Gardening Column Q&A

Our gardening columnist recently received this question from a reader. Here’s the full question and answer:

As a way of introduction, I am Michael Gatlin and my bride of 50+ years is Linda. We moved permanently to Fayette County in 2011 from Tomball and we could not be happier. We live near O’Quinn and have had a small 24’x32’ garden adjacent to a small orchard of two fig trees, a plum tree, an apricot tree, and a pear tree. This year we planted red potatoes, lettuce, purple hull peas, sweet corn, heirloom pepper, and eight various tomatoes (several of them heirloom) to go with our asparagus and blackberries. We have a micro herd of cows and Linda has some chickens. We have no TV connection, use the internet, and since we subscribe only to the FCR, I read almost every word. I find it informative, entertaining, amusing, and provocative. Plus it does work well in our compost box.

We have had a garden of some size for many, many years but there is one critter that I cannot seem to defeat, very much to my frustration and Linda’s disappointment in me: Stink Bugs on our tomatoes. I haven’t seen any stink bugs this year as I was a little late in planting the tomatoes. But historically they have “white-spotted” the ripe fruit and to say Linda is unhappy is an understatement. So I was hoping to get ahead of the game this year. I have tried just about everything (sprays, powders, insecticides, etc.) and nothing seems to work. This year we have a home-made nest box near the tomatoes that has housed a nest of tufted titmouse birds. That may not be a good idea, but I am hoping to find something that will eliminate that disheartening critter. Andy, any recommendation would be appreciated.

Thank you for reading (and composting) the paper, Mr. Gatlin!

It sounds like you have a beautiful garden. I hope we can get those stink bugs under control.

My place is located not too far away from you, but thankfully, I’ve only seen one stink bug in my garden this spring. Some stink bugs are beneficial. They feed on caterpillars. If they’re not causing too much damage to your plants, you might want to leave them alone.

Since it sounds like they are causing damage in your case, I would follow the advice of Howard Garrett, the preeminent authority on organic gardening in Texas. He recommends manual removal as the first option and using organic pesticides such as neem oil or insecticidal soap for heavy infestations.

I’ve been spraying my entire garden with a neem oil solution about every two weeks for aphid control, so that might have helped keep the stink bugs away from my garden. You can make this solution by mixing 1 tsp. of neem oil and 1/2 tsp. of liquid dish soap to 1 quart of water in a spray bottle. Spray it on everything.

However, I don’t think neem will completely eliminate a real heavy infestation. If I were you, I would get a few cold drinks, pull up a lawn chair to your tomato plants, put on some gloves and start picking them out one by one. Look for eggs and crush those, too. When I have chores like that, sometimes I can sweettalk my wife into spending some time together in the garden. That makes the work go by a little faster. Once you break the reproduction cycle, you should be able to get the stink bugs under control.

I don’t know much about tufted titmouse birds, but I did a little research. What I read indicates that they probably won’t hurt your garden and could possibly help. According to the Audubon Society, about twothirds of their diet comes from insects and larvae, mostly caterpillars. If you are growing any cabbage now or in the fall, the birds might help a lot with those pesky cabbage worms. Titmouse birds also eat seeds and berries, so I would keep a close eye on them in case they start eating something you’re trying to harvest.

I’ve found that wasps are very important in the organic garden. The predatory wasps in particular kill stink bugs. I recommend against spraying wasps and their nests around your property where possible. Obviously, you can’t live with them on your porch, patio or in your garage. But try to leave them alone where possible. They’ll help you with the stink bugs.

I recommend against using chemical pesticides. So many of those products are non-selective. Some kill our friends like the lady bugs, lacewings and beneficial nematodes in the soil. Take for example leafminers: pesticides have no effect on these destructive bugs, who are protected by the tunnels they dig into plant leaves, but chemical pesticides kill the beneficial leafminer predator.

In short: 1) avoid non-organic pesticides, 2) manually remove the pest and crush their eggs, and 3) encourage beneficial species like wasps and maybe even your tufted titmouse birds. I would follow the same basic protocol for most pest infestations. Good luck!

If you have a question about gardening, I’ll try to help. Email andy@fayettecountyrecord.com.