Flea beetles,leaf borers,little white flies and now spider mites? - Page 2

ginger2778 · June 7, 2018

I think that bug you see in the first picture is engytatus modestus, aka the tomato suck bug. They burrow into tomato stems, and they produce bulging like you see in the last photo. That bulging area becomes a stem that can break very easily . They will suck all your blossoms dry. Bad news to get them. They are sort of a cross between a bad guy and a good guy but I would call them more of a bad guy and I would want them out of my garden ASAP. They do eat certain bugs, but they also pierce and suck the juices out of your tomato blossoms. Not much fruit can be produced when you don't have blossoms. I have found that spraying with Permethrin helps a lot. I buy the 10% and then dilute it to 1 teaspoon per gallon.
The black bug with the wings in the second photo is a winged aphid. Below is a photo of a tomato suck bug, they come in green and also yellow and brown. And you have a pretty bad infestation of them I think.
I do not see any leafminer evidence.
The webbing that you saw on your cucumber is actually the fluffy feathery stuff that some seeds used to fly and spread on the Wind. That is just a seed

b54red · June 10, 2018

My flea beetle problem on my cucumbers, squash and beans were taken care of a while back with a mild Permethrin and soapy water spray. They have been getting worse and worse on my large producing tomato plants but I felt they were not going to devastate them yet; but I ended up spraying them anyway. I did this because the stinkbug spots on my tomatoes were increasing and I was starting to see more of them on my plants and I needed to get them under control before they became a major problem because they do seem to multiply fast. If you see ten you probably have hundreds and so after seeing about a half dozen yesterday when picking my tomatoes I blasted them. It rained hard a couple of hours later but hopefully the poison had time to act. Despite this and a few other pests like a few squash bugs, leaf footed bugs, some foiliage worms and fruit worms along with a fair number of aphids earlier in the season this has been one of the least pest ridden starts to the tomato season I have seen in a long time. I hope it continues because though I have had some pests that needed dealing with it has been so much more pleasant than the usual hordes of insects that descend on my garden each summer.

Bill

hl2601 · June 10, 2018

Thanks Marshs for your diagnosis. Gulp... I did the permethrin treatment at 5 am this morning. Hoping for the best.. so far the plants look ok...for now... Tomorrow is another day.

ginger2778 · June 10, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by hl2601

Thanks Marshs for your diagnosis. Gulp... I did the permethrin treatment at 5 am this morning. Hoping for the best.. so far the plants look ok...for now... Tomorrow is another day.

I think the plants will be fine, but new ones will hatch, you should repeat the treatment every 4 days for 3 times. Goid luck.

June 10, 2018	#17
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	My flea beetle problem on my cucumbers, squash and beans were taken care of a while back with a mild Permethrin and soapy water spray. They have been getting worse and worse on my large producing tomato plants but I felt they were not going to devastate them yet; but I ended up spraying them anyway. I did this because the stinkbug spots on my tomatoes were increasing and I was starting to see more of them on my plants and I needed to get them under control before they became a major problem because they do seem to multiply fast. If you see ten you probably have hundreds and so after seeing about a half dozen yesterday when picking my tomatoes I blasted them. It rained hard a couple of hours later but hopefully the poison had time to act. Despite this and a few other pests like a few squash bugs, leaf footed bugs, some foiliage worms and fruit worms along with a fair number of aphids earlier in the season this has been one of the least pest ridden starts to the tomato season I have seen in a long time. I hope it continues because though I have had some pests that needed dealing with it has been so much more pleasant than the usual hordes of insects that descend on my garden each summer. Bill

June 10, 2018	#18
hl2601 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: Metro Denver Posts: 771	Thanks Marshs for your diagnosis. Gulp... I did the permethrin treatment at 5 am this morning. Hoping for the best.. so far the plants look ok...for now... Tomorrow is another day.