Subject: Poisonous to Humans?
October 11, 2014 3:37 am
I just had to destroy all my Tomato plants because of a mass infestation of HUGE Leaf Footed Plant
Bugs. There were 7-8 of these bugs on ONE Tomato–many Tomatoes. I only had 7 Tomato Plants in containers, but they COVERED them all. I live in the desert of Las Vegas, Nevada, and everything I’ve read about them says they are not on this side of the country! The Nevada Extension says they are rare, but not unheard of. They are now on my Bell Peppers, though not nearly as many.
However, I cannot find out if the toxic enzyme that they inject into the fruit , also allowing pathogens into the fruit safe for human consumption. I can’t see any obvious damage, and I am very diligent about keeping them off the Bell Peppers. I don’t want to get myself or family sick. Do you know if they’re poisonous?
Your quick response would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, Diane Huff
Signature: Diane Huff
though the damage to fruit is unsightly, and probably does not taste very good, to the best of our knowledge, the enzymes injected will not negatively affect the health of a human.
Dear Mr. Marlos,
Thank you so very much for your VERY quick reply! You’re the first person to commit to any other reply than, ” I don’t know”.
I feel much better about preparing my family a Stuffed Pepper dinner, with a salad containing raw peppers.
What do you know about “Anthracnose” fungus on Bell Pepper leaves? I know that’s not a bug, and I see NO lesions on the peppers
like I see in all the photos that I’ve researched online. The small damage is only on the leaves and maybe a tiny bit on a mark
on a very few of the peppers.
I probably have no right to ask you about fungi, but all I get everywhere else is “I don’t know”. If you do not, I figured it couldn’t
hurt to ask, could it? Sorry if it is…
Again, I thank you so very much—you’re the best!!!
Diane Huff
Hi Diane,
We actually gave you a very quick response without any research, and now we feel we need to remedy that. We hunted our archives to find appropriate images to illustrate your questions since you did not provide any images. We can tell you that we personally have eaten pomegranates that fed Leaf Footed Bugs, and we did not suffer any ill effects, though we did not eat the parts of the fruit that looked bad, dried out and generally unappetizing. We have been buying oranges that are eerily dry in some parts, and we suspect that Leaf Footed Bugs might be the cause, but since we just juice the oranges, and we don’t have to eat the dried parts, other than getting less juice from an orange, we haven’t noticed a difference in flavor. We don’t know anything about the fungus, but perhaps one of our readers will comment.