pnbrown: No, I'm not speaking about a squash bug--though it wouldn't surprise me if the stink bug and the squash bug are in the same family. And what we call "squash bugs" here in the Maryland/Virginia area don't give live birth: they lay clusters of orange eggs on the underside of cucurbit leaves. The babies go through varying stages--one called a "midge". I've dealt with infestations of them many times in the past--though it's been a few years, now.

I bring this up for you (as an organic grower) to tell you that 1% Rotenone will not kill adult squash bugs--not even if you spray them right in the face from a foot away. It'll kill every other stage of them, though, when they have much softer bodies that absorb the Rotenone.

(I'm remiss at not googling this and finding out definitively about stink bugs, but it's always nice to get other growers' views, too.)

The "stink bugs" I'm describing--as was described to me by my dentist--are shaped like "crabs". I thought that was a pretty good description when she gave me her idea of their shape. What I call a squash bug is elongated: but it, too, does suck the juice from cucurbit plants.

And what we call "squash bugs" in my area, are WATER-sensitive. If you have them in your squash or melons or gourds (or any other cucurbit), you can detect their presence by watering your crop. Squash bugs will immediately come to the tops of cucurbit plants to get away from the water and dry out.

They'll also fly away, if they feel like it. Years ago on this very forum I had a discussion with a lady who told me squash bugs don't fly. Believe me, adult squash bugs definitely DO fly. They Winter over in debris in the neighborhood of your garden, and fly in each Spring to begin mating and laying eggs on the leaves of cucurbits, as I mentioned.

I used to grow acres of cantaloupes, and when one has a bad infestation of squash bugs, when the plants are very small--just set out after coming out of the greenhouse--I could look closely and find one squash bug on the stem of each plant--generally inverted--right at the soil line, sucking the juice from the stem of the plant. One to a plant, when the plant is small. On a large and mature squash plant, you may find hundreds to a plant.

You'll find adults and midges hiding on dead cucurbit leaves--generally dead from them sucking the life from the leaf--and on the underside, in the shade, in the heat of the day. Turn over a dead leaf near the ground where it's coolest, and there will be squash bugs in all stages of development.

And the best organic control for them is a trap crop. From the acres of melon plants I had with 100,000 squash bugs on them, I would till the expired plants under in the late Summer/early Fall--but leave an area intact of about 20 feet by 20 feet.

Now the hundreds of thousands of surviving squash bugs that inhabited 5 acres, are confined (and trapped) in an area 20'X20', and SOOO much easier to deal with. I sprayed them with pure ethanol, obtained from an ethanol producer-friend. Adios, squash bugs. The next growing season, I had NO squash bug infestation.

Trap crops are an organic grower's (or any grower for that matter) best control for an infestation. Reduce them to a small area, and deal with the small area. Do NOT let them continue as survivors and multiply from season to season. That's what causes an infestation.

So, pn, there's your solution for the squash bug you have--whether it's the same one I'm talking about or not, no matter. Leave a small bit of your planting to trap them after your crop is done, and deal with them in a small area.

I might further tell you that when I reduced the infestation of 5 acres of cantaloupes down to a 20'X20' area, there were so many squash bugs there--and quite a few Cucumber Beetles along with them--that after they had completely sucked every bit of juice from the remaining plants, either the squash bugs or the cucumber beetles were eating the skin off the cantaloupes!! You wouldn't think a sucking bug would do this, so maybe it was the Cucumber Beetles.

I've trapped both squash bugs and cucumber beetles (both nearly impervious to 1% Rontenone) on a watermelon planting of about 5 acres too, reducing it in size to 20'X20', and one or the other of those insects ate all the skins off the watermelons, too. It looked surreal. A thousand squash bugs and cucumber beetles on every remaining Moon and Stars watermelon--and no moon and stars and no skin. Just bald watermelons, with their skin eaten off.

I'm totally serious.

I guess I've exposed the fact that I'm no entomologist! Live birth is wrong of course. I meant the absence of the larval stages - I believe true bugs and arachnids share that quality.

Anyhoo, my belief regarding severe infestations is that they are symptomatic of imbalance in a garden, probably multiple. Strategically I think it is a folly to try to attack insect infestations head-on. I gave that up long ago. I do not use anything, not rotenone, neem, bt, nada. If I lose the squash crop, or whatever, so it goes. Anyway, I had a huge zuke harvest before they got going. Giant fields of monocrops, as a every holistic horticulturalist should know, are another folly. I heard yesterday after my last post that another veg farm nearby has lost all the sqaush, so the CSA farm will be next. The big plantings are doomed, though again the infestation is late and fortunately a lot of the winter squash has made a partial crop. Probably they will engage in some doomed efforts to eliminate the un-eliminatable.

My experience is clear, at least to me. Next year there will be no serious problem in my garden with squash bugs, even though I am not going to make any effort to root them out. If in the unlikely event that they are severe two seasons in a row, I will plant zero cucurbits in the third year. Rotation and diversity is how to handle these situations.

In most cases, infestations have little to do with inbalance in an individual garden. However, they are avoided (in an individual garden) by taking control of the situation early on. I don't have the time to list all the ways that is accomplished, but not allowing populations to build up until they are infestations is the best way.

Both Cucumber Beetles and Squash Bugs have the wherewithall to overpopulate and become infestations if they're not dealt with annually. That's their M.O.

But you certainly have options, as you said. Just don't grow vegetables that those insects eat. In the case of Squash Bugs, don't grow cucurbits. In the case of Cucumber Beetles, don't grow cucurbits or any other garden vegetable--because they infect them all.

So, if you don't manage the insects you have in your garden you probably shouldn't grow a garden. It's an age-old problem, since our ancient ancestors ceased being hunter-gatherers and began growing food crops.

And by the way, trap crops have been used to control infestations for thousands of years, and the insects were killed in the very way I killed them--with Ethanol.

Ethanol is alcohol from plants, by the way. Sugars in plants are fermented, distillation separates vinasse from alcohol, and alcohol is used to control insects on the very plants that the alcohol was created from.

Rather ingenious for our most ancient ancestors to think of such a thing--especially when modern gardeners must stop gardening to control insects. Our ancestors didn't have that luxury: they controlled insects so they would have food to eat, and so they store food through Winter when nothing grows, so they wouldn't starve to death when 3 feet of snow were on the ground for 3 months.

Brilliant!

One picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case may confirm the ID of the bug in question. A page from Iowa State U. The soldier bug, a beneficial lookalike, is at the bottom of the page.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stink bugs.

TN here. I've seen a stinkbug (few before) but nothing like this year. I'm still learning(newbie)but from all the bugs I've gotten in garden this year this is what I can tell: adult stink bugs are a little more shield shaped than squash bugs-but they are all the same to me!
This year, I grew three zuke plants for first time, and the bugs came a running. Mostly on zuke plants, but also on my beloved cukes, and I've seen adults on ripe toms. Left one zuke plant as trap crop. Found eggs and gray nymphs on lower tansy leaves (in garden between zukes and cukes). Yeah, I got them bad, but just add them to the list this year. Unbeliveable the bugs!!!!
Won't grow squash next year, and might have to just grow one cuke plant to monitor well.
Yes, there's been A LOT, but to be fair, this year I've had more bugs than I can list here.

Yes, they are definitely here!!! Very Just got done spraying a mixture of cayenne pepper, soap, and water that someone on this forum recommended in another thread. It seems to be more effective than anything else we've tried, lots of dead bugs. [We made the mixture strong!] Garlic was also mentioned, but since I don't have a lot on hand at the moment, and what I have is used for cooking, we left that out for now, at least until I get to where I can get more. Plan to spray again in a couple days.

Well, I certainly thank the respondents to date. And thanks for the picture, mister potato head--and yes, the brown stink bug is the "stink bug" I've been talking about.

Something has happened to cause the overwhelming number of them in this area--and I'm thinking it very well could be weather related. And when I say weather-related, I mean the ongoing warming from climate change.

When I have a few moments I'll google the subject and see what academia has to say.

I have 3 organic growing projects in 3 states this year--Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The Brown Stink Bugs are overwhelming in all 3 locations. I've been growing commercially and organically (and have never missed having an annual garden) for decades, and I definitely notice even subtle changes that occur during growing seasons--and during the off-season of Winter.

And believe me. the recent and overwhelming numbers of Brown Stink Bugs is way more than subtle!

One other thing I might add is that when I began gardening years ago, it was extremely difficult to differentiate between the Brown Stink Bug and the Spined Soldier Bug. It still is. And it's a shame, because one is beneficial and one is harmful. Do we have anyone on the forum that can give us some feature that makes them easier to I.D.?

I'm sure I may have killed many a Spined Soldier Bug thinking I was killing a Brown Stink Bug.

There also is a sucking bug in our area that is elongated, like a Squash Bug--but bigger (maybe twice the size) and blacker and it has some orange in its wings that you can see when it flies. And when it flies, its wings make a rather loud humming noise that freaks you when one flies by. Sounds like an airplane, when it's close to you.

This bug also sucks the sap from the most young and tender branch tips of plants, where new growth occurs, and sap is sent up to protect the new growth. These sucking bugs don't appear to be very particular, and I've actually seen them sucking on Hickory branch tips, and branch-tips of other tree varieties. I've sometime noticed the young tip leaves dead or dying, and SEEN this sucking bug doing the damage.

Another fairly irrelevant factoid: my people were farmers in Virginia, and many years ago before World War II and the proliferation of chemical poisons that followed the war, they grew Tobacco. And they spread the crushed stems of the tobacco plants about their garden and fields each year to repel insects. Later, Sulfate of Nicotine--or Nicotine Sulfate--was isolated from Tobacco and sold as an insecticide for many years around the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

It's popularity decreased and finally ceased after tobacco plantings were downsized--and after chemical companies came up with way more powerful poisons.

(Ah, the smell of chemical poisons in the morning: the smell of death.)

Thanks again, folks, and I hope gardeners from other states check in too--to give us a further handle on the extent of the Brown Stink Bug's meanderings in great numbers.

I read that Neem will kill sucking bugs, although I have not tried it yet myself. It will not kill them immediately,
It acts like a hormone substitute and they stop eating, mating, etc... I am going to try the Neem soon mixed with soap to use as a spray. The people in India have used Neem for centuries.
We are in NY and only see the stinkbugs once in awhile. I have been having a problem witth snails, which I guess are another type of sucking bug). I usually pick them and feed them to our chickens, they have acquired a taste for snails and now they love them. I tried the other remedies for snails, escar-go (I'm afraid to use that, it smells nasty), beer (too expensive).
I hope that you are able to find a remedy soon!
Terry

Thanks, Terry. And Neem is an interesting topic. Chemical company headquartered around here--Grace--isolated the active ingredient in Neem years ago and patented it as their own.

The country of India was in collusion with them. But an activist for small farmers and a patriot (and a cyber-friend of mine) Vandana Shiva, fought the patent award, and after 11 years, had it overturned.

Yay, Vandana!

Also established that long-held agricultural practices as well as indiginous plants cannot be usurped--as US companies are wont to do, by going from country to country and patenting such things.

She also had a patent overturned that the USDA and and a US company colluded on--Basmati rice. Said they had developed it when it was a rice of India for 5,000 years.

Mary, it might surprise you to learn that this modern fool of a gardener grows about 50% of what he consumes, year-round. If I had sufficient space and time, IOW, if it were my full time job, like it was for those ancients to whom you allude so tactfully, it would be not difficult to produce 80-90% or more (depending on whether we want to give up things like olive oil) for myself and others.

I do that despite not turning my garden upside-down when there are infestations of insects. The fact that these infestations vary wildly regardless of what a gardener does strongly indicates that the primary factors are out of the gardener's control. As has been stated, seasonal weather is probably the biggest factor.

You don't think that imbalances in the garden are a possible factor? For instance, those folks that only grow warm-weather crops and then get wiped out by hornworms, and wonder why the yields decrease very year, aren't doing anything wrong? The idea of rotating through very different crop families (another one of those strategies invented by the ancestors) is silly? I'm sure you don't think that. Hence my statement about not growing the troubled crop if necessary: it can become necessary when the cultivated area is very small, so small that effective rotation away from the infested area isn't possible. You can't be suggesting that it is possible to kill every bug and egg of a massive infestation? That means if one plants again the same crop family fairly near the infested area, there is likely to be that pest present again, although regression to the mean also makes it likely that the infestation will be less.

So the best strategy, IMO, and one that the esteemed ancestors undoubtedly used, is to have many separated garden sites. So that when the pumpkin field was overrun, the next year that field is put into a small grain and the squashes go a couple miles away in a field that was in a very different crop. Putting the same assemblage of crops - even if composed of quite a few families as in my case - into the same smallish space year after year is unfortunately a crippled strategy. It's a serious problem for the average-sized home garden.

pnbrown, I think your second message explained your method more clearly.

I am nowhere near remote enough to use lack of a crop for a year to manage insects which travel as far as squash bugs or stink bugs. Separate fields? Best I can do is swap produce with other gardeners.

So my long term methods focus more on sanitation and reduction of winter habitat for pests -- balanced with preserving habitat and food for beneficials. That, and I take my winter garden much more seriously than summer. Not only do I like winter crops better, but they are far easier to manage.

We are fortunate here in Southern California. There are always a few brown and green stink bugs around as well as some harlequin bugs (another type of stink bug that's actually kind of pretty) but they never become a real problem. The squash bug doesn't seem to like our climate. I've never seen one here.

Though I've seen the occasional bug that looks similar to the stink bug, I cannot say for sure that I've seen them in Vermont. We do not have an infestation of them AT THIS TIME. But one never knows what the future will bring. Good luck all, and enjoy your garden.

In northwestern Oregon I have noticed both green and brown stink bugs. But in very small numbers, not worth worrying about. I doubt I've ever seen two in one day before.

The Spined Soldier Bug does have a visible distinctive characteristic to distinguish it from the Brown Stink Bug. I have yet to put it to the test. The Soldier Bug's wing tips have varying black marks that will be visible when the wings overlap, as in their normal resting position. This is visible as a black patch at the very rear tip of the Soldier Bug's body. Sometimes large and pronounced, other times more like a small spot, but visible nonetheless.

http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/predators/podisus.html

From the above link:
"Unlike pest species that may look similar, spined soldier bug adults have a distinctive dark line on the membranous tip of each forewing that may form one dark streak when the wing tips overlap."

In the picture below, the black spot is much less pronounced.

http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/hemiptera/stinkbug/spined_soldier_bug.html

I'm not sure that I have any stink bugs. I have very few sqush bugs since I made a concerted effort in the early fall to kill them all off. They will congreate on the remaining bits of green leaves and fruits of squash/pumpkins....easy to stomp them all out then.

On a simular note I have been squishing Colorado Potato Beetles on the remaining green bits of potato leaves and stems and especially on the few volunteer green ones....really works folks to reduce the population carry-over.

Wayne, what would you posit as an explanation for having few squash bugs without having made any effort to rid them the season before?

Ditto for CPB; some years are worse than others, and other years they are practically absent. I have made no effort to control them for five years or so.

Nicole, my suspicion, based on my anecdotal experience, is that cutting way back on a particular troubled crop family from time to time helps a lot. I did that with Brassica in my home garden, and perhaps it is merely coincident, but the ICM infestation declined a lot. This year we're having mid-summer kale for the first time in a dozen years.

Pat, My explanation for having near zero squash bugs is elimination of all of them in 2008. I always had gazoodles of them before. The CPB population has corrolated with my dilligence in squishing them.....early and late.

Cuke beetles and corn root worm beetles [here in the corn belt] can fly in and are harder to fully eliminate. Also I have had only a handful of JBs.....thousands previously.

Wayne, perhaps you are correct. However, I find the idea that absolutely ALL of particular insect population can be eliminated to be rather astounding, and not in keeping with what is known about how insects operate: saturation in the presence of a good food source.

I grew up in the south with palmetto bugs. Everywhere, inside, outside. The struggle is to reduce their indoor population. The outdoor is hopeless because they make subterranean nests in grass roots and have an endless supply of water and food around human habitation. Because of their omnivorous diet and the way that insects can expand from a tiny population to a huge one in what seems like no time, nothing can really reduce their numbers much. That is the key with insects, especially the diet-specific ones, reduce their food supply. It is hugely easier and more effective than trying to kill them by force.

It's overwhelmingly likely that your extermination efforts correlated with a natural fluctuation in population. The common thing is that a really bad year is followed by a much better one due to the local population of whatever kind of crop-specific insect pest cresting and then crashing from lack of enough crop to feed on. Something that humans may learn about this century.

One problem with squash bugs is that they don't seem to have any predators that are very effective. Even birds will seldom eat them. They have a pretty powerful repellent, like a skunk, that wards off most predators.

I am near annapolis, maryland and have grown a 200x100 foot plot last 10 years....Never had the stinkbugs this bad...They have devestated my pepper and tomato crop by at least half...67 peppers and 48 tomatoes.

We did have record snowfall last winter and i have noticed them at sisters house in numbers for first time and this is far from garden....

Reading everything everywhere with interest on a spray etc..In past i would hand pick and dunk in soapy water..Not feesable with this many this year....

I sure hope it is seasonal related...My plot is surrounded by forest...Infestation like this years would be devestating for a commercial grower...Thanks for the Discussion!!!!!!

We have these:
http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2005/10/14/stink-beetle/

Large black beetles that let of a pungent cloud of stink gas if molested. they first stand on their heads, them let it out.

Who knew Beetles could fart?

Hi. Mississippi here.
I was just about to jump in with my stink bug woes when I decided I better positively ID my critters. I refered to a link (attached) that Rhizo emailed to me back in the spring and found out that what I, and most Mississippians I'm sure, have called stinkbugs all our lives are actually Leaffooted bugs.
So, I can verify late summer swarms of leaffooted bugs on tomatoes.
But the fact that they're not stink bugs... well I just don't know what to believe anymore!

I still have plenty of tomatoes but the swarms of leaffooted bugs are sucking the life out of them. Any suggestions?

Here is a link that might be useful: Insect ID

As I said in an earlier post, it wouldn't surprise me if Stink Bugs (of any color) and Squash Bugs are in the same family--and of course they are, the family Hemiptera, which consists of insects with sucking mouth parts.

In the order Hemiptera, the mandibles and maxillae have eveolved into a proboscis capable of piercing tissue (usually plant) and sucking out the liquids (that we call "sap").

Mosquitoes are in the family Hemiptera, and sure enough, the males do suck plant juices: but of course the females pierce skin tissue and suck blood with their proboscis.

ckbozeman: Yep, Leaf-footed bugs ARE a specific variety of Squash Bug, and in the order Hemiptera, so we're talking about the same critter here. I've seen a few of these in the Maryland/Virginia area, but very sporadically.

lazygardens: The "Stink Beetle" to which you refer is the Pinacate Beetle, and is nicknamed "Clown Beetle or Stink Beetle", as you say, and also does exactly as you say, by standing on its head and spraying a noxious liquid.

baygrower (in Maryland): Yep, same deal here with the proliferation of Brown Stink Bugs. I'll get to the bottom of it as soon as I have a moment. Academia should know--they have books--(if this latest infestation has had time to get into the material).

hoodat: You're exactly right. The stinky, fermenting plant juices (sap) inside the Stink Bug seem to make it unpalatable to other insects, birds, and animals. I don't know if it has a natural enemy, but if it does, I'll research it and find it out. That's organic growing--find out if harmful insects in your garden have predators of their own.

(For one thing, I'm going to feed a few to my chickens and see if they'll eat them.)

tcstoehr: Thanks for the research of distinguishing characteristics It's very helpful. In the case of the Spined Soldier Beetle--they're also Hemiptera, but they use their proboscis to suck the juice from other insects.

You've got to look really closely--and sometimes it's still way difficult to distinguish between the two. I've been trying.

thanks, terry-upstate-ny: Grower friends used Neem in the past few weeks with little success; but as you say, it may take awhile. Also, they're growing on 5 acres, and they've allowed themselves to be inundated. They emailed me today and asked me to get them 1% Rotenone.

As the growing season winds down, the Stink Bugs get worse as their babies grow up, and they're now joined by the moth parents of Tomato Horn Worm and Tomato Fruit Worm and Army Worm and Corn Ear-worm.

I have noticed in recent years that nearly all the Tomato and Tobacco (both in the same family) Horned Worms are parasitized by pupating Braconid Wasps (in their white cocoons)--which I consider a good sign, as 30 and 40 years ago I saw little such parasitism. There is obviously widepsread distribution of these wasps in my area now.

alabamanicole: Thanks for your discussion. I wasn't aware that farmers had stopped spraying for Boll Weevils: cotton was/is the MOST sprayed of all crops, and an outcry arose from people who bought cotton clothes. I know many new mothers who began searching out organic cotton clothes for their babies, so as not to expose them.

But if they have stopped spraying--or slowed down--I guess that could be a reason for their population explosion. Although the nearest cotton crops I know of are in South Carolina (beaucoups), they can certainly migrate, as Stink Bugs fly like birds around here.

Posyplanter: How did your cayenne pepper concoction work for you? Please post if it did work. I did a bit of research and noticed a few sites said that "there are no effective insecticides for Stink Bugs". Of course I take that with a grain of salt until I've tried various controls--or receive information from someone like yourself who has also tried.

I'm a certified organic grower in my state, and I do intend to spray 1% Rotenone on the Stink Bugs to see if it will work. I don't hold a lot of hope, as an adult Stink Bug and an adult Squash Bug are very similar in construction: hard exterior shells, in particular. And I know 1% Rotenone will not kill adult Squash Bugs--not outright, anyway. I've tried a few times in the past, spraying at close range, and they walked away.

I've grown organically all my life--my father before me, and his father before him; and I began growing commercially and organically in the San Fernando Valley in southern California in 1968, and by the grace of God have managed to survive, lo, these 42 years. I've also grown a home garden every year that I grew commercially.

Rarely do I spray anything: but I don't allow any insect to take over so that I can't grow that crop or that family of crops in succeeding years, neither in my commercial endeavors or in my home garden. No way.

Here are what Stink Bugs have destroyed--or greatly, adversely infected--in my home garden this year:

Apples--inedible and unsellable

Pears--inedible and unsellable

Peaches--inedible and unsellable

Figs--Leaves and stems have been damaged more than fruit, and fruit is edible and sellable.

Green Beans: Ruined, both beans and plants. No crop.

Southern Peas: Same as above.

Lima Beans: Same as above.

Tomatoes: 1/2 to 2/3 reduction in edible tomatoes. They prefer fruit to plants, and the plants are untouched (as far as I can see).

Squash: Nearly untouched by Stink Bugs. Guess they figured they'd leave this crop to their cousin, the Squash Bug.

Basil: Actually sucking the juice from both red and green basil, and pock-marking all the leaves. Unreal. Except for Japanese Beetles, I have no other insect that affects Basil in my area.

And numerous other damage, but these are the worst affected.

No way on earth will I NOT grow the dozen or so crops listed above in succeeding years without dealing with the Stink Bugs this year. If my time hadn't been spread so thin, I would have done it long before now. Shame on me for letting it go this long.

pnbrown and others: My apology for offering advice on how others should grow their gardens; I must have had a momentary relapse, or something. The beauty of gardening is that anyone and everyone can do it exactly the way they wish, whether others agree with their methods or not.

But my search is for truth and knowledge, and I don't intend to debate the issue of how a garden should be grown any more than I should advise others how to grow their gardens. To each, his/her own.

I'll certainly not stop growing basic vegetables in my garden because of an insect infestation---ever. I have no idea WHY there is an onslaught of Stink Bugs this year, but no matter: they have to go.

I've gardened long enough to know that THIS amount of Stink Bugs cannot be allowed to continue over to next year--just as an infestation of Mexican Bean Beetles cannot be allowed out of control (if one plans to grow and eat beans), nor can an ifestation of Squash Bugs or Squash Vine Borers be allowed out of control (if one intends to grow and eat Cucurbits), nor can an infestation of Cucumber Beetles be allowed out of control, nor can an infestation of White-flies be allowed out of control, nor can an infestation of Aphids be allowed out of control, nor can an infestation of Harlequin Beetles, Army Worms, Tomato Fruit Worms, Corn Ear Worms, or Cut Worms be allowed out of control, nor can an infestation of Cabbage Loopers, or Leaf Miners, on Spinach, Swiss Chard, and Beets, etc., etc., etc. be allowed out of control in MY garden.

I don't intend to stop growing most of the vegetables and fruit I grow because Stink Bugs eat them all. I'll begin with 1% Rotenone, and if that doesn't work, I'll remove most of my plants towards season's end, trap the Stink Bugs in a small area, and spray them with Ethanol.

We will be harvesting Sweet Sorghum about the end of September, and we'll produce Ethanol from its juice.

Adios, Stink Bugs. When you reach the other side, tell 'em you caught a nice buzz on your way out.

Yes, as it is, people can garden however they want. Though it certainly is ironic that boards of health will try to prevent a gardener from reusing greywater but pay no mind to any sort of pesticide.

Anyway, I like to know - or at least try to know - why something is happening before acting. Why does a garden, mine for example, go for years without a serious squash bug problem and then one year they wipe out the late-season squash? Is it because I failed to 'control' the small population for all those years? Is it because by late last summer several rampant squash plants were covering about half of my garden space? Or some other reason? I suspect some other reason is most likely, but if it were a choice between the first or the second possibilities, I think the second is much more likely. Especially given that long-season squash, winter squash, fails to thrive in my garden for various reasons (not usually squash bugs), so that the bugs would in most years have little to feed on and leave a big egg population. Last year had hugely unusual and frequent rainfall and the winter squashes ran wild. Next year big infestation. Could be linked.

Now, if that is the case, then a situation where thriving squash late in the season is an easy thing to achieve - which includes most parts of north america, then I can imagine that the squash bug infestations could become really intractable. If I had that to deal with, I would definitely want to rotating the squash on a 3-4 year schedule well separated in space as well.

Hi, pn:

I'll give you my opinion on a few of the points you made if you wish--but note that it's only opinion (though borne from some experience).

There are, of course, good answers to all your questions, but in many cases they have not been researched. Why have the life cycles of various harmful insects not been researched, and why have natural predators of harmful insects not been identified, and why have other natural controls not been researched? In some cases they have, mainly by our ancestors (and now lost to antiquity), or by pioneers in organic (or natural) growing. The answers we do know come from such sources.

But there are forces working against the common sense approach of natural control--and you can certainly use your imagination in identifying those forces. When I see a gardener bring an insect in a jar to a garden center, and ask "What poison do I need to kill this bug?", a quick-fix mindset has apparantly been developed that precludes any intelligent research into the life cycle and/or natural control of the insect.

But regarding the Squash Bug and other harmful insects--they seem to have the natural inclination to reproduce and multiply according to the size of the food source at hand. Grow a lot of cucurbits, and you'll have a lot of Squash Bugs; grow a lot of potatoes, beans, cucumbers, etc., etc., and you'll have a lot of the insects that infect them.

And of course all harmful (to gardeners) insects have the ability to identify and detect their target crop, and all flying insects (such as Squash Bugs) have the ability to overwinter in debris in the general area of that crop, and attack it as soon as it emerges in the growing season.

Milder winters due to climate change are a factor, too. More insects can now safely navigate Winters in cold(er) areas.

Regarding your Squash Bug problem, it could be precipitated by a number of things, and you probably touched on one--the late squashes taking up half your garden, and offering a generous food supply for the SB's and a good reason for them to remain in the area of that food supply.

Or it could be precipitated by facors completely out of your control--such as a farmer a mile away from your garden growing acres of Pumpkins for the fall market--which would cause an influx of SB's to your area. And what if he fails to do the same the following year? Where do millions of SB's--that multiplied and remained in the general area because of the (previous) ample food supply, now go? If they're to survive, they have to find new sources of cucurbits--and your garden may very well be such a source, if you grow such crops.

So what you do in your garden any given growing season does not necessarily halt an influx of harmful insects.

(The fact that there are gazillions of Stink Bugs in the state of Maryland this growing season was certainly no fault of mine.)

But I certainly try to control the harmful insects that I can control in my garden each year (if I'm diligent).

Regarding SB's, they seem relatively easy to control on a small scale. As I mentioned previously, they hate water. When I grew 10 or 12 squash plants at a time and noticed SB's or SB eggs (orange/brown dots, 25-100 or so at a time, on the underside of cucurbit leaves), I'd do down the row with a hose, and shower my plants from one end to the other. Then I'd go back and pick the SB's off that went to the tops of the plants--in plain sight--to avoid getting their feet wet. Then I'd check under all leaves and remove the eggs I found, by removing and discarding the leaf (or part of the leaf) to which they were attached.

I would say that if such measures are taken 3 or 4 times in a growing season, that's a competent control. Of course it has to be done on all cucurbits one grows--not just squash.

I'm sure you're an accomplished gardener who examines your crops so you know exactly when such controls need to be done. I do too. I know every insect on every plant in my garden--and when they become too visible, it's because there are too many of them, and they need to be controlled. They've gotten out of hand, and if allowed to go through numerous life cycles, I know they'll be a larger problem for me the following growing season.

I've been fighting various harmful insects all my life: Asparagus Beetles being one that is ongoing for me. I grow a bit of asparagus in my garden--ten 75-foot rows, or so, and I hand-pick every Asparagus Beetle and dispose of every egg I find. If I don't, and I allow them to proliferate throughout a growing season (as has happened when I'm on vacation or out of the area for an extended period) I know I'll have major problems the following year. Experience has taught me that.

And I wouldn't dream of spraying them, because the Asparagus ferns are a nursery for Lady Bugs, and there are Lady Bugs in all phases of development within the ferns.

So I seriously try not to take vacations during the growing season, and allow insects and weeds to get out of control. Quite a sacrifice for many--but there's always a nice, warm climate where one can vacation in the off-season--for those of us who have cold(er) winters.

Well, there are a lot of differences between us, MM, not just our attitude toward bug infestations!

Sounds like your home garden is vastly huger than mine, so your opportunities to rotate might be a lot more. I have barely 2500 sq ft of garden space, and some of that is taken by fruit trees. My home soil is moderately fertile but extremely drought-prone - a coarse sand. Your soil is likely a much friendlier structure - Maryland has some of the best on the eastern seaboard, yes? I love driving through Maryland and looking at the farmland. On top of that are the typically dryish summers. The Wompanoags called this place 'Noepe' - the 'dry island', because like us moderns they had to watch most thunderstorms drift by on the way to dump rain on the mainland. So the plants tend to get quite stressed by late summer and fall easy prey to insects. I grow crops on some nearby farmland where the soil is much superior (silty loam), and the difference in how the plants thrive and shrug off problems is remarkable. Dumping immense amounts of manure or other fertilizer into my home garden every year would make up some of that difference but there is only so much any gardener can or will do.

Regarding the insect infestations, several farmers around here believe that the prevailing winds bring insect pests from the big LI farms. Could be possible, I suppose. As you suggest, much of what is going on with insect plant predators is that they probably do migrate about looking for the easiest marks, and also there is the issue of the proportion of one crop to another in any given cluster of crops. Clearly I have been overdoing it with beans the last few years because this year MBB has reduced my home garden yield to almost nothing. Also I broke some new ground this year and it is not properly balanced yet, so that has made the plants there even more vulnerable than usual. I will get some lime in there for the winter and bring in some loads of manure. Also, I think a marginal site like mine needs a lot of herbals, those plants that discourage various bugs, I do not have enough of a range of those.

I could really use an extra half-acre of land to grow compost material.....

I don't have that problem yet in TN, but the squash bugs and vine borers are bad for me, though some aren't having a problem. I've seen a few soldier bugs which could also be stink bugs, similar but a straight shoulder with a head sticking out of it and legs on the side. Not a problem yet at all and found them in the end of the year for corn.

Blight is a killer here very much in every garden. Not stink bugs, but they are in the same family as squash bugs.

Blight?

scarletdaisies:

Not sure what you mean by blight either, but the three things most harmful to squash plants in my area--and no doubt many others--can certainly resemble a blight when they infect squash plants.

For many years, Squash Bugs were thought to be just a nuisance, and on most occasions a crop of squash could still be obtained even though the plant was moderately infected with them. A few years ago, however, a disease caused by a bacteria injected into the plant while they're sucking its juices--Yellow Vine Decline--was identified, and it can cause the leaves and entire plant to yellow and wilt and die. This certainly resembles a blight.

Then the Squash Vine Borer can cause a normal healthy plant full of squash--one day--to become withered and dying the next. One might certainly think that a blight had struck it, though the maggot-like larva of an orange and black day-flying moth has eaten the inside of the stem out at the base of the plant (at the soil line) which deprives the plant of taking up water, and it dies.

Some times it can be saved--if you have a small crop and the time to deal with the vine borer. I take a needle and poke it in the stem above where the maggot's "frass" (poop) is noted. After multiple times poking about, you'll strike the maggot and it'll exit the extrance hole in a hurry to escape being run-through by the needle. Kill the maggot, first; there's usually only one, but I've seen two and three in a vine.

Then clean out the hollowed-out stem at the base of the plant as best you can, and pack some damp cotton in the hollowed-out stem. The cotton will now serve to transfer water from the roots to the rest of the plant. Wrap with masking tape, and bury under soil if the wound is close enough to the soil line to bury it. Otherwise, just leave it packed with cotton and taped. It usually works if the plant has not been allowed to wither too badly before the operation is begun. Timeliness matters.

So, two things that could definitely look like a blight has struck.

The third problem--Powdery Mildew--occurs when there's too much rain; especically too much rain in conjunction with cool weather (as occurs late in the season). The leaves turn powdery-white from the mildew, and eventually the plant gives up and dies when overcome by the mildew and/or if the wet weather continues.

This also could look like a "blight".

We havehad a problem with Tomato stink bugs this year. We growonly for ourselfs so as they don't kill the plant I am content with just picking them off when I see them. They do make nasty little bumps on the tomatoes ans spoil their looks. I have heard they hate soapy water but I didn't need to resort to this this year. I'm in SW Missouri

I've seen them here in southwest WI, but i've never had any problems with stinkbugs. I also have few problems with Japanese Beetles, but i do have major problems with Rose Chafers... Of course the biggest enemy of my fruit trees is the dreaded Plum Curculio.

I am currently looking at my windows here in N. Central Maryland and seeing lots of stink bugs on the screens--a few have found their way inside--typically 2-7 per window.

In south central PA, I am seeing them on and in the house and have seen some in the garden on tomatoes. I did not see many feeding on plants in my garden. If I see stink bugs. they are typically showing up late in the season (Sept) and are not something that I am typically fighting with as a garden pest like, say flea beetles.
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Typically I would be seeing lots of elder bugs around in PA on the walls--this year, hardly any. I am instead noting the stink bugs although not in the massive numbers like the congregating elderbugs.

Horrific infestations. I live in an agricultural area of Loudoun County (Northern VA) where hundreds of acres of corn and soybeans are grown -- two of the brown marmorated stink bugs primary food sources. I just purchased from Southern States two products, both from Bonide, to externally spray around the house. One is called Cyper Eight Insecticide and the other is Pyrethrin. Both are reasonably safe and have been recommended for stink bug control. I'll post my observations/results in the next several weeks.

Sounds like the mid-atlantic region is really inundated with squash and stink bug infestations. Wonder what the regional ag departments have to say about it?

I am in PA outside of Lancaster & we have recently been invaded. They are everywhere. I opened the door to let my dogs out and 5 fly in.
I was told that 1 part Dawn dish soap & 3 parts water will kill them, but I haven't tried this method yet.
Is there any link to the massive amount of stink bugs this summer and the lack of Japanese Beetles this summer??

sara, a soap solution like that will cause serious harm to your plants...so don't believe everything you hear. ;-)

If you use a mixture with dish soap (beware of Dawn or anti-bacterial detergents), you should only use a very very small amount of the detergent.

Here in Texas we have from moderate to bad years with stink bugs on tomatoes. This year was pretty bad. I have tried garlic pepper spray, neem, not much help. I heard on an organic gardening show that the best for stink bugs was "crawling insect killer" by soil mender. It is supposed to be a superior form of diatomateous earth which destroys the exoskeleton of crawling insects, so use judiciously. I bought mine after the spring crop of tomatoes was done so too late for them, but it works faster and better than anything I have ever seen with ants in the house and on the patio around the dog food dish. Caveat- must be dry when applying/dusting. Don't breathe it either.

As an aside, my wife tried the poison ant traps for the ant infestation in the house with minimal results. I really don't like to use chemicals if I can in any way whatsoever avoid it so I wanted to demonstrate that organic methods can be effective too. I brought home the crawling insect killer and the next day to day and a half and the ants were completely gone. We are both happy with the results.

As another aside, I have even heard of dusting diatomateous earth between the walls during new home construction so as to even possibly avoid termite infestations.

Check out this New York Times article on stink bugs.

http://www.today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39396943/ns/today-the_new_york_times?Gt1=43001

We have them here in NJ and I thought it was bad ... until I saw that photo accompanying the NY Times article earlier today. I hope some solution is found soon.

From what I have read, the brown marmorated stinkbug came from Asia. Ag researchers are investigating the use of a parasitic wasp from Asia to ensure that it doesn't cause unwanted predation of other insects.

In my mind, it's the practice of fostering beneficials that will be the eventual solution.

I use heavy mulching as a gardening technique. I suppose the mulch will provide shelter for the bugs over the winter. I guess I'll have to see how well that works in the long run.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stink bug infestation caused by GMOs?

Hi, I'm in NY. I've seen them outside a lot this year and now I've got them in my house. We have the brown marmorated stinkbugs.
They're such ugly bugs.

Okay, you guys are scaring me, because I'm in Maryland (where there has been a BAD infestation) and I seem to be the only person who doesn't have them all over the house and garden. Though I did find one on my breakfast table today.

But I did lose an entire garden of large squashes...never had that happen before. I wonder if it WAS the stinkbugs!!

Everyone I know around here is complaining bitterly that they are everywhere, flying all around the kitchen and so on. Jeepers.

Here in Mesa, AZ. Brownish gray stink bugs with no markings got all my Armenian cucumbers, melons, summer and winter squash. Didn't touch peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, sweet potatoes, basil or okra. Seemed to disappear after the killing was done or something killed them. They were only around for about one month, probably two weeks of July, two weeks of August. I didn't do anything to get rid of them but I do have lots of birds and other natural predators. Do they have any predators?

I am in Northwest Georgia and I have gardened off and on all of my life in several states in the southeast and have never seen anything like this. They took over my garden last year and now that it is hot, they are starting up again. I gave up last year. They ate the skin off my cucumbers and squash, so I will probably just dig up and remove the squash, cucumbers, pumpkins and gourds and toss them and not grown any of those again. Maybe someday I'll have time to read all of these posts, but I don't have time right now.

Hello, I'm in SE VA and encountered them for the first time about 5 days ago. My husband bought some organic plant food, hooked it up to the hose and sprayed our beds. Within minutes, stink bugs were covering nearly everything. I looked at the ingredients for the plant food -- sugar beet molasses. I have not seen another stink bug since that day so I think they just liked the plant food which we will not use again. Doesn't look like they did any damage.

North Carolina
This is my first year gardening in NC. I have new raised beds and new soil and lost my squash the end of July. Since then I have also lost my cucumber and now I am finding these bugs on my tomatoes. Muskmelon is also being attached. Only thing still thriving is my Okra, Banana pepper and bell pepper. I tried seven dust with no luck.
Next year either I will plant no squash or I will plant one squash away from the garden as bait only to keep them off my tomato.

I live in the northwestern corner of CT and had a fair amount of trouble with vine borers and squash bugs last year with my zucchini plants. But this year the infestation of brown marmorated stink bugs and squash bugs has been absolutely discouraging.

I am a "newbie" when it comes to organic gardening, so having an infestation like this felt really devistating. Until reading about all the problems with stink bugs that were reported on this forum, I thought I was alone and doing something terribly wrong!

They started on my zucchini plants and then seemed to "overnight" take over the pumpkin patch, gourds, tomatoes, cukes, and finally (although maybe it was something else)the eggplants. The stink bugs and squash bugs lived in harmony with Colorado potatoe beetles, all sharing the fruits of my labor! When the hurricaine came through last week, I decided not to continue trying to eradicate them, but to just pull everything out and start fresh next year.
Too bad I didn't see this forum earlier, I don't think I have enough left to create a trap crop.

One thing that seemed to work, although it was very short lived, was a mixture of 1 gallon of water, 2 Tbsp dish washing liquid and 2 tsp peppermint oil. This killed them on contact, but I imagine it would need to be applied on a reular basis, and I don't know how good it is to use the dish soap repeatedly.

Thanks everyone, for the input and ideas. I'll make notes of what seems to work for others.

I live in western MD and for the second year in a row the stink bugs (brown marmorated)have attacked my garden. They ruined my tomatoes and peppers and have been feeding on my asparagas patch. I have a row of lilacs and they love them too. Recently, they have begun to accumulate on the back of my home, just as they did last year, when I killed hundreds of them. For some reason, this year there are way more green stink bugs around. I would say that about half of the ones I've seen in the garden are green. Are they mating with the brown ones? August has been the worst month so far, just when you expect to be harvesting your favorite tomatoes. I suppose next year I'll try growing early determinate types, maybe under row covers and also grow more onions.

I live in Pearland, Texas and 3 years ago I had a stink bug infestation so bad that I had to walk away from my garden with what sanity I had left. The following year, they came back. I killed what I could and bought every beneficial insect under the sun. They sucked the life out of everything. I did tons of research to find that they mark territory and come back to the same spot the next year. Apparently, there is not much in the organic way that will rid you of these demons. Permethrin was recommended. I hate chemicals. I gave up the garden and tore it down completely. I have also had free range chickens (4 small hens) on that side of the house since then. They eat anything that moves! I have seen 1 passing through since my last garden. I plan to try again this year. I really hope they do not return. Oh, the other pest I have constant problems with are squash vine borers. Any suggestion?