This Stinks

[AlittleSalt]

When I sat the plants out this morning - I sat one tray of onions on top of two brown marmorated stink bugs. I have been seeing them a lot more often the past couple of weeks.

Then one fell between this keyboard and the monitor I'm looking at. It didn't survive.

This site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_...ated_stink_bug says, "The brown marmorated stink bug is more likely to invade homes in the fall than others in the family."

[greenthumbomaha]

Yuck! I've never had them in my house. You might buy a few sticky traps to reduce the population in your house. At least it was short lived by your computer area.

Here they were quite hungry for tomatoes in late summer.

- Lisa

[b54red]

I hate those things. They only got bad around here a few years ago and they are far more destructive than the little green ones we usually see. I finally came up with a combo spray that really helps keep them under control. I use very soapy water with food grade DE mixed and strained along with a heavy dose of Permethrin. I usually have to use it once to get them under control for a good while. The mix is also very effective in controlling leaf footed bugs, aphids, spider mites and whiteflies.

Bill

[PhilaGardener]

They were terrible here in PA a few years ago, particularly when the invaded the house by the hundreds. Numbers have subsided a lot but I guess they are here to stay.

[MadCow333]

On youtube there is a video of making a chaep stinkbug trap from 2L pop bottle, cheap LED light, and tape. Someone in the Pittsburgh forum on city-data said it really works. They are attracted to light. I live in NW PA and the cold winters here tend to freeze them out. But apparently they were getting into attics in Pittsburgh and not getting frozen out. You are not supposed to crush them because allegedly the smell attracts more stinkbugs.

[brownrexx]

I don't think that you can do much with trapping them indoors in the winter because they are not very active. They come indoors to hibernate until spring. I get them in my garage sometimes and I kill them as I see them. Usually I find a few bedded down between my gardening gloves. Yuk. I hate them too.

[maxjohnson]

They like my sweet potato leaves and bittermelon leaves, but neem oil + peppermint soap spray takes care of them.

[AlittleSalt]

They also like to hibernate in wood piles. I picked up a 2x6 and there must have been 20 there.

[Worth1]

I bet last night slowed them down a bit.
Worth

[cjp1953]

I had those in my garden this year,I was wondering why most of my tomatoes had a bitter taste.I looked up stink bug and found one site that reported that they feed on the tomatoes and plants and that in turn can lead to bitter fruit.Anyone else ever had this problem?And could that happen to the fruit?

[Worth1]

All I know is they ruin the fruit for me, too much scar tissue.

[cjp1953]

I had a couple types that had good flavor but the ones that had great taste in past years had a bitter taste.I thought maybe something might have happened to the soil.I did not do or add anything different just cottonseed meal and garden tone.Have been doing that the last 2 summers and had great tasting tomatoes last year.But don't remember seeing these bugs until this past summer.Very strange.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by cjp1953

I had a couple types that had good flavor but the ones that had great taste in past years had a bitter taste.I thought maybe something might have happened to the soil.I did not do or add anything different just cottonseed meal and garden tone.Have been doing that the last 2 summers and had great tasting tomatoes last year.But don't remember seeing these bugs until this past summer.Very strange.

Their taking over the country in droves.
More every year here.

Worth

[brownrexx]

There are many varieties of stink bugs. The ones on my tomatoes were green stinkbugs, not the Brown Marmorated stinkbugs which feed on my pears. I didn't notice a bitter taste in my tomatoes but there were lots of them with white starburst looking scars from the stinkbugs feeding.

There is a whole thread on here discussing stinkbugs on tomatoes.

[AlittleSalt]

So far, I've only found a few inside. We have our young grandchildren here every Wednesday after school. The front door is open about as much as it is closed while they're here. I'm guessing that's when the bugs come into the house. That and Thanksgiving was the same with the door being open so much. We started seeing the Brown Marmorated stink bugs a few years back, but they have been much worse the past two years.

In 2014, we had a lot of Harlequin stink bugs. They liked the spinach and radish greens the most. Harlequin bugs are very easy to see because of their colors. https://www.google.com/search?q=harl...IBigB&dpr=1.25 They lay eggs and spread very quickly. They also make crops smell awful. I used the same soapy water solution we used on squash bugs. It sort of worked. Eventually, I mixed in some Triazicide with about the same results. I took a Toter (Trash bag holder) and pulled the plants and then burned the plants and all out in a 55 gallon barrel. I guess it worked because I didn't see any Harlequin bugs in 2016.