It seems your question was overlooked and went down before it was answered. Bumping it back up so hopefully someone can say what's worked against stinkbugs for them. I don't think not planting tomatoes for any length of time would keep them from finding them again.

I saw a couple of stink bugs on one plaNt. I have not had as much problem with them as I have had with leaf footed bugs. I am squirting the plant with water and that is helping but I don't have a lot of them.. I had a problem with squash bugs and did not grow squash for a couple of years and it has helped there. The bugs are related.

I have tried hosing them off and I have tried spraying kaolin powder solution, but it seems like the only effective approach is to hand remove or vacuum them off the plants, but I can't keep up with that during the work week.

Dan- Visual of garden, shop vac, cloud of DE made me laugh :-)

Somehow I'd manage to screw part of that up and the DE would land all over ME.

Lisa

I was out there squishing leaf footed stink bugs this evening. I think I got 6 of them. Victory is that very specific smell on your fingers. I'll be out there in the morning. I hear they are slower in the AM.

I enjoy taking a small tea pitcher half full of soapy water (1 healthy squirt/pitcher) to the garden with me. I slowly sneak the pitcher under the leaf footed bugs/squash bugs and smack them into the soapy water. They die very quickly, and it is satisfying I must say. If you start early in spring like Dan mentioned, it makes a huge difference, and it's fun.

I use the same water for a couple of days (dead stinkbugs included) but dump it after that, or it will smell terrible if you forget about it!!!

I do what wantonamara does, I just squish the squash bug, harlequin bugs, and other "stinky" bugs with my fingers. I do it very quickly. It helps to water the plants since they will come up from hiding in the mulch when they get wet.