These are everywhere in my garden......

[Chris_CXC]

They like my Tomatoes and my Eggplant.

What are they and how do I get rid of them?

[applestar]

I'm not familiar with them so I guess NJ is not in their distribution range... but do they look like this one?
https://bugguide.net/node/view/4963

It looks like there was some difficulty IDing it but there is a comment at the bottom of the page with possible ID.

The way they are congregating look a lot like stinkbug nymphs, and what I do with them is knock them off of the plants into a container of soapy water or cut off entire sacrificial leaf or shoot and stomp on them.

[ElizabethB]

Hi Chris. Welcome to the forum.

Could you remove a few of the critters from the plant and set them on something where you have a good contrast then take close up photos? That might help with identification.

Don't wage war just yet. There are many beneficial insects that look disgusting but are a gardener's friend.

[rainbowgardener]

Does it look like this:

spiny assassin bug.jpg (18.25 KiB) Viewed 1437 times

nymph of spiny assassin bug

A friend of mine just asked for ID of these in her garden.

If it is, assassin bugs are beneficial in the garden.

anyway, I expect they are nymphs of something. That's why you suddenly have a swarm of them, because they just hatched out recently.

[rainbowgardener]

Here's one of my friend's pictures of it, showing size scale:

spiny assassin bug2.jpg (23.32 KiB) Viewed 1427 times

[imafan26]

Yeah, a lot of beneficial bugs have bodies only a mother could love. If they are on your plants then there must be plentiful food nearby.

https://www.organicgardening.com/learn-a ... e?page=0,0