CLOSED: Tiny White Insects on Tomato Plants

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tonyw44 Bethesda, MD Sep 28, 2008

Hi, folks. I have tiny white bugs on my tomato plants. I tried spraying them with something that's supposed to kill bugs for two months, but it didn't seem to work. What I've reduced myself to doing is to shake the vines from time to time and that scares them off.

Can anyone let me know what these insects are? I would take a picture but the bugs just aren't big enough!

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ceejaytown The Woodlands, TX(Zone 9a) Sep 29, 2008

Tony - If these tiny white bugs fly when you shake the tomato plants, you have whitefly.

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tonyw44 Bethesda, MD Oct 03, 2008

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're whiteflies. Now how do I kill them? I read something about using insecticidal soap. I'd like to try to do something so I kill them and they can't come back next spring.

Thanks!

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ceejaytown The Woodlands, TX(Zone 9a) Oct 03, 2008

It's hard to prevent. We deal with what we have. And since whiteflys infest lots of different plants, it's not a matter of just pulling out a few plants so that they'll move on elsewhere. I have seen one yard that was almost white from whiteflys on everything.

I researched these a while back, and what I found was that horticultural oil (you could lace it with some malathion if you wished) was the most effective. It suffocated the larvae (on the underside of the leaves, usually near the bottom of the plant - hit them directly) and when the adults, who have flown away, return, they get stuck in the oil and die also. This was far more effective than any other pesticide.

At this time, aren't your tomatoes kaput? You could pull and bag them tightly after you spray (and allow time for the adults to return) to contain any that you might have missed.

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