I've never heard of this organic insecticide, but it's recommended for control of harlequin and stink bugs: Sabadilla is an insecticide produced by grinding the seeds of the sabadilla plant, Schoenocaulon officinale. For several years sabadilla products were not available in the U.S. However, they are now sold by several mail-order suppliers, and garden centers have begun to carry sabadilla products as well. Sabadilla is both a contact and stomach poison and has shown greatest promise against several of the "true bugs," such as squash bug, chinch bug, harlequin bug and stink bugs. It has proven effectiveness against leaf-feeding caterpillars, Mexican bean beetles and thrips. Use of sabadilla on certain vegetables, including squash, cucumbers, melons, beans, turnips, mustard, collards, cabbage, peanuts and potatoes, is permitted by the EPA.. The ground seeds of sabadilla sold for garden use are considered among the least toxic of the various botanicals. However, sabadilla dusts can be highly irritating to the respiratory tract, often provoking a violent sneezing reaction if inhaled. Be sure to wear a dust mask when applying it and, as with all pesticides, follow precautions listed on the product labels. In addition, several of the alkaloids in sabadilla can cause rapid depression of blood pressure in mammals. Has anyone heard of anything further, positive or negative, about it?

No, no, no! Never kill a spined soldier bug. They are rare and solitary and generally show up in very small numbers. You need everyone you get. I count on my spined soldier bugs to do a lot of bug control in my garden and would be very disappointed in myself if I mistook one for a stink bug and killed it. Once you see them both in the garden, you can tell them apart quite easily. In my garden, the spined soldier bugs are larger than the brown stink bugs and they proudly stand there on their leaf waiting to attack an unsuspecting pest. The brown stink bugs slink around like the cowardly bad guys that they are, and run and hide when they see me coming. Apparently the good bugs know they are good and that I won't harm them, and the bad ones know they are bad and deserve to be harmed! Here is a link that might be useful: The Link Is Here

You can have mine! I have a ton of rolly pollies - they're eating all my moss! Between them and the squirrels overturning it all, it makes it really hard to start a moss garden...

You can differentiate between the Stinkbug nymphs and the Assassin Bug nymphs by the tail end. I have a little blurb that helps me: "Bad Black Bump" which is what the Stinkbug nymphs sport on their butt tips when they are smallish and congregating like little orange ants with long black legs. The clue is "congregate". Stinkbugs are groupies, and usually appear as a whole mass of them together, usually on top of your best tomato... Assassin Bugs, true to their name, are singular and solitary. You will usually encounter them one at a time, or, in my case, if you have a "herd" of them in your milkweed, you will see them down there with adequate space between themselves, and being rather territorial... I consider my "herd" of Assassins to be Allies. They patrol the grass and milkweed and keep EVERYTHING from crawling up to my veggie plants. The downside is that they are afraid of nothing, and will kill EVERYTHING in their path, so this means they do take out some of your beneficial bugs (bennies) as well. However, it's a trade-off, 'cause the bennies might relocate to the other side of your yard and be very safe and happy... Linda