Bugs in my Tomato Plants !

LuxLuthor

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Just started seeing these white things on stalks and under many leafs of my tomato plants that have giving some wonderful tomatoes. Wonder what these are?

 

Illum

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dunno, they're having a heck of a time tearing down my tomato plants

I stirred chili powder and onions in water and spray at them daily, it seems to work well keeping squirrels and neighbors away, but not so much to the bugs:green:
 

mudman cj

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Yeah, I just lost most of a Black Krim plant to those little guys. I resorted to spraying with an insecticide to kill them off and the plant appears to be alive, though I doubt it will yield much fruit. They will suck it dry before you know what happened, so act fast.

At least I still have 10 Brandywine plants that are giving the best tasting tomatoes I have ever had. The only issue I am having with them is some sort of fungus that turns the leaves yellow and brown. I have to remove the affected foliage from the garden to help limit the spread of the disease but so far I am still winning the war.
 

Patriot

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I've no clue as to what kind of critters they are but people out this way use a light mixture of soapy water, sprayed under the leaves to keep white flies and other bugs off of plants. I don't know what's in the soap that helps repels but I guess it works.
 

Illum

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I've no clue as to what kind of critters they are but people out this way use a light mixture of soapy water, sprayed under the leaves to keep white flies and other bugs off of plants. I don't know what's in the soap that helps repels but I guess it works.

soap also takes out of the protective oil on tomatoes, making them vulnerable to fungus and bacterial infections
 

LuxLuthor

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I tried using my 64623 Torch to scare them away, but it just burnt the one leaf to a crisp. Well I got at least a dozen good 'maters before these things appeared.

There is nothing in all the world more divine than a BLT using perfectly cooked crisp bacon, ripened on the vine 'maters, red leaf lettuce, my own stone ground hard red winter wheat fresh and toasted bread, plus a touch of Miracle Whip.
 

BIGIRON

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Not something I've seen here, but I would guess a type of aphid. If you have a source for ladybugs that would be my first choice. Or I might try diatomaceous earth first although it generally works best on the chewers not the suckers!
 

Patriot

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If you want to try some diatomaceous earth as BigIron suggested, I can send some out for you Lux. I've got a lot of the the stuff.
 

griff

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Where's Donn??
He is the "Tomato answer man "
I think he spends more time in the garden than on CPF:devil:
 

copperfox

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I have just started growing tomatoes this year, I hope this doesn't happen to me. Good luck.
 

AbleArcher

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They look like whiteflies.
Not good.

It does look a lot like whitefly on that leaf. I had them on some tomato plants a couple of years ago and the only way I could completely get rid of them was by burning the plants at the end of the season.

I found that spraying the leaves with a water / soap mix helped control the young whilst placing traps like these http://www.just-green.com/1631/Just-Green-Drystick-sticky-traps-(yellow).html on the leaves helped control the spread of the adults.
 

SFG2Lman

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i have been growing tomatoes since i was knee high to a grasshopper and never seen those...a healthy coat of sevens dust usually killed everything on ours tho (we even used it on our dogs to prevent flees/ticks) except those dang tomato worms...we used to hafta pick em off and squish em. Unfortunately dust washes off when rained on/ sprinkled not a good option in a wet area i spose. I wish I could be more helpful than that.
 

BIGIRON

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Yeah, Lux, but think of the new toy you'd have to play with!!!!!

Sevin works great, except I don't like any kind of toxin if I can avoid it --- I'm not fanatic about it tho. I was really pissed when Dursban went off the market.

You might try a nicotine spray. Don't know if you can still buy Green Flag nicotine concentrate (literally dangerous stuff), but you might soak a plug of "Brown's Mule" chaw in a quart of water for a couple of days and try that as a spray.

The diatomaceous earth is the very best thing for tomato worms. Not toxic at all.
 

LuxLuthor

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Yeah, Lux, but think of the new toy you'd have to play with!!!!!

It actually works. It's a mixed blessing. :sssh:


Sevin works great, except I don't like any kind of toxin if I can avoid it --- I'm not fanatic about it tho. I was really pissed when Dursban went off the market.

You might try a nicotine spray. Don't know if you can still buy Green Flag nicotine concentrate (literally dangerous stuff), but you might soak a plug of "Brown's Mule" chaw in a quart of water for a couple of days and try that as a spray.

The diatomaceous earth is the very best thing for tomato worms. Not toxic at all.

I seriously thought about going out and getting some pesticide, but to be honest...for some reason it has not ruined the 'maters over the last week. These are so delicious and making the best BLT's I have ever had, so I hate to do anything to ruin the flavor of what's left.

I even enjoy these on a piece of toast, sprinkle a little garlic powder, some cheddar cheese and pop in the toaster oven to melt.

I think I would rather have a shorter duration of a primo taste, and try to deal with it next year from the start. I only have two plants, so I think I'll learn the best way to manage it for next year.

I forgot how much flavor there is when you let them fully ripen on the vine.

Couple of them are definitely growing bigger:

bugs2.jpg
 
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