whats eating my tomatos?

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Crazy4bts Avon, IN(Zone 5a) Aug 02, 2007

on my tomatos I have found tiny white flying insects that are the size of a grain of salt. When I shake the stake they all fly off for a minute, then settle back on my tomatoes!! I attempted to get a pic of them but they just look like tiny specks of dust. I tried 7 dust but they're not phased by it.

My tomatoes are not looking good. A lot of the older leaves are turning brown and dying... the fruit itself is not the pretty healthy fruit we were having, they are all split open and are not a vivrant red, they're more blah (i know scientific huh!). The newer leaves look healthy and there are flowers, and new tiny tomatoes. I want to save these as long as I can!!

Any idea what's affecting my tomatoes? And how to help them??

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Crazy4bts Avon, IN(Zone 5a) Aug 02, 2007

on another thread it was suggested that these are white flies... yuck!

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Pilgrymm Chico, CA Aug 02, 2007

Ladybugs will clean that right up. refer to "Tomato Help" discussion 4 posts down. Ladybugs are THE best cure to most small insect problems in your garden.

Pil
=)

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carrieebryan Midland, WA(Zone 8a) Aug 06, 2007

Keeping the plants healthy will also help. Tomatoes are heavy feeders, give them lots of fertilizer that's high on the P & K (out of N-P-K), and plenty of water. The book says to stop watering tomatoes 3 days before harvest but that's only good for the bush type, when all the tomatoes ripen at once. My rule of thumb is if the birdbath is dry it and the tomatoes get more water.

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paulgrow Allen Park, MI(Zone 6a) Aug 13, 2007

hang some yellow sticky traps out by your plants.

You can ID the insects.

Paul

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Crazy4bts Avon, IN(Zone 5a) Aug 14, 2007

Thanks Paul, thats what I've done... gone and got 2 boxes of the yellow sticky traps from the garden store. They filled up pretty quick and the store is out. I've really seen a decrease in the # of the white flies though, so hopefully the maters will get through the season so I'm able to jar about a dozen jars. I may have to buy some from a farm stand though, and that would be ok.

thanks for the great advice everyone!! I'll be buying the yellow sticky traps early in the season next year so this doesn't happen again!

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