stink bugs

Desperate!! starts with ...
Does anyone have any advice on how to get rid of stink bugs from citrus trees? Also, does anyone know why they attack some trees and not others?Please HELP!!

Kathy says...
I knock the sting bugs off the tree into a bucket (that's easy) - then put them on the ground and stamp on them (rubber boots)- equally easy - except for the awareness that I am killing them.
Some say to drown the stink bugs in the bucket - but that way seems more cruel. I'd love to know a humane way to kill them.

I have stink bugs on my Tahitian lime at the moment and none on my mandarin. The Tahitian lime is a much healthier tree - maybe they choose the best food??? Or maybe there's something in the lime tree they love???
What trees do you have stink bugs on?
Kathy

Kathy says...
Chris - I like the idea of killing the eggs over winter. I'll do that next year.
This is my lime - which they love.
Kathy

Pictures - Click to enlarge
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Chris says...
Kathy, when you spray next year ensure that you get it on the underside of the leaves. That's where the eggs are laid.
To be honest the spined citrus bug is more of a worry. Only a few of these can cause real damage to the fruit. They suck the juice out leaving brown patches in the inside and disappear by the time the fruit is ripe. They leave no obvious damage from the outside. What's more they are green, making them hard to spot amongst the leaves. And they generally target citrus when they are green.
Oh, and they also release a stinky caustic liquid.

Kathy says...
YIKES desperate - no wander you are desperate! IF you can see them - follow the advice knock them off with a stick into a bucket. Then kill. Avoid getting the stink in your eyes or skin.
Are your trees large - or just new? Are your trees beautifully healthy?

I guess the fruit is falling off. Hopefully you'll get them before too much has gone - last year I was left with only 3 limes on my tree!

AND Chris - thanks for telling me where to spray!!
kathy

BJ says...
If it is really bad, you may have to use confidor. Just make sure you use it early before any bees are out, as it is far from selective. It works, but the bugs will come back, but in much smaller numbers so you should be able to control much easier in the future.

Chris says...
I tried for a change (instead of knocking them off with a stick), 10ml neem oil and 5ml horticultural soap per litre of water. And it worked! They didn't drop dead instantaneously though. Now I don't know whether an oil spray would have the same result or if there's something active in the neem oil. And if you are going to buy neem oil, buy it online, not at the B store.

Mike says...
My place is a carnival of stink bugs,with fruit spotting bugs,bean bugs,tea leaf bugs,melon bugs,green solanum bugs of 2 types, and about 6 other serious offenders.One type even attacks my neem.There must kg's of bug paste in the yard from all I've squashed.I will certainly try Chris's recipe but I have never heard of horticultural soap.

MaryT says...
For the first time I also have stink bugs on my citrus (from neighbours who's had them year after year). Sigh. I'll try Chris' oil spray as well - guess soap is soap? Ouch; I can feel the blows raining on me already :)

MaryT says...
Thanks Brendan; one cup of Lux flakes to five litres of water? That's 5 teaspoons to a litre, right? I'll have to half that to use it all at once :)

au0rey says...
I got the green sting bugs too, first time and I found them on my eggplants and tomato plants, so I guess they attack a wide range of plants. I read that nothing much can be used to treat this problem, so all I do is pick them and quickly stamp (as they fly off) them under my shoes...gosh really smelly stuff they are!

Chris says...
Pays to read the label Andrew:
http://www.scottsaustralia.com.au/Defender/Defender_Maxguard
DO NOT USE ON FOOD PLANTS.

A potent systemic (0.05g/L). Not on my citrus.

amanda says...
Probably better off with the real nicotene (we have stubbies for ashtrays and save up the butts, fill them with water and pour the solution down ants nests) I am having a look at whether or not I can use a local Nicotiana plant as tobacco substitute (although one pack may go far - haven't checked dilution rate yet)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101027124734.htm

amanda says...
Which group Mike - the neo-nicotines (got the spelling right this time john :) - or the actual nicotines?
I don't get it - why don't we just use the natural nicotine?
See the link above - looks like they are coming back...? (all the smokers are dying..so there is now a surplus of tobacco..) Ironic really. What's old is new again. ;-)

john says...
Hmmm. not sure about the lack of mammalian toxicity. As the neuro muscular junction of mammalian skeletal muscle is blocked by nicotine I imagine it will be interfered with by the neo-nicotinoids as well. Why would the MaxGuard say not for food crops?
If I had a choice I'd use an acute poison such as the organophosphate Maldison rather than the persistent neo-nicotinoids that seem to go on killing for more than a year.

john says...
I'm not amenable to the idea that insect's nervous systems are far removed from ours.Organophosphates work by inhibiting the degradation of acetylcholinesterase ;this in turn causes a depolarising block of the neuromuscular junction and other synapses controlled by acetylcholine. Exactly the same thing happens in our nerv. systems and can be observed in OP poisoning. If there are differences between insect's N.S. and ours it is not on the basis of acetylcholine.
Nicotine acts exactly on acetylcholine receptors.

Mike says...
Plant defences are pretty particular about their targets which are usually insects.If a substance or physical structure targets and insect stomach sieve plate then it probably won't adversely impact people.Selectivity in insecticides is about targeting insect specific physiology as well and this is part of the reason why old clunsy mode insecticides are often worse for people.

Mike says...
Amanda that is right and always read up about the poison you are using.Many are in fact less harmful to you than you might suspect but more harmful to the environment than you may suspect.I could not help but throw johns' line back at him.He may well be in possession of new information and if that is the case there are loads of pharmacology journals and especially Invertebrate Neuroscience Journal that he should alert to this information.

Mike says...
Wrong answer John,I repeat look at the science and the references if you have not worked in this area before or perhaps share that wisdom with the scientists who have a different perspective.Brush up on insect physiology and you will see very good specificity has been achieved.I am not point scoring or combative but OP's are worse for people.I did google to check what I had learnt before because I wanted to check my facts and not make stuff up like you.

Mike says...
John I framed that response along the lines of how you have replied to me before and I have done it with no one else.Ok lets be civil from here on in.Back on topic....while neonics might have a half life of a month in field conditions and be targeted, their concentation in pollen is ringing alarm bells.OP's like malathion do have toxic breakdown products,have irreversible neural impacts,cumulative effects with ongoing exposure even at low doses and are particularly toxic to foetuses and in the environment.

Mike says...
I left something out about rotenone(derris).It is being used by some people as a fishing aid by stunning fish for eating and aquariums.Many consider it should not be available for this reason.I'llgive the pesticides a rest now.

amanda says...
BTW Chris - we having major street riots in the near area here - all due to "social" network sites..? All adults BTW...? Stabbings? Bashings? etc..?

It's very sad to read a post like the previous to be honest...

Google Mullewa street riots - if u think this is just to do with "kids"...?

A snapshot: "Fed up with growing feuds, fuelled by taunts and threats on social media platforms such as Facebook and Diva Chat, the Mid West Anti-violence Action Group was launched this week"

Some people tread a very fine line thinking that they are "anonymous" on the internet.

My kids primary school handles bullying better than this Forum.

As Ghandi said - BE the change u want to see in the world.... :)

john says...
Mary T . lets see who writes the next"ad hominem" post. No more personal attacks,right? And let's avoid ,as far as possible , words such as "I" and "my" It's about fruit not about therapy.

amanda says...
Well said MaryT - I am all for moving on too. This has been going on since at least early 2009, and progress has been minimal, but it's worth a try :)

snottiegobble says...
I used to regularly dust my chooks with a derris compound without wearing a mask! er, whats my name again?
Rotenone use is being phased out in the USA, but it is not banned!

ladycoconut says...
how has everyone gone with their stink bugs with all the above advice? I've got a list of options now and suggestions which work?

easy solution says...
Hello All,
I wait for a day above 35C. Yesterday 08.01.13, in Sydney it was 43C. The bugs aren't heat resistant and climb down from the whole tree onto the base of the trunk.

I use a kettle of boiling water. On these days the bugs assemble perfectly. Pour the boiling water and the bugs are dead within seconds. No chemicals, reasonably humane, little cost. My whole tree is then bug free for a year.

BJ says...
I'll check this out tomorrow. Sounds like hot work, but anything is reasonable to get rid of these buggers from the garden.

Chris says...
One slight problem EasySolution: being late into the season, the adults have already laid their eggs on your tree for next season. The nymphs (salmon colour) can not reproduce--which is why they must be eliminated at all costs.

M Nash says...
Im interested about using other plants natural defences. I have a heap of green coffee beans and am thinking of powdering some to mix a spray.
Any thoughts before I possibly waste my time?
Im getting hammered by stink bugs and there is a small but precious crop of rare citrus I really need for other culinary testing purposes.

Bob says...
I like the idea if the vac... I saw them on the way back up the tree after a very hot day.. and had no weapons...except a can of aeroguard!!they did not like that one bit....there were hundreds of them, but not anymore..one or two survivors only..

Chris says...
Mooch, don't know how you would go about spraying mature trees with a spray can!
But I understand your desperation.

yry says...
Spiracles do not exist on legs , Mike ;and they are a pair per segment on the thorax and abdomen ;not as numerous as you may think.

Shane says...
Citrus beetle? Stink beetle no prob. Simply mix 1 litre full fat milk, 1/2 cup dish washing liq and 1/2 cup cheap cooking oil. Mix up and top up to 4 ltrs warm water. Kills these critters and large grasshoppers in as little as 20 seconds. Repeat till trees are clear.

servasol says...
Stink Bugs on 3 metre citrus trees
Equipment;
Eye glasses
empty container with lid ie so good soy
step ladder
pair of disposable rubber gloves
& about 1 hour of time per tree
Method
Pluck the buggers off the tree and stick in soy container, pour in boiling water at finish or just squeeze the pests on the tree, no chemicals and recycle all equipment so simple

Chris says...
Ok, here's another suggestion after much trial and error over the years.
Make up your own white oil spray. (ABC Gardening Australia has a good recipe).
Add 1 part to 4 parts water.
Add 2-3ml/L Maldison (Malathion). I tried 1ml/L but perhaps my bottle had been sitting in the shed too long.
You may have to do a follow up spray to catch those you missed (green stage).
Whatever you do, don't wait for them to get to the adult stage (black).

Una says...
Stink beetles can really HURT. They aim high so when yr knocking them into a bucket (water w a bit of kero is a quick death) wear glasses. It will require quick treatment to overcome the intense pain their spray causes.

Also, if you are good and spray trees with white oil (get recipe to make yr own online) at least fortnitely while they are growing/producing lots of green, tender tips, you will be able to control them before they are black and mature.

IF yr lazy and they get ahead of u, use an old vacuum to suck them up. (I say OLD because of course they stink it up!) For mercy... to kill them quick spray some insecticide into the base and plug with a rag. I use my industrial vac for this. u will have to do it several times if its a heavy infestation. AND good idea to loan yr vac to any close neighbour whose bugs are sharing yr trees.

DON"T use those heavy chems to kill em. READ up on them. They are bad news for yr health, the bees, waterways etc.

Good luck. Una

Diana says...
Hi all,

The white oil did not work for me. Annette McFarlane says hardly anything works on the black adults except repeat vacuuming, flyspray or eco-neem. I checked the price of eco-neem and it was really expensive. I used a combination of vacuuming several times then eventually also spot spraying with flyspray (as I was desperate- the bronze orange bugs were killing the lemon). That worked.

BJ says...
Get a bucket of hot water and dishwashing liquid and knock the bugs in. In time you will come to know their routines and can just go out when they mate as they orgy up into a cluster of 20 odd adults and its easy to kill a few hundred in a few short minutes. No organic sprays ever slowed their pace and even some chemical sprays hardly slowed them once they were past green stage. I also noticed many migrated to my Grumixama to mate, making their removal into said bucket of soapy water much easier.

yrt says...
Get some pliers and wear goggles.

servasol says...
Instead of sucking the bugs into the vac where its hard to clean ,, stuff a sealed like sock section of stocking on the hose end secure with rubber band Volla pull out once filled ,tie a knot and in the bin

Tommo says...
Pyrethrum works great but you do have to hit them with a squirt or two

Cato says...
A relative is wanting to give me a potted lemon tree to plant in my yard, but it's infected with stink bugs and there are currently none in my area.

Should I accept the tree and then try to control them? Or is better not to introduce them at all..?

Stinkbug Assasin says...
Be careful around stinkbug. They will try and squirt you with their foul smelling protectant. If they get you in the eye it can be painful, until you can wash it out with water.
I try to control them with an aerosol of fly spray ( you'll need to experiment to find the one they're susceptible to). This year I'm going to try carbaryl in a trigger pack. I avoid blanket sprays, as they also chase bee's away

Kathryn B says...
I got an idea from Mike when he said the green and orange bugs don't fly. I put a light coloured tarp around the base of my tree and got out my high pressure water sprayer (aka kartcher). Sure enough heaps fell to the ground ready for squashing. I found that the high pressure spraying slowed the pests down with many falling onto the tarp and those that didn't were easily able to be picked/knocked off and thrown into a bucket of water.

techman says...
Hello,
I would like to know if anyone out there has a cure for the fruit spotting bug. They are currently attacking my pawpaw trees. I have heard that essential oils are effective. Can anyone shed some light on the matter?
Kind Regards,
Techman

jred525 says...
yates citrus and ornamental is the only approved spray for them as far as I know. ( as they claim).

Downunderdave says...
Our stink bugs are grey. I squash around 5 or 6 each day in the summer. They are easy to find because they like to sit around the trunk of the tree. I paint the trunk white with a 50/50 mixture of builders lime and Bricklayers clay. This makes them easy to see. I’ve also trained my lime and lemon trees over a pergola, (Amalfi coast trick) which provides good access to the trunk, utilises the shady area under the trees and leaves you with fruit at head level.

zarghoonzada says...
Stink bugs are small, shield-shaped insects that are around ½ an inch long. They get their name from the fact that they can release a foul smelling liquid when they feel threatened. This liquid is used to deter predators and can also cause skin irritation in humans. Stink bugs are usually brown or green in color and have distinctive markings on their backs. Although they are considered to be pests, stink bugs do not bite or sting and are generally harmless to humans.