Stink bugs and leaf-footed bugs like August weather and ripening fruit
Consperse stink bugs are the most common stink bugs in the Sacramento area. Courtesy UCIPM, photo by Jack Kelly Clark
When tomatoes hit their peak in summer, so do bugs that like to feed on them.
Right now, Sacramento gardeners are seeing a bunch of real stinkers – stink bugs and their close cousins, leaffooted bugs. Gardeners see them scrambling over ripening tomatoes, especially in late afternoon or early evening. They like to dine on other juicy fruit, too, such as peaches, pears and pomegranates.
Both stink bugs and leaffooted bugs inject their long “tongues” into fruit and suck out as much juice as possible. In the process, they leave behind yucky-tasting residue and telltale pinpricks on the fruit’s skin.
Stink bugs are shaped like little gray or brown shields. Mature adults can fly but younger stinkers tend to just hop, which makes them easier to catch.
Brown marmorated stink bugs (BMSB) have gotten a lot of recent publicity because of their potential threat; they like to eat almost everything and have few if any natural predators in California. Spotted in several Sacramento area neighborhoods, this invasive insect from Asia is voracious and attacks vegetables and ornamental plants as well as fruit.
BMSB likes to lay its eggs (that look like little pearls) on the back of sunflower leaves. That makes sunflowers a good sentinel plant; check sunflower leaves regularly and when eggs are spotted, pick and destroy the leaf. That can prevent the appearance of more BMSB.
Much more common in Sacramento is the consperse stink bug. This stink bug looks a lot like BMSB. Its most visible difference is its antennae; BMSB have white stripes, consperse do not.
Parasitic wasps usually keep consperse stink bug populations from exploding out of control. Consperse stink bugs are relatively slow moving and easily caught; they hop down when disturbed.
Pesticides are not very effective on stink bugs, and not necessary. Instead, spray tomatoes with insecticidal soap (1 tablespoon mild dish detergent or liquid soap to 1 quart water) if stink bugs are seen.
Or use the bucket method: Place under the tomato plant a bucket or dishpan half filled with water and a teaspoon of dish detergent (the soap breaks the water’s surface tension). Give the plant a gentle shake; stink bugs will fall into the water and drown. (They can’t swim.)
For more on stink bugs and control: https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/VEGES/PESTS/stinkbug.html
Also appearing now are two species of leaffooted bugs. This insect gets its nickname from the leaf-like extensions on its back legs. The nymphs generally stick together for protection. The adults can fly and are much more mobile.
Common in Sacramento are inch-tall leaffooted bugs that have little zigzag stripes. That’s Leptoglossus zonatus. Smaller and darker are another leaffooted species: Leptoglossus occidentalis.
Populations of both species tend to swell in midsummer.
“Overwintering leaffooted bugs can lay over 200 eggs during a two-month period in the spring,” say the UC Cooperative Extension pest notes. “Nymphs emerge from the eggs about 1 week after being deposited, after which they develop into adults in 5 to 8 weeks. Adults are long-lived and can lay eggs over an extended period, so the population can consist of all life stages by late June. At this time, overwintering adults are still alive as the first generation of their offspring develop into adults.”
Throughout the summer, two to three generations of leaffooted bugs may be coexisting in the garden at the same time. All of them will attack tomatoes.
The bucket method works on leaffooted bugs, too. They tend to scramble away from people, so slip the container under the tomatoes, then make motions from above or gently shake the vine’s trellis. The bugs will hop off the fruit – and right into the water.
For more on identifying and combating leaffooted bugs: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74168.html
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series
FALL
Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden
Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden
Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers
Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air
Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets
Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty
Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?
Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch
Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning
Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?
Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you
Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water
Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers
July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
July 15: Does this plant need water?
July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions
July 1: How to grow summer salad greens
June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal
SPRING
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
WINTER
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
Local News
Thanks to Our Sponsor!
Sites We Like
Garden checklist for week of Nov. 16
During breaks in the weather, tackle some garden tasks:
* Clear gutters and storm drains.
* Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* After the storm, seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Plant bulbs at two-week intervals to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting them. Do leave some (healthy) leaves in the planting beds for wildlife and beneficial insect habitat.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
Contact Us
Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com
Powered by California Local
