Sammy,

They are the nymph form of Leaf-Footed Bugs. They usually show up shortly after the stinkbugs--so, about late July or early August in my garden.

Having them on tomatoes is very, very bad. They will cause damage similar to stink bug damage and can ruin your entire crop.

If you are fast, and you have a handheld portable vacuum cleaner like a Shark or Dust Buster or whatever, you might be able to suck them up with it. You have to get them all the first time, though, because they are fast learners and will hide in the future when they see you coming.

I'd spray with Spinosad, if organic, and if not organic, with any insecticide labeled for leaf-footed bugs.

Good luck,

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Info on Leaf-footed Bugs

Dawn
I had some on sunflowers, but I think they ruined a few cantaloupe. The seem to congregate in groups.

Barbara

Glad you posted this and glad to know what they are as I saw some on my tomatoes for the first time this year. I shook them onto the ground and stomped them, but didn't get them all.

How do they ruin the crop? By sucking juices?

Dorothy,

Yes, they bite the fruit with their piercing/sucking mouthparts just like stink bugs and cause the same type of damage, often referred to as 'cloudy spot'.

In my garden, stinkbugs are more of an issue in July/August and then seem to go away, more or less, so they mainly bother spring-planted tomatoes since the fall tomatoes don't really have fruit yet in July or most of August.

The leaf-footed bugs are mainly a problem on fall tomatoes, and even more of a pest if the heat holds, so maybe the cooldown will help set back their population.

They do, by the way, resemble stink bugs in another way--they have an unpleasant odor when crushed.

Dawn

Dawn
I sprayed my tomatos with Spinosad a couple days ago because the grasshoppers had invaded that section of the garden, and were chewing holes in a few of my large ripe tomatos.
I can't explain why, but the next day when I went out to check and do damage control, I only found one hopper lurking in the tomatos, I'm pretty sure the Spinosad didn't kill them but I'm wondering if there wasn't something about it that they didn't like. Maybe the way it tasted. Anyway, it looked like they moved on to another area.
I'm finding out more and more favorable things I like about Spinosad being a multipurpose organic control.

Barbara

Since I have stopped using sprays, I need to get out there with some gloves and kill them. Thank you so much. I had no idea that they were related to the stink bugs, or that the stink bugs were causing so much damage.

These are still the tomatoes I planted in the spring, so I guess I need to remember what they are since they are still producing.

Sammy

Barbara,

Anything that controls as many bugs organically as Spinosad seems to is something to get excited about.

The first time I used it for fire ant control, I didn't have high hopes. I've fought fire ants since at least the early to mid-1980s, back when we lived in Texas, and most organic products for fire ant control have been a huge disappointment. So, when I used the spinosad-based organic fire ant killer for the first time several years ago, and it actually worked, I was thrilled.

Just this week, a fire ant mound popped up by the back steps. I scattered a small amoung of EcoSense Fire Ant Killer (purchased at Wal-Mart earlier this year) on the mound and within hours the ants were gone. How wonderful is that?

Maybe the spinosad did kill the grasshoppers? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we discovered it can/does? You just never know. It seems to have the ability to kill a wide range of insects.

Sammy, I'm glad the tomatoes are doing so well. Having spring tomatoes still in production is great. You may have a natural predator in your garden that kills the bugs. I had a big surge in the nymph population about 3 weeks ago, and when I went out there with spinosad (which is organic) the day after I saw them so I could spray them, they were gone!

Look at the link from Texas A&M to see the kind of damage done by stink bugs and leaf-footed bugs. It was Bill P., who used to post on the tomato and vegetable forums as "GoneFishin'" who taught me about leaf-footed bugs and they always hit my place here in Oklahoma about 2-3 weeks after they arrived at his place in North Texas. I'd had them on my plants for several years, but didn't realize they did stinkbug-type damage until he described them/their damage.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Cloudy Spot on Tomatoes