How can I get rid of Asian stink bugs that destroy my pumpkins and squ

Walt
by Walt
The Asian stink bugs swarm on my beautiful pumpkins and squash and nothing kills them. Keeping weeds down is no help in spite of the advice

  4 answers
    • Walt Walt on Feb 07, 2018

      Nope. They are Asian stink bugs. Hopefully they never get to your area

  • Connie Connie on Feb 06, 2018

    i got stink bugs from some hay I used as mulch. Never had them before so list half my garden that year. I use a spray made from lemon juice, liq dish det, water and tobasco sauce on everything. They may bite once but the tobasco eventually sends them away. Also watch every day, they live in the soil and as soon as the veg sprouts they latch on. You have to knock them or pick them off and put into plastic bags and throw in trash. Same as june bugs

  • Jan Clark Jan Clark on Feb 06, 2018

    Wow! You do have a problem. Just did a little research and they are a major threat to way more plants than just your squash. So, what to do? It seems the best way to control them is to lower their population. To do that, you need to kill the eggs and nymph before they're full blown armor-covered adults. This is tricky - because no one has really found anything that has a good result. I trust my old standby, horticultural oil. I don't have this problem, yet, but that's what I'd try. If you can suffocate the babies, there will be no, or fewer adults to reproduce. The only other recommendation I found was a barrier like a row cover. Best of luck!

  • Shoshana Shoshana on Feb 07, 2018

    Pick egg masses off the plants in the morning and later in the day. Fill a vase with water and liquid detergent and flick the squash bugs into the water. Once the bugs are dead, it’s fine to dump the water anywhere. You can also simply scrape the eggs off the leaves with a butter knife and let them fall onto the ground, where beetles will eat them. Eggs hatch in about ten days, so be sure to check for them on at least a weekly basis.

    Another option is to place a board or shingle in the garden at night. During the night, both adults and nymphs will congregate underneath the board. Squash between two hard surfaces in the morning and dispose.