I'm pretty sure they are stink bugs of some sort and, therefore, not a beneficial. I've looked through so many bug pics but cannot find an exact match.
These have been on my pepper plants lately. Only on the peppers, not on anything else. They are always grouped like this. The plants they are on are starting to get some yellow leaves but nothing major and the fruit seems to be fine, though some of the neighboring peppers have dropped most leaves and slowed or stopped fruiting so I pulled them this morning. I have seen aphids and carpenter ants on these plants, too. Today I found one dark red lady bug. I think that's what it was. Didn't get a great look as it started raining hard and I ran for cover on the porch.
It looks like they start off orange then turn more green/gray as they get bigger. I crushed one and smelled a smell but it wasn't horrible and I thought stink bugs really stink, hence the name. My hand does smell a little, even after washing.
Maybe I'm in denial, lol. I really want this to be a parasitic bug that is cleaning up all the plants like a death vacuum! I've got cabbage loopers on the squash so I sprayed everything with Bt last week and planned to do a round of neem this week. Just waiting for a rain free forecast. Today, there is a flood warning, and 80% chance of rain tomorrow, so looks like Thursday might be a spray day. I'd hate to accidentally kill good bugs, though, so I try not to spray too much. I always use organic methods, when needed, and find that Aug-Sept are the "bug months" in my garden.
Last fall, I lost quite a few plants this time of year due to bugs and disease, and I don't want it to happen again. Im determined to have a four season vegetable garden. Even with the presence of some bugs, all of the plants look very healthy, which I take as a good sign. Ironically, I didn't see a single bug (other than the ever present snails) in the garden all spring/summer. Guess they were just biding their time and waiting for the perfect storm of heat, humidity and rain.
Wish me luck, and thanks for reading,
Jen
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