Hey all! Just wondering if anyone has come up with a stinkbug strategy yet. Here in VA, it's rumored that this year will totally crush last year in terms of stink bug infestation. And last year itself was of epidemic proportions - about 40 % of my pods were destroyed. We've got them crawling out of walls in every room of the house, just waiting to get outside and attack. And they're bigger this year - they look to be 5/8 or 3/4 inch. I just read an article online that said they're now in 33 states and that 2011 may be the watershed year, in which a third of orchards end up shutting down, simply overrun by stinkbugs and unable to sell the damaged fruit. I've spend a lot of time investigating solutions and basically ... there are none. There's some ad-hoc stuff you can do like putting out a bottle with sugar water to attract/kill them. There's some pesticides that can help but that you don't really want on your food. I'm still looking around for a strategy. Anybody got ideas?
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pests Anyone got a stinkbug solution in mind for this season?
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I use the systemic neonicotinoid insecticide ... Acetamiprid.
It's the active ingrediant in Ortho Flower, Fruit and Vegetable ...
They land ... take a suck ... and die !!!
It's the active ingrediant in Ortho Flower, Fruit and Vegetable ...
They land ... take a suck ... and die !!!
I wonder if this would help
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/20666-silica-the-hidden-cost-of-chemicals/
I have been considering this as I think the strengthening may help
Now I am wondering about
I would assume this won't make the peppers un-eatable
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/20666-silica-the-hidden-cost-of-chemicals/
I have been considering this as I think the strengthening may help
Now I am wondering about
I would assume this won't make the peppers un-eatable
Here's the EPA data on Acetamiprid :
Acetamiprid...
The 0.006% formulation is the Ortho product.
They say this years stinkers are going to be "of Biblical Proportion" ... much worse than last year ...
Good luck !!!!
Acetamiprid...
The 0.006% formulation is the Ortho product.
They say this years stinkers are going to be "of Biblical Proportion" ... much worse than last year ...
Good luck !!!!
Thanks for the heads up and information on the Ortho Max flower fuit and vegetable product. I'll research some alternatives, but if i can't find anything better then Ortho it will be. I like that it supposedly isn't a persistent product, but one that dissipates after some time. Home Depot and Lowes have the 1.3 gallon jug for a reasonable price. Here's the Data Sheet on the Ortho product if anyone's interested.
Pretty sure my Azomite will come in handy too since it has a lot of aluminum silicate in it to stiffen up the leaves and stems.
These stink bugs are a real problem.
Pretty sure my Azomite will come in handy too since it has a lot of aluminum silicate in it to stiffen up the leaves and stems.
These stink bugs are a real problem.
OrthoMax users: this stuff sounds pretty good ... how do you use it? Is it something you spray on once, or something you apply every week or two during the season? Also, do you have to really scrub the pods to get the Ortho off of them when you eat them, or is it truly safe for consumption? Tnx
The compound is water soluble ... a foliar spray.
Each application lasts about 3 weeks ... but it can be applied again after 7 days if the infestation is bad.
4 treatments a season ... maximum.
Last year I sprayed at the beginning of June, July, August and September.
You can treat up to 7 days before harvest ...
It's systemic ... it is transported throughout the vascular system of the plant ... nothing that needs to be scrubbed off the fruit.
Here's a nice paper for some bathroom reading
Neonicotinoid Insecticide
Anyway, last year we had bad Stinkers (Halyomorpha halys) around here and as you know ... they have no natural enemies in the US ...
They say the are spreading rapidly across the US ... and will soon be a major problem for all agriculture here ...
They came from Asia ... and were first ID'd in Allentown, PA in 1998 ... presumably "stowed away" in a shipping container
Each application lasts about 3 weeks ... but it can be applied again after 7 days if the infestation is bad.
4 treatments a season ... maximum.
Last year I sprayed at the beginning of June, July, August and September.
You can treat up to 7 days before harvest ...
It's systemic ... it is transported throughout the vascular system of the plant ... nothing that needs to be scrubbed off the fruit.
Here's a nice paper for some bathroom reading
Neonicotinoid Insecticide
Anyway, last year we had bad Stinkers (Halyomorpha halys) around here and as you know ... they have no natural enemies in the US ...
They say the are spreading rapidly across the US ... and will soon be a major problem for all agriculture here ...
They came from Asia ... and were first ID'd in Allentown, PA in 1998 ... presumably "stowed away" in a shipping container
There where a bunch of them on my butterfly plants, along with a bunch of yellow aphids, nuked them... The ones here are black with red/ orange coloring... not sure what kind of them... I did enjoy watchin them wriggle thru the posion... 
It's WAR! 
I'm pretty sure I saw one last night on my porch. If it's going to be an issue I will take note of all of this for sure. Too bad lady bugs don't handle that problem too..
I'm pretty sure I saw one last night on my porch. If it's going to be an issue I will take note of all of this for sure. Too bad lady bugs don't handle that problem too.. 
I hate those things...Even if they don't cause any obvious damage to the pods, the fruit ends up tasting bad. About half of my Thai Chile crop was unusable last year because the stink bugs seemed to prefer them to everything else I had in the garden.
They seemed to laugh at anything I sprayed on them. Will be buying the Ortho product on the way home from work today!
They seemed to laugh at anything I sprayed on them. Will be buying the Ortho product on the way home from work today!
OK, I'm armed now. I went to Home Depot. They had the Ortho stuff in small, medium, large, gigantic, astoundingly huge, and No More F*#&$@ing Around. I bought the latter.
Organic gardening is a concept I've believed in, but new developments require new tactics and methods. Fighting stink bugs with organic soap and oil is bringing a slingshot to a tank battle.
Now they are going to die.
Organic gardening is a concept I've believed in, but new developments require new tactics and methods. Fighting stink bugs with organic soap and oil is bringing a slingshot to a tank battle.
Now they are going to die.
they are not bad here YET! Guys at work who live across the various bridges in NJ talk like they have taken over sometimes 
I use Neem to control them down here but we have different ones, ours are green stinkbugs and there's a brown version too.
You need to set up a schedule in which to spray, I spray every 2 weeks during the tomato season unless I notice a really heavy population. One other thing I have discovered about them is that they will "hide" on the interior of your plants where the spray can't reach, so you'll have to use a hand sprayer and stick the wand into the interior of your plants and spray.
Neem is a organic oil from the neem tree, they actually use it in skin creams, and it is a fungicide and a miteacide too!
You need to set up a schedule in which to spray, I spray every 2 weeks during the tomato season unless I notice a really heavy population. One other thing I have discovered about them is that they will "hide" on the interior of your plants where the spray can't reach, so you'll have to use a hand sprayer and stick the wand into the interior of your plants and spray.
Neem is a organic oil from the neem tree, they actually use it in skin creams, and it is a fungicide and a miteacide too!
Glad I spotted this thread. Thanks Steel-n-Peppers for the photo, was able to ID them as what I call squash bugs. They first showed up in my Idaho garden about 4 years ago, and they have only attacked various squash plants. Never had them go after peppers, tomatoes or anything else. Yet. Bastids will totally wipe out a squash plant in a few days, move to another target. They are good flyers.
The wife-unit is the main stink bug killer. She uses plastic newspaper bags and grabs them, inverts the bag, ties a knot, goes for another grab. Check leaves for egg clusters, tear them off, throw in the bag. But this is a daily chore and they rapidly mass again if not worked over regularly. Couple years ago, I used a vaccuum cleaner with a suction hose just the right size--short term effective but couldn't keep up.
This year will consider the Ortho product. Thanks for the link info on that product. I may also try some diaomatecous earth, applied sparingly with a 1-inch paintbrush when the area is dry. Crawl through THAT you ugly bastids!
This might have been posted before. Problem appears worse back east. Wash Post stink bug article
The wife-unit is the main stink bug killer. She uses plastic newspaper bags and grabs them, inverts the bag, ties a knot, goes for another grab. Check leaves for egg clusters, tear them off, throw in the bag. But this is a daily chore and they rapidly mass again if not worked over regularly. Couple years ago, I used a vaccuum cleaner with a suction hose just the right size--short term effective but couldn't keep up.
This year will consider the Ortho product. Thanks for the link info on that product. I may also try some diaomatecous earth, applied sparingly with a 1-inch paintbrush when the area is dry. Crawl through THAT you ugly bastids!
This might have been posted before. Problem appears worse back east. Wash Post stink bug article
Wanted to bump this great thread up to the top to provide some results, and to thank steel-n-peppers again for bringing it to our attention.
Well a stinkbug onslaught hasn't seemed to materialize yet, but i think i caught a potential aphid infestation nice and early. I purchased the Ortho product within a few days of this thread, went hunting for pests before spraying, and noticed aphids scattered about. I began my first spray cycle, re-inspected a few days later and couldn't find an aphid for the life of me. About two weeks later i sprayed again, inspected a few days later and still couldn't find an aphid, right down to this day.
Maye i just caught them extra early, but this stuff seems to really work.
Well a stinkbug onslaught hasn't seemed to materialize yet, but i think i caught a potential aphid infestation nice and early. I purchased the Ortho product within a few days of this thread, went hunting for pests before spraying, and noticed aphids scattered about. I began my first spray cycle, re-inspected a few days later and couldn't find an aphid for the life of me. About two weeks later i sprayed again, inspected a few days later and still couldn't find an aphid, right down to this day.
Maye i just caught them extra early, but this stuff seems to really work.
Squash bugs and stink bugs are two different bugs. They look pretty similar, but stink bugs are wider and rounder, and squash bugs only smell like French people when smashed, stink bugs give off that odor when disturbed. Squash bugs only feed on cucurbits (squash, pumpkin, melon, etc.) too.*
*just kidding French people
I saw a green stinkbug today on my dwarf fig tree. He accidentally fell off the leaf and got stuck under my shoe, he should have been more careful.
Thanks for the info, AB. Good to know the difference. We just had our first encounter with squash bugs for the season and kinda glad these only will go for the squashes. They sure do look the same and are deadly to squash.
The wife-unit will be merciless as she loves her squashes. She 'paint' dusted their creepy squash bug asses with diatamaceous earth, and sprinkled it around the squash plant base. Hope they crawl thru and die. She also got the Ortho Max and plans chem warfare if they get thru the DE.
The wife-unit will be merciless as she loves her squashes. She 'paint' dusted their creepy squash bug asses with diatamaceous earth, and sprinkled it around the squash plant base. Hope they crawl thru and die. She also got the Ortho Max and plans chem warfare if they get thru the DE.