Leaf-footed bugs and stink bugs

[Tracydr]

I’ve been plagued with these bugs for 6 years, since I moved to North Carolina.
I planted a bunch of artichokes and they are a huge attractant. This yer,since I’m not working and spending a lot more time in the garden, I’ve started to set up my shop-vac with a bit of soapy water in the bottom. Several times a day I do a bug hunt and those fast-flying leaf-footed bugs and sneaky sneak bugs (they hide in the artichoke leaves down where my fingers can’t get them), are getting vacuumed.
Now I’m using it for Japanese beetles, too.
I’m thinking of planting a better trap crop, maybe amaranth? Or, is there something else they will like better than my artichokes?

[fluffy_gumbo]

I've heard that they really like sunflowers.

[Setec Astronomy]

Ha, good idea with the vacuum. Quick bug/vacuum story.

It's night, I'm driving home, there is something inside bumping against the back window, I can hear it, it sounds big, I think I caught a glimpse of a silhouette in my rear view mirror, it looks big, what can it be? Did a hummingbird get in the car during the day, or did a bat fly in my car when I had the door open getting in at night? I was close to home, I pulled the car in the garage, there is this giant moth in the car (knowing what I know now, it was probably a tomato hornworm moth, anyway, it was huge).

I guess I decided that I shouldn't spray anything in the car, and that I didn't want to squish it on anything (as I'm writing this, I'm not sure why I didn't pull the car back out and try to get the thing to fly out, but probably I decided it should be dead because it was big and scary, I dunno, it was a long time ago), so I decide to suck it up in the vacuum cleaner. So I do that, and decide I should put the bag from the vacuum cleaner in the trash, so I pull the bag out and set it on the top of the garbage can while I wind up the cord on the vacuum and go inside to put it away.

I come back out...and like in a horror movie the moth is crawling out the hole in the vacuum bag to come get me, like the Terminator coming out of the tanker fire. I think I recall spraying it with something to knock it down and then stepping on it.

[GoDawgs]

Last year was the first year that I had a lot of leaf footeds on the tomatoes. Go figure. I started carrying around a spray bottle of pyrethrin mix and spritzing them all with little quick bursts. There sure were a ton of them, kinda like one of the biblical plagues of Egypt!

***whispering and looking around to see if any of them are listening*** So far this year I haven't seen many of either. Shhhh! Dont tell anybody! July isn't here yet.

[Tracydr]

I might do that GoDawgs. Too late for my peaches but maybe save the rest of the garden. Do they overwinter in mulch? Wondering if beneficial nematodes this fall might help?

[Nan6b]

Excellent idea with the vacuum cleaner, Tracy. I once had a large bag of birdseed sprout a zillion meal moths. They were everywhere. In desperation I got out the vacuum with the long-handle attachment & took them all out.

[GoDawgs]

I might do that GoDawgs. Too late for my peaches but maybe save the rest of the garden. Do they overwinter in mulch? Wondering if beneficial nematodes this fall might help?

I don't know about the overwintering in mulch. I use leaves for mulch and leave it on all winter and I'm still trying to decide if I should turn them under at the end of the season. Well, at least in the fallow beds because I have something growing all year out there. But the bug populations seem to rise and fall over time and that has to be due to some other factor (weather?) since the leaf mulch is a constant.

I will say that I spray newly planted and then re- mulched beds with pyrethrin. I started doing that two years ago and it seems to have made a difference in flea beetles but last year was horrid for leaf-footeds mid to late in the season. Go figure.