Stink Bug Wars

I've declared war on the stink bugs this year. They aren't getting my peppers or tomatoes! Well...at least not as many, I hope! I got tired of fighting them for my ripening fruits. One day a brilliant idea came to mind. I had a bolt of tulle in my attic and I have fruit to protect! Viola! I got busy cutting up the bolt of tulle into 12"x12" squares and pieces of twine. When I ran out of twine I used the plastic ties you can buy in a roll. I enveloped each fruit in a puff of tulle in hopes that those mouth parts on the stink bug aren't quite long enough to penetrate the tulle and still let them ripen on the vine with plenty of air circulation. There are areas where I am not able to protect unfortunately so there are some married fruits.

Tonight though, I found a bunch of them gathered on one of my tulle covered peppers. How convenient! I quickly grabbed the yogurt cup I keep filled with soapy water and ran over to where this congregation was and gave the plant a good TAP! TA DA! They all jumped ship....right into the soapy water! YEAH! Call me sadistic, but I love watching the little suckers drown! Take that for eating my crop!

Normally I am more than happy to share with the wildlife, but these stink bugs don't know how to share. For that, they get death. It's not really that they consume a lot, but when they bite into the fruit they introduce bacteria and what eventually kills the crop is a bacterial infection. Sorry to anyone who thinks I ought to let them live. Don't come over if you can't watch it. :)