The active ingredient in AzaGard is azadirachtin which comes from Neem Oil. There have been mixed reports about its effectiveness against stink bugs. It appears to be most effective against them in the nymph stage, but it needs to come into direct contact with them to kill. How many stink bug nymphs did you see in your garden? I didn't even see the bugs themselves, but I did see extensive damage on my tomatoes and peppers at harvest. If you can't find them, you can't kill them. An organic insecticide that is supposed to be a little more effective against them is pyrethrin. There are also traps that work like Japanese beetle traps, but if you look at the reviews they get on Amazon.com, you can see that most people didn't think they were effective. The problem is that contact insecticides are not effective because of the bugs have hard coats, and they feed by piercing the skin of the fruit or vegetable, so they avoid most of the insecticide on the surface. They feed on so many different kinds of plants that you would need to treat everything in your garden to begin to make a dent. It sounds like the most effective control for home gardeners is growing trap crops (like okra or amaranth), using row covers and, from what Dave says, using a kaolin clay product like Surround.

Plum, I once tried to use shade cloth to see if it would keep birds off of peach trees. It was a 50% UV cloth (allowed 50% sunlight). The biggest problem with peaches was that they were noticeably less sweet with the shade cloth. The other problem was that it was hard to keep on the tree. It was a big piece of shade cloth, and I tried to keep it weighted down, but the wind always wanted to take it off. Unlike bird netting (which hooks on the shoots) the shade cloth was smooth enough it would blow off easily. I tried the shade cloth on some trellised blackberries (for bird control). I tied the cloth to the trellis, so it stayed on better. But it caused another problem. The cloth caused the blackberries to get too hot. It cooked the berries under the cloth. The holes on your netting are bigger, and look like they will release more heat (and probably stay on the trees better). I guess my question, would it be enough to control SWD? I've noticed non-SWD fruit flies love to remain under the canopy of fruit trees (where it's shaded). If enough SWD could get through or under the net, would they have their own protected environment under the tree?

They are absolutely AWFUL this year! Worst I have ever seen. Muhammad Khan was awash in phone calls about them on Gardening Today, Sunday. He didnÂt even know that they ÂbiteÂ. Here are some things I learned when I was at Iowa State. 1) They ARE ladybugs, just a different kind. Mostly the Harmonia axyridis, or Asian Lady Beetle. So donÂt spray them!!! They still eat aphids. Even the oneÂs that are orange or donÂt have spots, these are just immature. One guy on Gardening Today was saying you should spray them because they are related to the Mexican Bean Beetle. This is nonsense. The Black-Widow is related to the Garden Spider, but I donÂt spray Garden Spiders. 2) They do not ÂbiteÂ. Instead, they have sharp hooks on their feet, so when they land on you, they dig in, and it feels like a bite. 3) The juveniles live on fruit nectar. So, if you have lots of fruit trees, or like I do, a 100 yo, 40' tall Bradley Pear (where teh fruit rots on the three before I can ever pick it), and huge wild-plum grove, I get a lot of ladybugs. Lots. 4) They are attracted to heat and white. So wear dark colors, if you decide to reside your house, trim the doorways and windows in something darker colored. This will help keep them from Âcreeping in.

Hi from a neighbor in central Virginia. We didn't see any of these until about 3 years ago. Now in the fall they land on the house by the hundreds. And, there are THOUSANDS in the attic. They especially like to overwinter in the folds of hanging clothing: armpits, lapels, seams are highly desirable stinkbug condos. And anything else with folds: flaps of cardboard cartons, folded towels. (We had the misfortune to have had the interior of our new home painted in the fall. The painters left all the windows open at the time the beasts were swarming and our home has become a very popular vacation spot.) We also live next to an apple cold-storage plant. We've resigned ourselves for the moment to the same method we used to successfully remove acres of kudzu from our property: brute force. Yesterday we spent 2 hrs in the attic with a vacuum cleaner hose and sucked the buggers up. The powerful turbine of our vac pulverized them. Plastic storage boxes seem to have kept them out of boxed clothes. One post here recommended using permethrin and related chemicals. I read a permethrin label that was downright scary in details of its toxicity. The suggestioin to use a light trap is intriguing, though. Looking forward to hearing about your stinkbug adventures and solutions!