how do I kill this

[gardengirl13]

OK, normally I just use hot pepper wax, garlic spray or other "natural" type things on my veggies and herbs, as a last resort I'll reach for the Neem. But these darn bugs will NOT die. They are distroying my gardens! They're eating all my herbs, my veggies and flowers. We've broke down and bought Seven last week and tried it. It says it kills 100's of bugs and that on contact it'll kill them pretty good. Well even spraying directly on them these darn things will not die.

Any suggestions? They're too fast to try to squish them. But I did manage to get photos with my hands right next to them, but the second I tried to get him, he was gone.

[Chris_W]

Hi,

The fourlined plant bug is definitely becoming more of a pest. If they are on ornamentals try a systemic insecticide like Orthene or di-syston. On your veggies I would try sevin dust since that sticks around longer, but it sounds like yours might have developed an immunity to sevin if the liquid didn't phase them. That might be one of the reasons they are getting so bad - they may have developed an immunity to Sevin.

If you don't like to use any insecticides then just try to live with them, especially when it comes to your edible plants. They feed on the foliage and make it look bad, but never actually harm the plant otherwise. Often you can just nip off the bad leaves and new ones will replace them.

[govgirl75]

I think they are Four Line Plant Bugs (Poecilocapsus lineatus).
Here is a link to a garden forum discussion of the little buggers. One of the suggestions is to use Eco Smart Organic Insecticide. I would also be curious to know if Surround ( a kaolin clay product) would block them from sucking on the plant leaves and encourage them to go to greener pastures. I use Surround on my apple trees and it is doing a pretty good job so far. We have had these bugs on chrysanthemums for as long as I can remember, but I prune the plants twice during the summer to help them grow bushier, so the affected foliage is removed during the pruning.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load ... 18368.html
Gloria

[gardengirl13]

Chris not sure how they would develop an immunity as this is the first time I've used it, my husband read up on this bug last week and they said these little guys don't travel much if at all, and I don't think my neighbor sprays them since I've only seem then on his mint that he just ignores due to poison ivy. None of my other neighbors garden.

govgirl, I'll have to try the eco smart one. And yes we also have them on our mums out back

It's hard to deal with since they're destroying our herbs, which since we use the leaves we can't just ignore it. As of right now our huge lovely oregano plant is half trashed. I try to prune it back, but as soon as the new leaves come out, they're eaten within a day.

It's depressing!

[Chris_W]

Hi,

Many people have been reporting that the fourlined plant bug doesn't die after spraying with Sevin. I'm not saying that one bug might be immune, I'm saying that all of them might be immune - even those in my garden. They have been getting worse and worse over the past several years, and Sevin has been around for a very long time, so while Sevin used to be recommended for these it might not be working any longer

[gardengirl13]

Thanks Chris. I'm hoping that's not the case, as I read more about these darn things it seems they're getting denser populations and are worse every year and no one knows how to deal with them. I contacted my local cornell coop. ext. in the hopes they may know something more. But I doubt it. It's so sad because they are really destructive! If they keep getting worse each year I may not be able to do as much gardening (well the herbs and veggies) since they're horrible right now and anything worse and I won't be able to use anything off the plants.

[thy]

Do not know your bugs, but have a few ecologic ways which may help

Pyrethum... it is from a special crysantenum... here it works great in the veggie garden... or rather it did work good, now it is impossible to find, think Bayer once again have got it blacklisted for uncomercial use..so I'm sure there will be a Bayer product using it in a few years...
or my fathers old advice... put old used cicars in a mix of water and let it stay for a few days.. then spray

Wait a week before you eat the veggies and make sure they are well water washed before you pick them... do not think my father cared

Pia