Every time I check the garden over the last few weeks, it seems like it has grown another foot! We have had great rain and good weather lately, and the plants are loving it. We have already enjoyed several meals with fresh potatoes and onions, fried squash, and even some fresh pinto beans. The tomatoes are finally starting to ripen, and I cannot wait for a plate of fresh sliced tomatoes.
Unfortunately, the bugs seem to like this weather, too, and they are making themselves right at home in the garden. One of my least favorite garden pests is the stink bug. Stink bugs are so named because
they have scent glands under their bodies that emit a musty odor. It is a terrible smell if you start messing with a stink bug!
In gardens, we usually see Brown Stink Bugs, Southern Green Stink Bugs, Leaf-footed Bugs, and Harlequin Bugs. Brown Stink Bugs are in the shape of a shield and ½-inch long. Adults are brown with a checkered border. The Southern Green Stink Bug is light green and a half inch long in the shape of a shield.
Harlequin Bugs are also shield-shaped, but they have bright orangy-red and black markings. The eggs of Harlequin Bugs are barrel shaped in a black and white striped pattern. The Leaf-footed Bugs are thinner and longer, usually 1/3 inch wide and one inch long. They are dark gray to brown/black with a yellow stripe across the back. Leaf-footed bugs have a flat, leaf-like expansion on their back leg, which is where they get their name.
All these bugs have piercing mouthparts that suck juices from plant leaves, stems, and fruits. Stink bugs feed on a wide variety of plants including cotton, peaches, tomatoes, pecan, beans, and sorghum. They can cause two types of damage to fruit such as tomatoes or peaches. When the fruit is young, the cells at the feeding site are killed by toxic saliva that the bug injects into the plant. These cells die, but the surrounding cells continue to grow resulting in dimpled fruit. This is often called “cat facing.”
When ripened or nearly ripened fruit is damaged, the toxic saliva kills a cluster of cells that forms a hard mass that is off-colored. You might notice tomatoes have small, yellow hard spots. These spots will have a bad, bitter flavor.
Stink bugs can be difficult to control. In the demonstration garden, Master Gardeners have found that a hand-vacuum is good at removing stink bugs from the plant, especially leaf-footed bugs. Pill bugs (roly-polys) will eat stink bug eggs, or you can scout for eggs on the underside of plant leaves and remove them by hand. Carbaryl and Permethrin are two insecticide options to control stink bugs.
For more information about lawn and garden topics, contact Horticulture Extension Agent Kate Whitney-Hajda at the Williamson County AgriLife Extension Office at 512-943-3300.
