Stink Bugs in the Garden!

[Britesea]

Neem will NOT hurt bees. It only affects sucking/chewing insects.

 

[8710]

Neem will NOT hurt bees. It only affects sucking/chewing insects.

It says on the bottle that neem can be harmful to bees. While I'd like to take that leap of faith, the hives were an incredibly expensive investment I would only do if if I deadhead the plants or they weren't actively flowering.

 

[Britesea]

According to Carolyn Breece Faculty Research Assistant Horticulture, neem must be ingested in order for it to be toxic to bees. It is much less toxic to bees than most other insecticides, but it can harm them if some of the residue gets on the flowers. She suggests trying not to spray on flowers, and spray in the evening, when bees are not as active. So that might not be a good choice for you.
Another possibility is that since tomatoes don't need a pollinator, you could cover them with one of those insect-blocking fabrics instead of using a spray. Last ditch would be to go out there and hand pick the buggers.

 

[8710]

According to Carolyn Breece Faculty Research Assistant Horticulture, neem must be ingested in order for it to be toxic to bees. It is much less toxic to bees than most other insecticides, but it can harm them if some of the residue gets on the flowers. She suggests trying not to spray on flowers, and spray in the evening, when bees are not as active. So that might not be a good choice for you.
Another possibility is that since tomatoes don't need a pollinator, you could cover them with one of those insect-blocking fabrics instead of using a spray. Last ditch would be to go out there and hand pick the buggers.

I think I’ll have to hand pick. I have 22 plants. Too many to cover! I’ve lost probably 75% of my harvest this year. I’m going to grow a determinant variety next year. Get them done and over with instead of drag the season on.

 

[flowerbug]

all i can say is it helps to encourage diversity in your area/yard/gardens, put in bird baths to encourage birds to visit, don't feed the birds as that will encourage them to forage in the gardens for bugs, have some perennial gardens every few spaces, they don't need to be large gardens, but you want them to provide food, flowers and habitat for the various bug eating predators, put up an insect hotel here or there and have fun watching what happens.

we do all of these things and while we do have bug problems here or there we can usually work around them.

for us, this year the Japanese Beetles are plentiful, i'm supposed to be out there right now picking bugs off plants but it is raining. also we've had a good population of tomato worms this year and i've picked them off too when i can find them (by contrast last year was hardly any of either).

i'm not sure what stink bugs do to tomato plants, we've not had enough of them here for me to notice them being a problem.

 

[Mini Horses]

BT? Haven't read the label as to bee issues.....but, an organic option. I had tomato hornworms this year and not in past. Plus this year garden in area never before used for that. I try to keep chickens out when young plants, as they will destroy most but, once established, they will pick bugs off. Some vegs are also attractive to them -- you lose some, especially low ones -- especially ripe tomatoes.

Now, low fruits on figs, blueberries, etc. -- chicken magnets!! Fence them out or you get none of the harvest. I have that problem with my young comfrey plants, too. When larger the plants withstand the eating of lower leaves ok. Goats will devour them!

ETA: as @flowerbug mentions -- plant flowers among your veggies! Some better than others and "companion planting" in general, as some type vegs attract bugs, others don't....some combinations work to be less attractive to bugs that like one plant and not the other one, lessening impact of bugs.

 

[8710]

BT? Haven't read the label as to bee issues.....but, an organic option.

i'm not sure what stink bugs do to tomato plants, we've not had enough of them here for me to notice them being a problem.

BT is unlikely to work as stink bugs use their mouthparts to inject stuff into the fruit. It leaves these rotten sunken spots in the fruit and then they suck out the rotten bits.

I do practice perennial gardening, growing sage, rosemary, thyme, lavender, walking onions, and a few other things that I can’t think of off the top of my head. But it’s the first year with this particular garden.

Here’s a photo of a tomato that I picked three days ago which looked perfect, but it had already been pierced by stink bugs. Nearly every single tomato I picked has these sicken rotten spots. About twenty pounds of them. Stink bugs do not have any natural predators as they are invasive. Chickens do not eat them, but are not low-flying or low-crawling bugs anyways.

Also, leaf footed bugs and stink bugs are cousins and destroy crops in the same manor.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I hope folks weren't thinking I was recommending BT for stink bugs. Entirely different class of insect. I was only listing out the things that I WOULD use in my garden/yard. BT should have NO affect on bees. AFAIK, threre are different types of BT. One for potato bugs. That just might work on stink bugs. Read label. Then, there's the BT that is used for caterpillars and the like, Cabbage worms etc.

 

[CrealCritter]

Neem will NOT hurt bees. It only affects sucking/chewing insects.

Stink bugs fly away fast when using neen.

 

[flowerbug]

Stinkbugs hit my tomatoes too. But i planted so many, that i still have gobs of tomatoes. I just cut out the bad parts. I picked 17 tomatoes last evening and 29 this morning. I peeled and de-seeded bunch of them this evening and put in the freezer. I'll make spaghetti sauce later. My tomatoes are about 12' high now, it's crazy. Best tomato year in 6 years!

I hate stink bugs.

yay!