for some reviews on had vacs. I've found that the extension cord I have won't reach all of the gardens.

I use a wet/dry dust buster hand vac but the charge only lasts about 15-20 minutes. I have no other option really, there is no power supply in the field. I use it mostly to get the Colorado Potato beetle lavae - terrific results here, I can literally vacuum the entire plant without causing any damage and the lavae don't escape. I also use it on the brassicas to get the Harlequin bugs - works well but they are good at escaping (and the chickens won't touch them). I have also had limited success using it on the Japanese beetles - they tend to drop at the first sound so you have to turn the vacuum off, slip in underneath them and then turn it on. I had no luck at all on squash bugs - still squishing eggs and nymphs by hand.

We have a huge population of ladybugs, spiders and mantids - none of these have ever been vacuumed up.

Thank you paulaw,
Kinda what I expected about the battery but it may still be my best option.

I wonder if there is a dust buster type vac that uses the same batterys as my screw gun and other hand tools. Then I could at least swap batterys. Ok, gotta go search that.

Yes! Ryobi makes a wet/dry vac for their 18 volt one plus battery systems.
I know what I want for christmas.

Craftsman makes an 18 v dustbuster-type vacuum that uses the same batteries as its drills, etc. It is not half bad. Actually, the first one I got broke almost immediately but the second one is still going fine.

Today was the first time I had ever heard of this!! GREAT IDEA!! MUST HAVE for Harlequin bigs!! Broccoli and cauli INFESTED. And apparently there is nothing organic that kills stink bugs.

I read they LOVE the annual flower Cleome. So, you should plant "trap plants" and then either spray or pull up and put in a black garbage bag and dispose.

Like many other "pest control" systems this one would tend to catch beneficial insects well as the pests. The operator would have to be very knowledgeable about insects as well as very adept at using the vacuum to keep from catching those that are beneficial.