7/15/2019 – Stink bug damage to the top side of many tomatoes has got to stop…without having to stop picking tomatoes due to insecticide downtime. So, the homemade, non-toxic spray that sounds the most complete is below. Mixed some with cayenne and sprayed this date and again on 7/17/2019 due to the rains since the 15th.
Combine one heavy tablespoon of liquid soap to one quart of warm water. [Add] a teaspoon of ground red pepper or garlic may be added to further repel chewing insects. Also, a teaspoon of cider vinegar may be added to assist in the removal of powdery mildew.
Gardening Know How
I mixed 3 tbsp of Dawn in one gallon of water plus a rounded tablespoon of cayenne pepper. Sprayed all the tomato fruits in the big garden. The intent is to scare off stink bugs sitting on top the fruit and poking holes in it.
I mixed more Liquid Copper at 2 tbsp/gallon and sprayed all the tomatoes in the big garden and the herb garden.
Depending on how the plants react, may add garlic powder to the mix.
7/17/2019 – As there were several rains since the above application, sprayed them again. This first spray and this time scared off some bugs during the spraying. I did not see as much damage on new fruits after the first spraying.
8/1/2019 – Since beginning this spraying there has been less damage but the stink bugs are still showing up. The worse part is that the spray has killed all the leaves it landed on although it did not appear to damage the tomatoes. I have been spraying the stink bugs on the tomatoes 3-4 times a week and getting some on the leaves.
