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What's this bug? It loves triple-digit heat

Leaf-footed bugs appear on roses, tomatoes and other juicy plants


Leaf-footed bug nymphs
These are leaf-footed bug nymphs. They tend to stay
in a pack when young. (Photo courtesy Alan Moritz)

“Good guys or bad guys?” That’s the question that accompanied this photo of mystery insects that suddenly appeared on a rose bush in a Sacramento garden.

Definitely bad guys – and they’re beginning to pop up all over town, especially on tomatoes, soft fruit and roses. The reason? They love triple-digit heat.

Those are nymphs (babies) of the leaf-footed bug, a relative of stink bugs. They'll make holes through your roses (and lots of other things). They’re very bad on tomatoes and can be a pest on apricots and peaches. They also like pomegranates, almonds, pistachios, citrus and watermelons.

Most of their damage is cosmetic, but in big numbers they can be a real nuisance. They puncture the fruit’s skin and suck out its juices.

The good news: They can't fly and they're slow. When young, they stick together. They release a pheromone that keeps the developing bugs in a little pack. (The better to attack your plants.)

Here's what leaf-footed bugs look like as adults.
(Photo courtesy UC IPM)

As they get older, they get bigger – more than an inch tall with distinctive leaf-shaped back legs.

Like many stink bugs, they're resistant to any pesticides (unless it’s a direct hit). Because the young nymphs are wingless, their instinct is to jump down from wherever they’re dining and scramble for cover.

What to do? Under the plant, put a bucket or dishpan of water with a teaspoon of dish soap (to break the surface tension). Then, gently shake the bush, vine, branch or cane and knock the bugs into the water. (Often, they will just jump when they see your shadow.) They can't swim and they drown.

You also can blast the hell out of them with a hose (you’re watering the plants at the same time). Or you can just squish them, but wear gloves; they'll stain your hands (and they stink).

For more on leaf-footed bugs, check out these recommendations from the UC Cooperative Extension Pest Notes: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74168.html

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Garden Checklist for week of May 11

Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.

* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.

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