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These bugs like it hot

Leaf-footed bugs thriving in triple-digit weather

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED AUG 16, 2021

Leaf-footed bug attacks a tomatillo in Midtown. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

Leaf-footed bugs on rosebud.

Besides spider mites, one other pest apparently loves recent hot and smoky weather: Leaf-footed bugs. (They’re pretty crazy about tomatoes, too.)

Triple-digit heat has brought out an explosion of leaf-footed bugs in the greater Sacramento area. Right now, they’re scrambling around on ripe tomatoes and other fruit, sucking out juice. For example, dozens of young leaf-footed bugs were spotted in Midtown this weekend as multi generations feasted on the same tomato plants.

With distinctive leaf-shaped back legs, the leaf-footed bug is a close cousin to stink bugs – only bigger. Leaf-footed bugs often are an inch long and look like strange alien creatures. When young, they like to hang out in groups. Relatively slow to mature, they take six to eight weeks to reach adulthood. But once fully grown, they can stick around for months.

In the overall garden scheme of things, their damage is relatively minor. The leaf-footed bug stabs its long mouthparts into nice juicy fruit, flower buds, seeds and other favorite targets, then sucks out moisture. Usually, that results in only cosmetic damage; the fruit is still edible. But when their population grows like it is now, leaf-footed bugs become a bigger nuisance.

Three different species are native to California and they attack a wide range of crops and ornamental plants. The most common in Sacramento is Leptoglossus zonatus.

In home gardens, they primarily attack tomatoes, pomegranates and roses. They also have a huge appetite for almonds, pistachios, citrus and watermelon. But L. zonatus also will eat many different fruit, vegetables, nuts and flowers.

Leaf-footed bugs tend to congregate in weedy areas around vegetable or flower beds. (That’s also where they overwinter.) By removing weeds, you evict any leaf-footed bugs that may be sheltering in those plants, too.

The good news: Leaf-footed bugs can be easy to catch. No pesticides are necessary. The nymphs move slowly, stay in groups and can’t fly.

To remove them, gently shake the tomato plant or other host. Knock the nymphs off into a bucket of water with a teaspoon of liquid detergent. (The soap will keep the bugs from swimming to safety.) But wear gloves; if touched, these bugs will make your hands stink.

For more on leaf-footed bugs, check out these recommendations from the UC Cooperative Extension Pest Notes: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74168.html

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gardening Sacramento leaf-footed bugs garden pests hot weather organic gardening

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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