Sudden destruction. Please help me ID!

[gardenboy]

Did you cut open the tomato to see if the culprit was inside? Sometimes I get pinworms inside the damaged fruit and also my peppers. Look inside the gel part of the tomato.

[rainbowgardener]

Nope, not mostly anything inside.

Here's a "fall harvest" picture I took, but if you click to enlarge it, you can see the tracks on the tomatoes.

[img]https://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt102/rainbowgardener/Fall2012-1.jpg[/img]

[applestar]

I think at least part of the scarring is being caused by stink bugs... Do you have them in your garden?

[rainbowgardener]

Ahh.... I'm not quite sure. They look a lot like squash bugs. I definitely had a bunch of something that was either one or the other, I was thinking squash bugs. They were in the same bed that those tomatoes are in. I had a squash plant growing in the middle between the tomato plants. But after I gave up and pulled the zucchini, I haven't been seeing the squash (?) bugs. I would think if they were there I would have noticed them while I was peering around looking for the hornworms, they are big and black and ugly (the squash/ stinkbugs, not the hornworms).

But that's not a no, and now that you mention it, I do think they cause that kind of damage.

Is there a different way to look for the stinkbugs?

[gixxerific]

Stink bugs are wider than squash bugs where they are more slender. They both come in many colors though stink's are usually brown. I am lucky enough to have both. I have see this kind of damage myself. The millions of pill bugs aint helping either. They have been hurting a lot of my veggies. But they make or round holes like a sccop.

Just spray a heavy dose of DDT on everything you will be fine.

[applestar]

I think they damage apples in the same way too. A brown spot that is corky under the skin. I'm not seeing a "horde" like two years ago, but I'm definitely seeing them in ones and twos here and there -- Especialy peppers, tomatoes, beans. I saw one walking along the top wire of my 7ft trellis, too high for me to do anything.

I think shifting the foliage around or spraying with water to get them to move and reveal themselves seems like the best way to spot them.