How to deal with stinkbugs and leaf-footed bugs

The infamous stinkbug and his relative, the leaf-footed bug, are the topics of this space today. Any of you that have ever attempted to grow a crop of tomatoes, or several other vegetables for that matter, will be familiar with our old nemesis, the stinkbug. Let’s look at him, how he operates, and what we can do to prevent him from ruining our vegetable crops. We will include the leaf-footed bug in this discussion.

Stinkbugs and their cousins, leaf-footed bugs, are common pests on many fruits and vegetables in the southeast. Adult stinkbugs are distinctively shield-shaped and from ½ to ¾ inches in length. They may be green or brown in color. When held or squashed, they emit a foul odor, hence the name stinkbug. Young, immature stinkbugs are smaller and rounder and more colorful, with patterned red, black, green and white bodies.

Adult leaf-footed bugs are a little larger than stinkbugs, with dark brown bodies often with a white line across the middle. Flat, leaf-like attachments extend from the lower end of their back legs. Their young are bright red with long black legs but lack wings.

Stinkbug eggs are barrel-shaped and are deposited in clusters on the undersides of leaves and hatch in about five days. The stinkbug develops through five stages of growth in about 32 days. Females begin laying eggs about 14-20 days after reaching the adult stage.

Both stinkbugs and leaf-footed bugs damage plants by inserting their needle-like mouthparts into the buds, flowers, fruits and even seeds of many types of plants including beans, sweet corn, okra, apples, figs, peaches, eggplant, tomatoes, blueberries and many others. This removal of plant sap causes fruits and seeds to appear misshapen or shriveled, leaving behind a small pin prick injury on the surface of the affected plant part. As the injury heals, the feeding site becomes hard and darkens. Although stinkbugs and leaf-footed bugs can feed on leaves and stems, reproductive plant parts such as corn ears, tomato and pepper fruit, seeds and pods are their preferred feeding sites. Stinkbugs may also provide a point of entry for disease organisms as they feed, resulting in fruit decay.

Both stinkbugs and leaf-footed bugs are challenging to control. They overwinter in grassy areas such as ditch banks and fence rows. Controlling weeds around vegetable gardens and orchards can help reduce bug populations, but both are strong fliers and can easily migrate from other areas into your garden.

Birds and spiders are predators of stinkbugs and leaf-footed bugs. There are also several species of beneficial insects which feed on them, including assassin bugs, predatory stinkbugs and wheel bugs. Parasitic insects can help control these pests but they are sensitive to pesticides. In areas where pesticides are commonly used, the populations of these and other beneficial insects may be greatly reduced.

In smaller gardens, stinkbugs and leaf-footed bugs can be controlled by handpicking them from plants and either smashing them or drowning them in a bucket of soapy water. Though these bugs will not sting, they certainly will issue a foul odor to the handler.

In larger gardens, chemical control is often necessary. Very few organic pesticides have any effect on these bugs. Standard pesticides containing pyrethroids are relatively effective for controlling leaf-footed bugs and stink bugs, but must be applied every seven to 10 days for best results. These include products containing permethrin, bifenthrin, cyfluthrin, beta-cyfluthrin or fenpropathrin as the active ingredient. When shopping for these pesticides, look for one of these names on the label and check to see if the pesticide is labelled for use on your particular crop.

I hope this article has been helpful in your effort to win the fight against but two of our ever-present garden enemies – the stinkbug and leaf-footed bug.

Tim Lewis is a Georgia Green Industry Association Certified Plant Professional, gardening writer, former Perry High School horticulture instructor, and former horticulturalist at Henderson Village and Houston Springs. He and his wife, Susan, own and operate Lewis Farms Nursery located on Hwy 26 two miles east of Elko, where he was born and raised. He can be reached at (478) 954-1507 or timlewis1@windstream.net and at LewisFarmsNursery.com.

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