How I defeated Green Stink Bugs. I hope....

21 years ago

Anyway, I started seeing the stink bugs early on after fruit set. I didn't think anything of them because the fruit looked ok and there weren't that many. I squished a few and just let things run their course.

Anyway left for a 2 week vacation and came back to hundreds of them and tons of discolored fruit. Ack.

I tried spraying them directly with soaps and orange oils and all sorts of stuff. Nothing worked.

I switched to a sprayer with "Bioganics" and sprayed that and it slowed them down, but not much. However, I did notice it was probably killing the eggs as new bugs were not showing up.

Then in a last gasp I broacast about 5# of Diatamaceous Earth over the entire plot AFTER spraying the bioganics on the tops and bottoms of leaves. I'd go for the "take a big scoop and toss it as high in the air as possible (wear dust mask and glasses!)

Plants looked like they got snowed on. DE isn't really supposed to work on stinkers, but I was desparate to get things under control.

Well, it's been 10 days since I've seen one and I'm starting to think it worked. I've continued to spray a little bioganics here and there to ensure the eggs are gone and dead and I released another 6k tric. wasps for various things.

Anyway, maybe DE on the leaves and fruit does the trick for these pests. Maybe.

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Comments (5)

farkee
21 years ago
Thanks for the idea on controlling these sneaky devils.

You might be interested in a product called Surround. It would work on the same principal as the DE dust. I bought some Surround to be used on fruit trees but may try it out on the tomatoes too.
geoff_no_ca
21 years ago
I was absolutely infested w/ green stink bugs and only Sevin worked for me. I tried dishsoap and Safer Insecticide (obviously spraying different days, not mixed together) and they swam through it as if it were a wonderful after-shave lotion. It would only stun the babies and never affected bugs who had developed to the later stages.

One spray with recommended dosage of Sevin and all are in stink bug heaven now. Being no fan of harsh insecticides, Sevin is good in that, according to the label, it never penetrates the fruit and easily washes off and they say it can be used up to day of harvest. It's been 2 weeks now without another stinkbug reappearance. good luck
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Tomato_Worm59
21 years ago
Don't release any more trichgramma wasps. They kill off too many butterflies and moths. They are not native and just adding to the woes of native leps.
adrianag
21 years ago
I may have to resort to the Sevin solution. The stink bugs have absolutely destroyed my tomato crop for the past couple of weeks...
CAstarter
21 years ago
Do the green stink bugs look the same when babies, or are they jumpy and more brown as "immature" stink bugs? I havent ever seen them but I think I might have them on my tomatoes?