PLEASE NOTE: Garden.org will be offline for maintenance on Wednesday, May 29th. Users may experience intermittent lapses in service on this date.

Archived Gardening Message Boards

Topic: Edible Plants

<< Back to message boards home
<< Back to Edible Plants

View Thread:
Tomato bugs

Tomato bugs
Posted by Todd from Towson, MD 7a on 2002-06-26 21:29:22

First year gardener, and my tomato plants are huge!!!! There are a ton of little bugs all over the flowers and the leaves. Little white ones that almost look like eggs (they don't move at all) and green ones that are hard to even see. There are also some black ones that look like mosquitos, then I have squashed a few that are red. Are these a potential threat to the plants? Is there anything I can put on them to prevent this occurring. I don't want to use any chemicals if I don't have to. All my pre-planting fertilizer was organic, and I would like to keep it as "clean" as possible.
  • Reply to this message >>

    Bugs
    Posted by Kimm from 4a/5b-MI on 2002-06-27 07:14:42

    First recognize that not all bugs are bad. Of the about 1,000,000 species of bugs out there only about 8,000 are pests and the rest are either beneficial (pollinate, eat the bad guys) or are just there.
    Second are the bugs you've got doing any damage to the plants or fruits? Or are they munching on other bugs that might, if not controlled, do damage to your plants and fruits.
    Check this link to Our Garden Pests for pictures and descriptions of various bugs and what, if anything, to do about them.

    Our Garden Pests

    • Reply to this message >>

      aphids
      Posted by Todd from Towson, MD 7a on 2002-06-27 13:45:14

      Kimm, Thanks for the link, and I realize now that the majority of the bugs are Aphids. It sounds like a soap and water mixture may to the trick. do you know if a home made version will work, or should I go out and get a commercially manufactured bottle? They don't seem to be doing any damage now, but they are spreading like crazy, and the fruit is now starting to grow. I don't want to take any chances. If a home made version will work, do you have any recipes?? thanks for your insight.











      Quoting Kimm: ------------
      -First recognize that not all bugs are bad. Of the about 1,000,000 species of bugs out there only about 8,000 are pests and the rest are either beneficial (pollinate, eat the bad guys) or are just there.
      -Second are the bugs you've got doing any damage to the plants or fruits? Or are they munching on other bugs that might, if not controlled, do damage to your plants and fruits.
      -Check this link to Our Garden Pests for pictures and descriptions of various bugs and what, if anything, to do about them.
      • Reply to this message >>

        Aphids
        Posted by Kimm from 4a/5b-MI on 2002-06-28 07:06:13

        Since it is aphids just a good spray with water to knock them off will work. This won't be a one time task but probably will need to be repeated about every 5 days as the next generation of aphids grows up.
        However you can make an insecticidal soap. Just get a good soap (not a detergent), one made from animal fats such as Fels Naptha or Ivory and make a gel by shaving some of that soap into a bit of hot water. Then mix a teaspoon of that gel in a gallon of water to get about a 1 percent soap/water solution.
School Garden Grants, Fun Activities, Lessons and more at - www.kidsgardening.org

NGA offers the largest and most respected array of gardening content for consumers and educators. Learn more about NGA »

— ADVERTISEMENTS —