Green shield bug

What you see

Shield-shaped bright green bug, 12-15 mm, that smells strongly when handled. Young stages are rounder and boldly marked with black, white and red - and look nothing like the adult.

Damage

Hard corky patches and dimples on tomato and pepper fruit. Sunken pale spots on beans. Fruit ripens unevenly with white woolly patches inside.

Lifecycle on this coast

Two or three generations. Overwinters as an adult in sheltered dry places, appearing on early crops in spring.

When to act

Tolerate a few. Act if numbers build on fruiting tomatoes and peppers, where the feeding damage is permanent.

Months: May, June, July, August, September, October

Plants it bothers

Tomato, Sweet pepper, Green bean, Broad bean, Chilli, Aubergine, Runner bean

Natural enemies

Parasitic wasp (Trissolcus), Spider, Bird

Remedies

Insecticidal soap spray, Encourage predators

The thing people get wrong

The nymphs look so different from the adults - black with red and white markings - that people assume they are a separate, exotic pest and let them be. They are the same insect at its most vulnerable stage, before it can fly, which is exactly when hand-picking works.