# Bugs in my Tomato Plants !



## LuxLuthor (Aug 18, 2009)

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?


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## Illum (Aug 18, 2009)

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:


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## mudman cj (Aug 18, 2009)

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.


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## Patriot (Aug 18, 2009)

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.


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## Illum (Aug 18, 2009)

Patriot said:


> 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


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## Mjolnir (Aug 18, 2009)

Chip weevils!


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## mudman cj (Aug 18, 2009)

Nevermind, I went out and took another look at the Black Krim. May it rest in peace.  Lux, I hope you have better luck than I did. I think I didn't notice the bugs until it was too late.


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## Empath (Aug 18, 2009)

They look like whiteflies.
Not good.


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 18, 2009)

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.


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## BIGIRON (Aug 18, 2009)

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!


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## Patriot (Aug 18, 2009)

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.


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## griff (Aug 18, 2009)

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


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## copperfox (Aug 18, 2009)

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


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## AbleArcher (Aug 19, 2009)

Empath said:


> 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.


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## SFG2Lman (Aug 19, 2009)

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.


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## Flying Turtle (Aug 19, 2009)

I've not seen that on our 'maters either. Another vote for Sevin dust.

Geoff


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## Flashanator (Aug 19, 2009)

Looks like alien bugs.


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 20, 2009)

Flashanator said:


> Looks like alien bugs.



Now I'm gonna be worried about alien abduction experiments. Hey, it happened to Cartman.


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## BIGIRON (Aug 21, 2009)

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.


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 21, 2009)

BIGIRON said:


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



It actually works. It's a mixed blessing. 




BIGIRON said:


> 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:


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## mudman cj (Aug 21, 2009)

Those look kind of like silken egg sacks. You might have another critter altogether there. :thinking:


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## LumenHound (Aug 21, 2009)

It looks like they are actually the cocoons of the braconid wasp. These are good parasites that prey on bad guys like the destructive tomato hornworn.


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## copperfox (Aug 21, 2009)

If you only have 2 plants like me (unfortunately 4 of my original 6 seedlings died), then might you try a mechanical removal method? Is it feasible to just pick them off by hand? Perhaps you can use a solution of mild soap and water to make it easy to rub the little nasties off... :shrug:


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 22, 2009)

LOL! There's actually several sets of bugs inhabiting my plants. Small black ants. The larger cocoon type that just kind of smears into goo when you probe it, then these smaller "white tykes" that have about 10-12 legs going like gangbusters even when I transferred him to a paper to look with my digital microscope. Looks like some sort of mite. They are no bigger than a poppy seed or grain of sand.





​


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## LumenHound (Aug 22, 2009)

Lux, that's a picture of a mealybug. These guys will feed on your tomato plants by inserting hollow stylets into the stems of the plants and using these "straws" to suck up nutrious fluids. Your plants may become yellow and wilt and possibly die if left unchecked.


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## Lite_me (Aug 23, 2009)

When I came across that pic I thought I was in the Ghost thread. :huh:


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## Empath (Aug 23, 2009)

They still look like whiteflies, in the crawlers stage.


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 23, 2009)

LumenHound said:


> Lux, that's a picture of a mealybug. These guys will feed on your tomato plants by inserting hollow stylets into the stems of the plants and using these "straws" to suck up nutrious fluids. Your plants may become yellow and wilt and possibly die if left unchecked.



I had figured the month of maters was all I was ever going to get. I didn't think that people keep their plants inside through the winter with continuing fruit? By the time I first saw these insects there were so many all over the plants that it seemed the bugs won this round. I picked these up at the end of June and were pretty well grown plants.

When do you guys plant seeds to grow your mater plants so they get this big? And then are you saying you use those sprayers like I remember the grandson playing with before Don Corleone died? I'll have to get more information for next year. 

For some reason, the bugs do not seem to be yet ruining the maters, and I probably have another couple weeks of fruit before I start having nightmares about these bugs crawling up the side of my house into the bedroom...and uproot the demon spawn. I'm kind of curious about what the white things develop into. You have to marvel at Nature.


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## DM51 (Aug 23, 2009)

I think it would be much better for all concerned if I refrained from giving my opinion about what I think these intriguing creatures might be. Suffice it to say that if you have the patience to scrape them off, collect them and flash-fry them, they are delicious to eat, being nice and crunchy. They are surprisingly nutritious, too.

Just don't let any of your valuable lights get anywhere near them, lol.


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## BIGIRON (Aug 23, 2009)

Be sure and eat them head first or they'll crawl back out like a witchyworm.

Seriously, I've started stuff from seeds back in my heavy gardening days. It's lot's easier to buy them already started unless you want to get into the tomato business.


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## Illum (Aug 25, 2009)

LuxLuthor said:


> LOL! There's actually several sets of bugs inhabiting my plants. Small black ants



Something tells me you have an aphid problem as well:candle:


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 27, 2009)

Took some fresh photos thumb goes to high res. This branch somehow split off. Looking pretty bleak.


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## HarryN (Aug 27, 2009)

My Dad used to kick start his tomato plants by growing them under lamps in the winter. Over the years, he has gotten pretty good at it.

It is getting late in the year, but if you want to avoid pesticides, you could try to find some preying matids. Watch out for ants though - they seem to like to eat the young.


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## BIGIRON (Aug 27, 2009)

These folks are about a mile from my lake place:

http://www.biofac.com/About_Us/about_us.html


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## jeeves (Aug 27, 2009)

Try listorine. The brown kind.
Even a cheap knock off would probably do the same job.

It's what my father uses on his plants. None of them are edible, mind you. But it seems to be effective. I'm not sure, though, about the toxicity level or if it can make your 'matoes' taste like listorine. My $.02


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 27, 2009)

I was thinking about bringing in a truckload of Cane Toads. LOL!


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 27, 2009)

BIGIRON said:


> These folks are about a mile from my lake place:
> 
> http://www.biofac.com/About_Us/about_us.html



I wonder if I could get Evelyn Maedgen from that link to come by and make me some pies. That would be heaven. Nothing like great pies to take your mind off of aliens assaulting your 'maters.


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## HarryN (Aug 28, 2009)

This is just a wild idea, but since you like to experiment, maybe a possibility.

We cannot really buy strong / long lasting pesticides in CA, so basically nothing works on the local ants. I have had some luck keeping ants out of the house by spraying down the exterior and foundation with liquid tide + water. The point is that I SUSPECT that the soap part is not what is doing it - it is the smell, or prevention of smell that is helping. The reason I suspect this, is that tide works much better than other brands I have tried.

It is possible that your bug problem is also odor related, so perhaps you can find "something" which messes with the smell of a tomato plant, making it less interesting to the bugs. Example - a bowl of liquid soap, perfume, cedar bark, etc.

This kind of goes along with what jeeves posted above.


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## BIGIRON (Aug 28, 2009)

I swear that Avon "Skin so Soft" repels chiggers, ticks and skeeters. You just have to tolerate the smell itself (smells like Grandma's perfume).


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## jonnyfgroove (Aug 28, 2009)

Hit those suckers with some neem oil. It will ruin their party and will also wreak havoc on any fungal problems. Oh, and it's organic and completely safe too.


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## HarryN (Aug 28, 2009)

jonnyfgroove said:


> Hit those suckers with some neem oil. It will ruin their party and will also wreak havoc on any fungal problems. Oh, and it's organic and completely safe too.



I thought you were kidding at first, but then found the wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neem_oil


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 28, 2009)

Hard to imagine what that smells like....they say a combination of garlic and peanuts. :tinfoil:


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## fyrstormer (Aug 28, 2009)

Buy a couple of packs of bubblegum, and a bottle of 99% rubbing alcohol. Dissolve the bubblegum in the alcohol and put it in a spray bottle. Spray it on the plants. The bubblegum film will glue the bugs' jaws shut when they try to bite anything.


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## Illum (Aug 30, 2009)

fyrstormer said:


> Buy a couple of packs of bubblegum, and a bottle of 99% rubbing alcohol. Dissolve the bubblegum in the alcohol and put it in a spray bottle. Spray it on the plants. The bubblegum film will glue the bugs' jaws shut when they try to bite anything.



bubble gum dissolves in alcohol is new to me...
the only thing I've tried to melt bubble gum with was diluted sulfuric acid


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## mudman cj (Aug 30, 2009)

Thanks to jonnyfgroove for the neem oil recommendation! I found a bottle sold locally for less than $10 that will last years. Now I can stop using the chemicals I was spraying to control mites and insects while treating the fungus problem the plants are having due to all of the rain we have been getting here. I looked at the other products for sale at the store to treat fungus, and you practically have to wear a hamzat suit just to apply them! :sick2: 
The neem oil is much safer and more pleasant to work with and it treats so many problems. :twothumbs


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## Linger (Aug 30, 2009)

HarryN said:


> I have had some luck keeping ants out of the house by spraying down the exterior and foundation with liquid tide + water.



Yup, some soaps are insecticidal. Organic insecticidal soap is what I use to keep the aphids off my Gladiolas and Calla Lilies. Liquid soap in a spray bottle, be sure to hit the under side of the leaves as well. Repeat after any rain storms.

Castile Soap is useful too.

Diatomaceous earth, someone mentioned, is great too, and can work to knock out an ant colony i'm told (but it seems if one is taken down another comes along soon enough after...there is no peace in our time) Completely inert to humans / animals / plants  but not really for the OP's issue, iirc.

Borax, multiple uses, good sprinkled in a perimeter around your plants. I do avoid over-use of this though during heavy rains.

Nice pics...I can smell the plants just looking at those images


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## jonnyfgroove (Aug 31, 2009)

mudman cj said:


> Thanks to jonnyfgroove for the neem oil recommendation! I found a bottle sold locally for less than $10 that will last years. Now I can stop using the chemicals I was spraying to control mites and insects while treating the fungus problem the plants are having due to all of the rain we have been getting here. I looked at the other products for sale at the store to treat fungus, and you practically have to wear a hamzat suit just to apply them! :sick2:
> The neem oil is much safer and more pleasant to work with and it treats so many problems. :twothumbs


 
Cool, I'm glad you gave it a try. Another benefit of neem is that it will break the reproductive cycle of many pests in addition to killing on contact. When the bugs ingest the neem, they lose the "urge" to make babies.


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## mudman cj (Aug 31, 2009)

jonnyfgroove said:


> Cool, I'm glad you gave it a try. Another benefit of neem is that it will break the reproductive cycle of many pests in addition to killing on contact. When the bugs ingest the neem, they lose the "urge" to make babies.



Well in that case, I will make sure to wash the fruit extra well before I serve it to my wife.


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## jonnyfgroove (Aug 31, 2009)

mudman cj said:


> Well in that case, I will make sure to wash the fruit extra well before I serve it to my wife.


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## Fulgeo (Aug 31, 2009)

LuxLuthor,

Hey caught this thread late. I had this same problem growing tomatoes in Michigan this year. I do not use poison in my garden but as mentioned in earlier posts it looks like white flies and this is what I did to get rid of mine. Use 14 drops of clear ivory dish soup to 16 ounces of water and use a hand sprayer on mist and hit the bugs directly with it two days running. It basically kills the insects by suffocating them. I like to do it on rainy days since once it hits the insects its done its job and if you could wash it off the plants the better, hence the rainy day. If you do it about 5-6 times a month it keeps them at bay or outright solves the problem. This method also kills aphids. You can also add a shot or two of vodka to your spray in addition to the soap but hey what a waste of vodka . Anyway wanted to share and btw, besides the bugs those tomato plants of yours look pretty healthy.


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 31, 2009)

Fulgeo said:


> LuxLuthor,
> 
> Hey caught this thread late. I had this same problem growing tomatoes in Michigan this year. I do not use poison in my garden but as mentioned in earlier posts it looks like white flies and this is what I did to get rid of mine. Use 14 drops of clear ivory dish soup to 16 ounces of water and use a hand sprayer on mist and hit the bugs directly with it two days running. It basically kills the insects by suffocating them. I like to do it on rainy days since once it hits the insects its done its job and if you could wash it off the plants the better, hence the rainy day. If you do it about 5-6 times a month it keeps them at bay or outright solves the problem. This method also kills aphids. You can also add a shot or two of vodka to your spray in addition to the soap but hey what a waste of vodka . Anyway wanted to share and btw, besides the bugs those tomato plants of yours look pretty healthy.



OK, that's worth a try. Yeah, they are still pretty healthy plants, given the assault on them.


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## ^^Nova^^ (Sep 1, 2009)

Another vote for white fly. I would try either spraying with milk (sounds weird I know, but works) or white oil (mix of detergent and vegetable oil, then dilute with water to spray, recepie).

We have to wait for another 2 months yet before we can plant toms over here (maybe that should be "down here" :thinking. The home grown ones are way better than the bought ones though, so much more flavour, not to mention the wacky varieties to try. My wife gets freaked out by the green ones.

Cheers,
Nova


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## tiktok 22 (Sep 1, 2009)

Hey Lux, how about a few of these:


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