Ashgray Blister Beetle

I'm a fairly new gardener, but have been outdoors my whole life. This is the first time I've ever seen this large gray bug. Nasty thing has almost decimated my Amaranth (Love-Lies-bleeding) - at least the leaves. I then began seeing it tearing into my cherry tomatoes and then my larger tomatoes. I'm picking and killing every one I can, I've tried organic spray mixes but it really just seems to cause them to move to a different plant in my garden!

I've been picking these bugs off my tomato plants for the past several weeks. The first time, the weather had been hot, dry, and windy for some time. Today it is rainy and cool, but they're back again. I check every few days. I've never seen these on tomatoes before. Also, some of them are almost golden, others are gray. Biggest so far was 1.25"

Best tip for hand picking: hold a bowl below each insect as you pick it off. They have a habit of dropping off to another leaf, and it's easy to catch them in the bowl. I'm a bit squeamish and bring scissors to kill them, but I have pinched a number of them between my fingers with no ill effects besides the ick factor. *

As stated by others, this is a very destructive bug.

*Addendum: curious as to why th... read moreey are called blister beetles, I searched the net. Apparently they secrete an acid that causes blisters, so be careful. They don't seem to bother me, thankfully!

These bugs ate my potato, tomato, swiss chard and cucumber plants. It leaves its droppings (dark brown) in its wake. Very destructive. It appeared in the garden in mid-July in wet/humid conditions.