Stink bugs, killer iron and fertilizing with food

August 30th, 2011

    I’m just back from the annual Garden Writers Association conference in Indianapolis, where we plant-communicating geeks got a sneak peek at some of the new gardening stuff just hitting the market.

Three interesting new products and five cool new plants particularly caught my eye. Let’s do the products this week and the plants in next week’s post…

Stink bug traps

Now that stink bugs are ballooning into both an indoor and outdoor problem of plague proportions, everyone’s racing to come up with solutions.

Rescue Stink Bug Trap hanging in my garden.

First out of the gate is Sterling International’s Rescue-brand Stink Bug Trap, which you already may have seen selling for $20 at garden centers and box stores.

This elongated plastic dome with fins uses hormones to attract stink bugs outside, then has a light attachment (sold separately for another $18) that converts the trap into an indoor one.

They’re apparently flying out of stores but getting mixed reviews.

Sterling’s Stephanie Cates said they’re best placed near stink-bug-favorite plants outside (tomatoes, beans and fruits especially) and then moved to about 10 or 15 away from the house in mid to late September when the stinky armored pests try to find warm shelter for winter.

“Then you want to intercept them,” she said.

To catch stink bugs that get inside anyway, attach the light and move the trap inside.

“Definitely use one in the attic,” said Cates. “What you see in the living space is only a fraction of what you have in the attic.”

The other new stink-bug product I saw in Indy was St. Gabriel Organics new Stink Bug Killer. This is a liquid that you spray on stink bugs, and it’s kind of a “killer perfume.”

The ingredients are all natural – wintergreen, rosemary, thyme and cinnamon oils. It actually smells fairly nice.

St. Gabriel’s Alex Reuter says this mix of oils not only kills a doused stink bug in about a minute, it covers up their stinky smell.

The product just started showing up at some Agways and Ace and True Value Hardwares for around $16 for a 24-ounce, ready-to-spray bottle.

The Strube Stink Bug Trap.

I’ll be writing lots more about stink bugs, but in the meantime, below are three more stink-bug weapons I’ve run across. I’d be interested in hearing how any of these are working for you. Email me at george@georgeweigel.net. The others:

• Andy Strube of Columbia, Lancaster County, invented an indoor trap with scent attractants, a light and “gooey glue.” It’s $55 online (replacement cartridges extra). Check it out at www.stinkbugtrapsonline.com.
• The nth Solution, based in Exton, Pa., is introducing a different design using a light and a “secret sauce” as attractants. It’s also intended for inside use and will sell for $35. More info: www.indoorstinkbugtrap.com.
• And a fellow named Julian Smith from western Pa. is sharing his design of an indoor stink-bug trap made from a cut-up soda bottle and a cheap battery-operated light from the home center. See his how-to video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwUuHhWYvDA.

An iron-clad weed-killer

If this product works, it’ll solve the dilemma of how to kill lawn weeds without poisoning your pets and kids.

A German-based company named Neudorff USA is introducing a liquid form of chelated iron that apparently has the ability to kill at least 20 kinds of common broad-leaf lawn weeds (dandelions, plantain, oxalis, chickweed, creeping speedwell, etc.) without harming the grass.

The claim is that it overloads broad-leaf plants with iron, blackens them within hours from lack of oxygen, and kills the roots. Grass is less iron-sensitive and actually greens up a bit in most cases.

“Grass blades are able to slough it off,” says Neudorff’s Jeremy Van Oort.

It must work well enough because both the Scotts Co. and Bayer are introducing lines of this new, mineral-based way to kill weeds.

The label says it’s OK for people and pets to walk on as soon as the spray dries.

Scotts is producing ready-to-spray versions under its Ortho Elementals and Whitney Farms labels, while Bayer’s product is concentrated and being sold under the Natria Lawn Weed Control label.

Food as fertilizer

A Pompano Beach, Fla., company is debuting a new liquid fertilizer called Soil Gourmet.

What I liked about this one is that Organic Dynamics is making the product out of food waste from the surrounding area.

Rather than things people didn’t eat, it’s fresh food that otherwise gets landfilled in the food-making process. This includes things like carrot peelings and lettuce stems cut off in making bagged salad mixes and the boxes of imperfect strawberries that get rejected at the supermarket loading dock.

The Soil Gourmet folks say their plant has the capacity to redirect 60 million pounds of this kind of food waste per year away from landfills and into bottles that people can use to fertilize plants.

Six different variations are to start showing up in stores by next summer at $8 to $10 per quart concentrate (enough for 8 gallons of finished fertilizer). Or you can order directly at www.soilgourmet.com.