Two pictures are attached.
From what I could find stated that these insects do not harm the garden. However, they thoroughly enjoyed eating my tomatoes and I consider that harm since I was not the one enjoying them.
The reason I am looking to identify them so I can understand what other bugs find these guys delicious or what plant they do not like so I can keep them at bay. This way I can enjoy more of my tomatoes in the fall/winter.
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Jeff,
I have noticed these little guys all over my peppermint. It seems to have suffered no damage, indeed is doing very well! Before the peppermint they were all over the yard. Not sure if there is a correlation there, but perhaps they really like peppermint? Maybe growing a bit (in a pot, its rampant otherwise!) would keep them from your tomatoes?
More info on the small milkweed bug, including food sources: http://bugguide.net/node/view/460
What does the damage on your tomato plants look like that makes you suspect the milkweed bug?
I am about 90% sure it was them. At first I just saw them inside a half eaten tomato, mainly the cherries. I thought that the birds caused the damage and they got and easy meal. I am guessing they got hooked. Because last month I saw one on a fresh tomato and it was starting to dig through the skin of the tomato. There was no other damage other than the small hole it was digging in. Since then they have not done any damage but the tomatoes have died. There are fewer and fewer of them but I find them all over my yard, front and back.
Looks like the best methods for killing are squishing with you fingers or spraying with soap water....Since they resemble or are milkweed bugs birds or my chickens will not eat them
Jeff, Thanks for bringing this up. My tomatoes are also getting eaten and I thought it was a tomato worm. After this year I am really thinking of making a screened in green house.
Grace the green house is tempting, just keep in mind any of the edibles that need pollinating if the pollinators can't get to them, then you have to do the work with a q-tip or brush :-) -- sometimes there are always trade-offs in the garden. :-)
A great point! We have a greenhouse, but it has openings near the top. We endure the worms so that we can have the bees. :)
I have these everywhere right now and I don't have tomatoes. Good luck...
Milkweed bugs are supposed to only like milkweed, but apparently they like tomatoes, too. Here's another discussion about identifying the nymph which was attacking a tomato plant: http://www.phoenixpermaculture.org/group/soilbuilders/forum/topics/...
The struggle with these bugs, leaf-footed bugs and squash bugs, is that they are all very hard to kill and don't have many natural enemies. In bug form, they don't respond well to sprays, whether natural or unnatural. The best things to do is to pick them off when you see them, and keep the ground clear of debris. Chickens and other poultry might like them.
I haven't had problems with milkweed bugs, but I just cleaned a bunch of squash bug eggs off of our squash leaves.
Our pomegranates where being destroyed every year by the leaf footed bugs. They are good at flying, and they seemed to know that if they flew right at your face you'd freak out. I think it was a game for them. :) We finally used socks to cover all the pomegranates. The tree looked stupid, but the fruit was good!
The western box elder bug in the link I provided eats everything else :-) the true milkweed critter eats only milkdweed and it is thought to make it poisonous to birds and other predators, like the Monarch Butterfly is.
If that's true, then chickens aren't the answer!
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