Hi Lin. I wish the ones here were more susceptible to insecticidal soap. I have sprayed them til they were dripping and they just happily kept munching.

Add a little Windex (or anything with ammonia) to the soap spray. It will kill bigger insects more effectively. Doesn't harm the plants, either.

I've got black stink bugs sucking on my beautiful ginger flowers. Nothing has ever bothered the gingers before.

Looked up stink bugs and only got info on the brown marmorated stink bugs. Are these the same? They are all black with one white dot on the middle of the back. Anyway, the soap/windex spray killed them in about 3 minutes. About a dozen bugs on two flower heads.

It is called Black Stink Bug Proxys punctulatus

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/crea...

Coulda guessed, huh. Thanks for the link, very informative. Good to know they don't reach high populations, so I will just keep an eye out for them.

Glad to help. I did get a chuckle from the simplicity of the name....nothing like stating the obvious.

I'm trying to find out if anyone has some ideas on how to control the leaf foot bug. We are inundated with them in the garden, on tomatoes, peaches, raspberries. Pretty much everything. They are disgusting and very damaging. Any help is appreciated

You know, I seem to recall just recently coming across some sort of trap for those bugs. I'll see if I can backtrack it, it was just a couple of days ago.

Ok, this is the one I found, but I don't know if it's actually available anywhere.
http://www.rescue.com/product/...

It does seem to look a lot like the one used in this study.
http://nfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/Mize...
Just noticed that link has changed to this: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in53...

Aha! And then there's this:
http://www.ecogreenwarehouse.c...

Thanks, Except I need something for leaf footed bug, not stink bug.

Leaf-footed bug IS a stink bug. At least from the things I've read. Our local stink bug (and BOY does it stink!) is called the Western Leaf-footed bug. If you read the second paragraph of that second link, it mentions the leaf-foot bug. Dunno, just a thought, because these type traps mentioned bugs infesting tomato plants and peaches. Unfortunately, common names for bugs AND plants can make for confusion.

Really? I'm so confused then. Some people say stink bugs are squash bugs. I'll look at it again.

Okay, I don't think it is a stink bug, just that the Flordia trap catches them as well as the stink bugs. I think...

Not to find where to purchase the Florida stink bug traps...

I have spotted and striped cucumber beetles both of which I see pictured on this thread. Also I have the similar looking striped Colorado Potato Beetle.

Not very good pics, but here are my pics of leaf footed bug and squash bug...

Leaf footed bug on passion fruit -



Squash bugs on squash leaf-




Not to be confused with Assassin bug that eats both of the above -

Hi all, new member here. I've recently had a go as well with the exact same critter (leaf footed bug). I've had plenty of shield bugs/squash bugs before, but this was a new one for this year. There was some confusion between various bug sites that ID'd it as an assassin bug, but further digging revealed the altho the nymph stage of the leaf footed bug & an orange colored true assassin bug look petty similar depending on the quality & aspect of the image. The clincher for me was the absence of a developed "rostrum" on the nymph when viewed from the side.

We've had the usual annoyances of the shield or stink bugs on our squash, & then this year on our pumpkins as well. Prevention phase is try to remove the egg rafts with some sticky tape, or clip the leaf if it's really covered. For the ones I miss, I simply spray them, preferably in the newly hatched nymph stage, or whenever I find them with a homemade mixture of Doc Bronners unscented liquid soap & water. Strength to be determined by what works, usually 1-2 tablespoons or so to 16-20 oz spray bottle. Excellent results with grasshoppers as well! A large hopper will usually succumb within a couple minutes if your soap strength is right. I've heard some folks will add a few drops of liquid cayenne extract(from natural food stores) for really gnarly bugs. I use a large bottle with a stream & spray setting. Long range stream for hoppers, short range spray for most everything else. Be aware this WILL kill bees & wasps so be careful who you shoot! We have a backyard Top Bar hive so that's always an issue for us.

As far as ill effects on plants, I've never had any yet, unless maybe one was to drench a plant or leaf in full sun. For large applications or those pomegranate trees mentioned in the other thread, I'm thinking this stuff is cheap enuff you might could use a small pressure sprayer with good results...

Sounds like something I could do. I'll give it a try. I have not heard of Dr. Bonner's though, I'll have to look that one up. Thanks for the info.

abhege said:Sounds like something I could do. I'll give it a try. I have not heard of Dr. Bonner's though, I'll have to look that one up. Thanks for the info.

Oooops, I typo'd that, it's Dr Bronners soap with an 'r'. You should be able to find it at any natural food store or health food section of a larger grocery chain store. It's pure castile soap as opposed to detergent, which I understand will also work, but we don't use any of that. Doc Bronners uses high quality oils for their scented soaps & I'm not sure but what that might taint a sensitive veggie... don't care for peppermint flavored tomatoes! We do use their bar & liquid soaps for nearly everything else tho. Still family owned & operated by what I think is the 5th generation!!

Okay, so maybe I have heard of them. Thanks!

And

to ATP! Thank you so much for sharing. As I prefer organic methods, I'll definitely remember this brew the next time the hoppers crop up. Again, thank you and to ATP!

Here, with the Lubber grasshoppers, we get as close to organic as we can. We just smash them. That started the day I discovered that they could, seemingly over the course of 24 hours, eat an entire amaryllis bloom to root, I swore that they would not be free to roam my garden again.

But I do like Doc Bronner's soaps. I agree, to ATP.

Moonhowl said:Here, with the Lubber grasshoppers, we get as close to organic as we can...

Yeah... us too. We throw their carcasses into the compost pile. Return the nutrients, close the loop, and all that. Besides, squeaky clean hoppers seem to keep the heap cookin' better, but that may just be my imagination.