When Susy Morris , whoblogsand farm in Liberty , Maine , went out to her vegetable garden in early June , she spotted a few different kinds of beetles on her Asparagus officinales , cucumbers and potatoes , but the harlequin microbe that attacked her boodle were making a holey quite a little of her garden .
Harlequin bug ( Murgantia histronica ) are cerise or icteric and black firmly - blast hemipteran in the stink hemipteran family . find in affectionate southerly states as early as the Civil War , harlequin hemipteran territory can now reach as far north as the Great Lakes and New England . fortuitously , I ’m blessed by the nerveless maritime mood in the Pacific Northwest and do n’t chance them — you’re able to hate me if you require .
Adult harlequin bugs overwinter in older plant , then rest egg in the springtime . Looking like some sort of Mod furniture , thebarrel - shaped striped egg casesare quite typical . These insect pests can hit grownup stage in an alarmingly light 48 days , so when you bump the eggs , be vigilant in destroy them . Ken - ichi Ueda / Flickr
Insect pests are often named for the host plant life that they consume , so harlequin bug ought to be named Brassica oleracea italica bug or lettuce hemipteran . They feast on all member of the brassica category , including collards , kale and even refer ornamental genus , such asCleome , Matthiola , Erysimum(wall flowers ) andAlyssum . A bit like vampires , harlequin bugs thrust stems and leaves and give suck out plant juice , so look for discolored spots around a hole in your leaves .
unluckily , these sap - sucking insect will also run through tomato , Indian corn , beans , squelch , okra and tree fruits , so take the sentence to inspect any plant that are wilting . Because males produce an attracting pheromone , the bugs tend to congregate in one place , so front for remarkably stressed plant in otherwise healthy rows .
Below are twelve constitutional techniques that will keep your bread and broccoli gratis from harlequin bug destruction .
Ken-ichi Ueda/Flickr
General Techniques
stock pestis - management strategy will help you deal with pests of all types , including harlequin bugs . Here are a few you should incorporate into your garden - care programme .
1. Encourage Strong Plants
pay off attending to your crops ’ water and stain demand . Water profoundly to encourage strong , deep roots . Brassicas are dense calcium feeders , so add ground oyster shield or eggshell when you plant . You might need to add dolomitic limestone make atomic number 20 more available to your plants . Soil test are also important for new harvest theater and will recount you how to good balance out your territory ’s nutrients .
2. Weed and Clean
pronto remove languishing plants from the garden and inspect them for pests . ( If they are infested , throw them in the trash , not the compost . ) In mid - summer and again in the twilight , pick up leaf - bedding and remove scraggy habitat , where the grownup harlequin bugs can overwinter .
3. Hand-Pick Bugs
Toss harlequin bugs in a bucketful of soapy piss ; squishing them will emit a acrid smell . ( They are n’t call stink bugs for nothing ! ) Be vigilant in this practice , specially in spring as the weather warms .
Physical Deterrents
If you have a large garden patch where hand - pick pestilence is inordinate , barrier methods can be efficacious in keeping pest like harlequin microbe at bay .
4. Row Covers
wrangle covers , which are set aside above the craw on PVC piping or wire , form really well for plants , like boodle , that do n’t demand pollenation to produce — they can stay under their sheepskin from planting until harvest . Use a lightweight , pervious framework , such as Reemay , and rapier in the fabric edge with stones or land to prevent harlequin germ and other pests from slipping in underneath .
5. Kaolin Clay
Typically used on fruit crop , this white silicate clay can be sprayed to forestall bugs from feeding and is easily wash off at harvest .
Organic Chemical Solutions
While pesticides — even constitutional single — shouldn’t be the first pest - direction solution you turn to , they can be used meagerly if you have an infestation or if your site is too large to manage by other means .
6. Insecticidal Soaps
An effective way to kill harlequin bugs is with a simple combination of a 1 - percentage insecticidal grievous bodily harm resolution , which penetrates their hard shells , and neem ( 0.9 percent ) or pyrethrin ( 0.012 percent ) . This combination is a contact - insecticide , so you ’ll have to squeeze out the testis , nymphs and grownup directly . Apply insecticidal soaps in former morning , before the bugs are active , to maximise effectiveness . Do not expend neonicotinoid insecticides , as there is increasing grounds that it is a widespread bee killer .
7. Home-Brewed Pesticides
PlantChrysanthemum cinerariifolium(also be intimate asTanacetum cinerarifolium ) , a white daisy - like plant life that will dissuade all pest by nature by attack the spooky organization of insects . Commercially available as pyrethrins , this chemical is derive from the seminal fluid of this industrial plant . Collect flower heads when they are in full flower . Dry and grind them up . souse 1 cup of pulverization in 1/2 gallon of very warm body of water for 3 hours . Add 1/2 cupful of dish soap and use immediately . Repeat weekly as houri concoct .
Companion Plants and Polycultures
These long time - honest-to-goodness scheme might have been used by your grandma , but they ’re dependable strategies that can be used for managing all form of pests .
8. Boundary Crop
border brassicas with strong - perfumed plants , such as chamomile , celery , basil , garlic , sight , rosemary and sage , to help mask their strong odors . you’re able to even constitute chrysanthemum , a natural pyrethrin manufacturer .
9. Trap Crops
develop an early crop of Indian mustard , Brassica oleracea italica or kale to draw and trap plague . Harvest and discard this crop before your main craw is planted .
10. Polycultures/Intercropping
Instead of growing them as a boundary , inter - mix chief crop with the plants listed in No . 8 to deflect harlequin hemipteran .
Animal Help
Greatly foreshorten your work load by using predatory insects and animal that feast upon harlequin bugs to free your garden of this pest .
11. Parasitoid Wasps
Effective against hard - shelled pests , diminutive non - stinging hymenopteran wasp are unwearying worker . you’re able to order these wasps online or plant wild flower and herbs with extensive umbrella - like blooms , such as milfoil , Carum carvi and fennel to encourage them into your garden . Do n’t purchase braconid and trichogramman wasps for role against harlequin hemipteron , though — they prefer the lenient - bodied aphids , cutworms , moth and caterpillars .
12. Guinea Fowl
Of all the methods note , I like this solvent from Morris best . She let her low flock of Numida meleagris fowl devoid - grasp her garden during the day . Although slimly noisier than chickens , a minuscule mountain is a utile associate in the field , as they are much less destructive to leafy crops and do n’t scratch up up plants as sharply as wimp .
