I have a lot of stink bugs on my tomatoes and am wondering what can I do to get rid of them. Some of my maters have a rotten spot on bottom. My husband usually tended to garden but he passed last August so now its up to me to carry on. Any advise would be helpful.
Stink bugs
- Thread starter jjswitzer
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Sounds like you have two different problems. The rotten spot on the bottom is probably blossom end rot and then the stink bugs. IMO, blossom end rot is caused by a plants inability to uptake calcium even though there is plenty of calcium in the soil. In my area of the world the surefire fix for this is to apply about 1/3 - 1/2 cup of epsom salts at the time of planting and when buds start to form. As far the stink bugs, they are also a problem I often have. The secret is to kill them while they are still nymphs. They are usually reddish orange with black legs and congregate together in groups of 20 - 30 while still young. At this stage they are easy to kill. A fairly strong dilution of dish washing soap will kill them. I prefer to use another organic pesticide, spinosad. It will also kill adult stink bugs but not immediately, plus it has a residual effect and it also acts as a deterrent. I would guess that the most popular brand of spinosad is by Bonide called Captain Jacks Dead Bug Killer, but there are many others as well. Pyrethrin and pyrethroids are also deadly against adult stink bugs.
Meadowlark
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I'm sorry about your loss.
Are you a fellow Houstonian?
Actually, I'm exHouston now living in East Texas.
As to the stink bugs, I really, really dislike those things. My solution may not help you this year but it works 100%. I plant a few sunflower plants in proximity to tomatoes but outside the garden soil. The sunflower plants serve as a trap plant for stink bugs which I completely eliminate with Malathion.
I'm all organic but in this one instance I bring out the chemical to completely eliminate the pest while not allowing the pesticide in the garden soil.
The black spot on the bottom is likely blossom end rot, very common. To prevent it, I sprinkle Epsom salts around the tomato plant about three times during the growing season...very effective and I could not grow tomatoes here without it.
Are you a fellow Houstonian?
Actually, I'm exHouston now living in East Texas.
As to the stink bugs, I really, really dislike those things. My solution may not help you this year but it works 100%. I plant a few sunflower plants in proximity to tomatoes but outside the garden soil. The sunflower plants serve as a trap plant for stink bugs which I completely eliminate with Malathion.
I'm all organic but in this one instance I bring out the chemical to completely eliminate the pest while not allowing the pesticide in the garden soil.
The black spot on the bottom is likely blossom end rot, very common. To prevent it, I sprinkle Epsom salts around the tomato plant about three times during the growing season...very effective and I could not grow tomatoes here without it.
are they stink bugs or squash bugs?