Pest Control for the South: Eastern Leaf-Footed Plant Bug

 Leaf-foot plant bug

Most insects do not bother us. Here are some of our favorites. However, there is one family of insects that annoy us: leaf-legged plant bugs. There are several species of this pest in the Goridae family, which can be a nuisance to gardeners. Eastern leaf-legged plant bugs (Leptoclosus phyllopus) are most prevalent in South America from Florida to California. They are most active in late summer when the temperature and humidity are high.

Active period and target plants

Although they can feed on a wide variety of garden plants, leaf-legged plant bugs are the most troublesome when it comes to fruits in the vegetable garden. Usually, in late summer, the vegetable garden is overgrown with peppers and tomatoes, both of which are very popular with leaf-legged plant bugs. They blindly travel from fruit to fruit and absorb juices from the flesh. By penetrating the skin through their mouth areas, they allow bacteria and fungi inside. The fruit then forms ugly spots that spread. Soon the whole fruit will rot. They defecate all over the skin of the fruit, which is very bad. This behavior compromises the new salsa, one of the highlights of our summer. I can honestly say that except for the fire ants, only the leaf-legged plant pests are trying to eradicate the pests. Fortunately, there are various ways you can choose to control this pest.

Control methods

The handle should start as soon as possible. Small nymphs of eastern leaf-legged plant bugs have red bodies and black legs. At this point, they cannot fly and can be easily picked up by hand and crushed. Unfortunately, adults can fly. They are identified by a white stripe running horizontally across their brown bodies. The best way to deal with adults is a jar of soapy water. Grab the jar under the insects and tap them. A jar full of submerged insects would be strangely satisfying. Let’s be honest - it takes a lot of time to get rid of all those bugs by hand. Spraying is easy.

Spinosad,, a bacterial by-product, is considered organic and is very useful to us. It works well if you can spray directly on the pests, but an application on the plants will help protect the fruit until it washes off in the rain.

If you have space to plant them, trap crops are another option. Two trap crops, maize grasses (Sorghum spp. Test plantings. Crops are planted two weeks before fruiting and sprayed with pests when the infection is high. This avoids spraying themselves on tomato or other vegetable crops, but a traditional pesticide should be applied to the trap crop.

Screening can be used as a barrier to prevent pests in the fruit. Micromesh is readily available. However, care must be taken to ensure that there are no gaps where bugs can fit, and you can play tomato pollination yourself this way.

Leaf-footed plant bugs are one of the most annoying pests in southern summer gardens, but there are many options for dealing with them. Whatever you choose, do not let it ruin your homemade salsa!