Ah, I thought you were talking about asian pears. For peaches just cover from when the shucks fall off. I had even fewer stinkbugs on peaches than pears this year. Three years ago they ruined a good percentage of my peaches, so you should be able to control them.
Please help me understand the difference/similarity between Dormant Oil, Neem Oil, Horticulture Oil. Are they all the same or which oil is used at what stage for what anticipated problem?
Also, I found a link regarding homemade Dormant Oil. Even the homemade versions are confusing! Are they equivalent with commercial products?
TomIL , that artical from sfgate is odd. Better to just buy the horticultural oil. Read about it here: http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/horticultural-oils-explained
Scott,
My A. pears got hit badly this year, too. About 40% were damaged by stinkbugs.
You think I should spray pears later? I thought all stinkbugs in my neighborhood could come out and ruined all my fruit at the same time. Say, when they ruined my peaches at shuck split, they would ruin my A.pear at dime size, too.
What is the reason to spray later, please? I honestly did not know what my A. pears were attacked by stinkbugs. I just found out in late July that many were too damaged that I had to remove them.
The stinkbugs are in your orchard all season long. I don’t exactly understand the lifecycle calendar, but I tend to see adults feeding on small peaches in earlier spring and not nymphs, and then they lay eggs and the nymphs start to be found on the quarter to half dollar sized asian pears (as well as on apples, peaches, etc), which as the fruits get bigger the stinkbugs turn into adults.
They feed on fruit at all stages, but cause the most damage when the fruit is young. My experience has been peaches from shuck drop to quarter sized are the most vulnerable, and pears are vulnerable from dime sized through half dollar sized. I now spray Surround through half dollar or so size on my asian pears, checking the calendar I did my last spray in mid-June this year. You don’t need to spray later than that based on my experience.
Tom, take a look at e.g.
to learn more about oils. This article does not describe neem oil much; its an oil that also has compounds in it toxic to bugs so it also helps with bug control (a bit, its only mildly toxic.
Here I’ve had issues with Green stinkbugs and Brown Marmerated stinkbugs. The greens follow Scotts descriptions but because I haven’t had much BMS in my own orchard I’m not sure how they work. It seems they can do a great deal of damage to peaches quickly whether they strike early or late because their wounds run deep into the flesh and even impart an off taste to the fruit. At a couple of sites I’ve had them virtually destroy peach crops without ever seeing more than a couple in the trees. Peaches were a complete mess with no spared fruit whatsoever. This happened last year and the crop is fine at these sites this one.
Thanks again, Scott,
Your description about when they did damage on peaches vs pears are right on for me.
Alan, After reading more about BMSB, I think that is what I have. Peaches are about 100% ruined this year. A. Pears are about 40%. Lesson learned. they are now my sworn enemies.
We don’t have Brown Mamorated stink bug here, but like Alan and Scott, the stinkers we have here are all season long. I had to spray my tomatoes the other day because stink bug populations were rising. They cause those white sort of corky spots under the skin on tomatoes, which makes them unmarketable.
One other observation I’ll mention is that I think good coverage is important. I’ve noticed at the farm there is less insect damage than at the house where I spray the same thing at the same time, but use a wand sprayer, where coverage isn’t as good, as with the airblast sprayer.
Some time ago, Appleseed mentioned in another discussion that an airblast sprayer dilutes the amount of spray material over the amount of land sprayed (because the isles/row middles are sprayed with the airblast). This was a good point, which I’ve often contemplated. One would expect less pest control with an airblast, but it seems to be the opposite.
The most probable explanation to me is that the better coverage with the airblast makes up for less active ingredient on the trees.
The other thing I’m wondering about is that even though some of the pesticide lands in the row middles, that’s both a negative and a positive. It’s a negative because not all the compound reaches the trees where it does the most good. But I’m thinking it’s also a positive for pest control because the whole area is blanketed with insecticide. In other words, there is no safe area for the pests to land. Even if they hide in the grass, they’re dead.
I think this might be particularly beneficial for insects which practice avoidance behavior of some insecticides. It is well known some insects are able to sense some classes of insecticides and will avoid them until residues wash off enough that it’s safe to feed/lay eggs. (SWD does this with neonics, which is why some growers add 2 lbs. of sugar per 100 gal of the spray solution to attract SWD to the insecticide residue.)
As a side note, I was surprised the article in Rolling Stone which Danzeb linked indicated bees may be more attracted to neonics (because of the “nicotine jolt”). Surprising because I’ve read bees will somewhat naturally avoid pyrethroids. Still, if it’s true, it’s very interesting that even some insects seek an “altered state” of consciousness through chemical means despite health consequences. Even though insects have teeny tiny brains, it’s amazing to me they are in some ways a lot like us.
Poppies offer opium to the bees and tobacco offers nicotine. The drug production is a result of the plants trying to attract pollinators, evolution and natural selection at work. Coffee offers caffeine. Cocaine addicts given powdered nicotine, were very happy with it. It’s a strange drug nicotine as it is an upper and a downer depending on what the user is looking for. No others are like that.
That’s an interesting thought about the opium and coca Drew. I’m not sure about the nicotine in tobacco though. I had always thought the nicotine was there as a toxin to protect the foliage against insects, since it’s such a powerful insecticide. That’s what surprised me about the bees.
Of course the tobacco hornworm, has over time developed resistance to the nicotine. Nature and chemistry at work can be interesting.
http://www.quora.com/Do-bees-access-nicotine-nectar-in-Hopi-tobacco-flowers
the
nicotine in the nectar, regardless of which plant species it comes from
and especially if it is at lower concentrations, may apparently aid the
bees in ridding themselves of potentially harmful gut parasites and
“bad” bacteria. The bees (or the hummingbirds, for that matter) do not
become addicted to the nicotine.
Bees Get Buzz From Caffeine and Nicotine
It makes you wonder how dangerous neonics really are? Or is it just more propaganda from the tree huggers?
Everything man does is natural for man to do, therefore synthetic chemicals are natural. Plants are not the only living things that can synthesize organic chemicals.
I hug trees but want only to follow the science on neonics! 
If you don’t hug your trees how can they know how much you love them?
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Bees don’t visit my Nicotiana very often or ever… i don’t even need to plant them anymore because they reseed so easily. Some varieties are huge…over 6ft tall…some are only foot or 2… Neat flowers…lots of colors and they open in the evenings.
Drew,
It sounds like the “pests” which attack bees are more sensitive to nicotine than the bees, which in low doses keeps the bees coming back for more. Enlightening. Thanks for the info.
BTW, I have a love/hate relationship with my trees. Some receive my dearest affection, and others get the axe. 
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That was good! Ha! Plants are like pets to me, I have a hard time killing them. I tend to have a lot of useless plants around here as I can’t make myself kill them.
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Scott,
With the season drawing to the close, would you suggest preventive measures like horticulture oil/ dormant oil spray for next year potential problems? If so, would this spray be applied before the winter onset or wait until next year at the end of winter? Or to spray at both ends?
Tom, the only fall spray I ever do is copper at leaf fall. It is very helpful on bacterial spot on peaches and plums, and also can help with some other diseases.
I myself use Lime Sulfur/dormant oil combo after leaf fall in the late fall.I have one bottle left. Once gone I will use copper. In the spring I use copper.