Pest ID

Francis Barnswallow · Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:45 am

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v700/obiadia/Bugs.jpg[/img]

Just noticed these guys, never seen them before. They like to hang around the tomatoes. Should I destroy em'?

gardenvt · Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:52 am

Wish your photo was at a different angle. I had two bugs with those colors over the summer. One of them I really didn't know what it was but squashed it anyway.

The others were earlier in the season on eggplants and I am embarrassed to say that I killed ladybugs-to-be. I had posted here about them and couldn't identify them. Later, I was browsing through one of my old gardening books and realized I had destroyed a nice crop of ladybugs.

Can you get a photo of them from the top and sides?

Francis Barnswallow · Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:55 am

This photo is from the internet. I tried taking a pic of them but my camera is horrible and won't focus when I zoom in.

gumbo2176 · Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:20 pm

Marlingardener wrote:I think they are the nymph state of leaf-footed bugs (Leptoglossus phyllopus)which are common in Florida because they are a pest on citrus crops.
Hand-pick if the infestation is light, or apply an insecticide if it looks like they may take over.

That is what I determined them to be this summer when they tried to overtake my tomato plants. I was gone for a couple days and when I got back home and went into the garden, there were literally hundreds on each tomato plant. I had to use an insecticide since picking them off was not an option.

Francis Barnswallow · Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:52 pm

Yeah, I've seen those adult leaf-footed bugs in the garden before. Do they eat the tomato? It seems that all they do is gather on the tomato and just relax all day.

I did kill them btw.

gumbo2176 · Tue Nov 15, 2011 3:45 pm

Francis Barnswallow wrote:Yeah, I've seen those adult leaf-footed bugs in the garden before. Do they eat the tomato? It seems that all they do is gather on the tomato and just relax all day.

I did kill them btw.

From what I observed, they look like they can do similar damage that a stinkbug does. Stinkbugs will pierce the tomato and suck at the fruit and the tomato develops a spot on the flesh that is yellow to orange in color and is a bit harder than the unaffected flesh.

Once I saw how many were in the garden I decided to spray to get rid of them. I only spray when things appear to be in a dire situation.

Tate · Tue Nov 15, 2011 4:13 pm

I concur. Leaf footed nymphs. Squish everyone of those dudes you see. They will suck the life out of your tomatoes.