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Stink bug spread worries growers across nation
Yahoo News ^ | May 20, 2011 | David Dishneau and Genaro C. Armas

Posted on 05/22/2011 3:10:09 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued

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To: Ditter
Maybe the stink bugs just made their way north to PA and these people think they are something new to the country.

Nah. We always had the green ones. This was an invasion of those brown beasties. Thousands of them. We clean up inside (tight home) 5 to 7 a day. This has been going on since last fall. The barn was full of them.
101 posted on 05/22/2011 7:04:06 PM PDT by PA Engineer (Time to beat the swords of government tyranny into the plowshares of freedom.)
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To: Clintonfatigued
Is there a natural predator to them?

Chickens.

These bugs move kinda slow in the morning, so I turn the chickens and ducks loose in the garden for a few hours and they take care of all they can find. My birds have all but eliminated my Japanese Beetle problem over the last 4 to 5 years as well. As a bonus our eggs have a higher protein content than most.

102 posted on 05/22/2011 7:07:06 PM PDT by P8riot (I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop.....Eagle Scout since Sep 9, 1970)
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To: Red_Devil 232

STINK BUGS. CRUSH! KILL! DESTROY!

STINK BUGS! CRUSHKILLDESTROY!

STINKBUGSCRUSHKILLDESTROY!

103 posted on 05/22/2011 7:08:39 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Made in America, by proud American citizens, in 1946.)
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To: SunkenCiv

You and I wish the DNC were reduced by Diamotacious Earth applications. One has to wonder how they ever escaped the primordial ooze with this stuff raining down from above every second?


104 posted on 05/22/2011 7:10:08 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: bigheadfred
No, only tried Sevin, traps, some spray with imidicloprid in it but quit that, and drowning so far; they say malathion works. I don't like spraying but am going to have to a lot of stuff, Roudup, too. Last year I painted it on when close to good plants, but the stuff just comes back. Always fighting something. Haven't heard of Monitor.

The cat got bad fleas which got into several areas, sprayed multiple times with that stuff I got for outside in combo with 4 months of Advantage on the cat. It worked but required several apps, hadn't had a prob w/fleas for years. Bayer Advanced Rose and Flower insect spray, prob shouldn't use in the house but couldn't afford an exterminator and had a bunch on hand.

Didn't know your were joking ;-).

Oh, they don't like chrysanthemums and four o'clocks will kill them if they eat those. I've got some yellow seed of those I need to plant. Seems they like yellow the most, but will go for things you'd least expect.

You could ask your father if it wouldn't be too much trouble. I've called the local ext office at least 3 times, sent me literature; some of them haven't kept up with developments as much as I have. The web has been more of a help for me.

My first acquaintance with those nasty aphids was detasseling corn as a teen; they infest the tassels. Ick. Ick. Ick. BTW there are dark aphids, too; all I've seen are the green ones. You can pick and brush them off but tedious. Believe it or not they will infest poppy plants, too.

People out east have been fighting these horrid bugs for a long time. There are years when they just endure it. All sorts of things they try. There was a lady in central IL who got the bugs so bad, they'd bounce off the house. She claimed to have gotten rid of them with water, dish soap, lemon juice and vinegar, but we never could find the correct concentration.

I picked all the buds off my roses during the season, another pain, they like the leaves, too, and getting in my birch and other trees, not much point in it.

Tornado sirens have been going off, lifting shopping carts in the air at Target. Hope my kids places are ok.

105 posted on 05/22/2011 7:12:40 PM PDT by Aliska
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To: Aliska

Neem oil and a few drops of liquid dish soap mixed up in water works well on mildew problems on plants.


106 posted on 05/22/2011 7:21:51 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Red_Devil 232

Thanks, some try it on beetles, too. I’ll get some if the peroxide doesn’t work.


107 posted on 05/22/2011 7:25:03 PM PDT by Aliska
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To: Aliska

We live in the country so while I can deal with the local Japanese beetls, there’s no way to get all of them.

I put up the traps every year and the first year here caught a TON of them. Not so many in the following years.

The traps keep them away from the plants, otherwise, I wouldn’t do them.

I’ll deal with the stink bugs as I find them and will be stocking up on good DE, not the heat treated stuff I read about upthread.


108 posted on 05/22/2011 7:25:03 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Aliska

I usually go half-n-half with water to make it stretch, but since it’s already diluted I imagine you could do it straight.


109 posted on 05/22/2011 7:36:14 PM PDT by Free Vulcan (Vote Republican! You can vote Democrat when you're dead.)
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To: Aliska

Pesticides are a pain to use, and they tend to kill more than you want. Our family never has had much, so the thing was to do maximize the yield most efficiently.

Monitor is a restricted use Category 1 pesticide. Word has it it’s parent was a nerve agent developed by the Nazi’s.We used it to kill green peach aphids on potatoes. Green peach aphids don’t survive east Idaho winters, but they get blown in from the Boise area every year. They carry a leafroll virus that cuts down yields in potatoes. Too much disease and you can’t sell your spuds for seed. Plus it causes a brown ring in the spud. Perhaps you have seen a potato chip with a brown ring? Bingo. It won’t hurt you. It just doesn’t make the chip as appealing, especially in a marketing sense.

Is the imidicloprid Marathon by chance? I’m not as familiar with it.

Pretty sure the only things he uses are Malathion and Sevin.

But, then again, he would stop at nothing to save his garden. :-)


110 posted on 05/22/2011 7:37:42 PM PDT by bigheadfred (I wish I was an Oscar Meyer wiener but Lindsay Graham beat me to it.)
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To: metmom
No, no way to get rid of all of them. If I had a larger lot where I could place the traps better, I'd use them again. I had to put them too close to my flowers.

I do see a few traps around. About a block away, somebody grows beautiul Carefree roses, put the trap right squat in the rose area lol.

But the odd thing is I inspected her roses for damage and didn't see any; this was about the time they die off; the adults don't live more than one season; one season a female will lay up to 60 eggs.

Oh did those traps get to stinking, had to change and tape the holes in the bags once a week, got hundreds. They'd poke their icky little heads through the holes pre-punched in the bags. They die a slow death in those, but I'm to the point I don't care.

It is more humane to put a few drops of dish soap in the water if you pick them off plants; they drown much faster, have timed them. In water they will swim and swim until exhausted, and some will climb up on each other and get away. I hate to catch them in strings, piling on to do the f word. Oh, and they prefer bright sunlight and worst in the HOTTEST weather, and lurk on rainy days so you get a break from the battle when it rains.

111 posted on 05/22/2011 7:38:22 PM PDT by Aliska
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To: bigheadfred
I hate using pesticides but am not an organic freak. I don't like dragging out the sprayer. I don't like cleaning it. I don't like getting the stuff on me, got a hazmat suit lol. No it's just white plastic coveralls and too hot, then have to hose that off and hang it to dry. Thanks for the tip about Monitor, haven't done veggies in a couple years, never potatoes.

Yes, I get the brown stuff in chips. When I peel them, I cut it all out, another ick.

No imidicloprid is in a class of chemicals called neonicotinoids and totally different from malathion which is what I think you meant. I might try Sevin again since I still have it but not suit up as carefully; guy at the nursery says he's been spraying it for over 30 years.

The LAT article is still up, well worth the read for both gardeners and farmers.

Buzzzzzzzz kill

112 posted on 05/22/2011 7:50:49 PM PDT by Aliska
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To: Aliska

Marathon is a trade name for an imidicloprid.

I don’t think you can get Monitor. You don’t want it. It is highly toxic.

Back when I had a place to garden I lived in the same town as my dad. I would have him come over and do any bug killing. Then I didn’t have to worry about my kids getting into those poisons.


113 posted on 05/22/2011 8:07:46 PM PDT by bigheadfred (I wish I was an Oscar Meyer wiener but Lindsay Graham beat me to it.)
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To: bigheadfred
Thanks, didn't know that.

Yes, kids and pets, one reason I don't like my lawn treated. Had to last year. Overkill. Made it worse. Family. Next time I'll do it myself more sparingly and a couple treatments, if necessary.

Have to watch my grandson and neighbor kids though. And if it's too toxic, I don't want any part of it. I think someone came along one side of my house and killed everything with stuff that lasts ten years. Saw the telltale brown crisping on the leaves, then all died. Five years ago, some things try to come back and just too weak. Ticks me off; they would almost have had to come on my property to do it.

Another thing local kids have done for vandalism, but this wasn't that. Sometimes I get so discouraged trying to make my yard look nice on a budget I wonder what's the use, and I can't do as hard work as I was doing past years, winter took its toll on my back and knees.

114 posted on 05/22/2011 8:18:41 PM PDT by Aliska
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To: metmom

Last year and the year before they showed up as small clusters of brownish orange-ish eggs on the tops of my zucchini and my bird house goard leaves. I tore that section of leaf off and threw it in the trash.

I turned my garden twice this winter to expose as many wintering pests/larva as possible. I have not seen the little varmits yet this year but I look for them daily.


115 posted on 05/22/2011 8:33:42 PM PDT by John 3_19-21 (Christianity = God's Son died for you - Islam = Your son dies for God.)
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To: John 3_19-21

Thanks. I didn’t even know where on the plant to look for them. A lot of bugs like to hide on the undersides of the leaves or down by the base of the plant.

If these things show up on top, that’ll make it all the easier.

My garden is not huge which will be a help in controlling pests mechanically.

I would like to have turned my soil over a couple times in the winter to do the same thing as you, but once it started snowing in November, that was it for seeing the ground again until April.


116 posted on 05/22/2011 8:44:33 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Clintonfatigued

Plus, they smell. They’re like a six-legged “pull my finger” gag.


117 posted on 05/22/2011 8:51:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Thanks Cincinna for this link -- http://www.friendsofitamar.org)
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To: PA Engineer

My old truck had an infestation of them. If it was sitting in the sun with the windows up there would be at least a hundred, many dead but many still alive. That residual smell lingered. I would vacuum them out regularly. I discovered that they were primarily coming in through an inlet duct for the AC that was breached in the firewall. I used an ozone generator in it to remove the smell.

I have a car that sits in the garage all windows up and AC off that inevitably accumulates 3 or 4 in it within a week. I don’t know how they get in. Yes they are a pita.


118 posted on 05/22/2011 9:03:20 PM PDT by apoliticalone (Honest govt. that operates in the interest of US sovereignty and the people, not global $$$)
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To: TribalPrincess2U; PA Engineer
Are they natural predators against stink bugs?

Some claim that free-range chickens will eat the critters.

Most local zoning laws would not approve.

119 posted on 05/22/2011 9:06:14 PM PDT by lightman (Adjutorium nostrum (+) in nomine Domini)
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To: Red_Devil 232

These things played havoc with my squash plants for years until I got some chickens and let them free range in the garden.


120 posted on 05/22/2011 9:25:53 PM PDT by Lera
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