First the wind - now Critters Grrrr!!!

[ContainerTed]

After the wind has blown my tomato plants to pieces, something is laying eggs for the next assault on my garden. Anyone know what these are. They were layed on the bottom side of the leave.

BTW, this was once a healthy Box Car Willie

Ted

[TomNJ]

I don't know what they are Ted, but I have had them before on eggplant. They brush off easily so I just wiped them off every couple of days, but that may be rather cumbersome for tomatoes since they have so many leaves.

I hope someone here can identify them and offer a remedy.

TomNJ

[amideutch]

Oh Oh, looks like Hundaeko lizard eggs . Not to worry as they are insect eaters. I think we are going to have to add some high walls to go with the moat.

Kidding aside if it isn't the bugs and critters it's the wind and flooding. I hope this isn't the norm for your area. Hang in there bro it's got to get better. Ami

[b54red]

Looks a lot like ladybug eggs. Go to this site and compare them.
http://www.google.com/images?q=ladyb...ed=0CCYQsAQwAA

[Duh_Vinci]

Wish you the best of luck, Ted!

Completely understand how you feel! In late April - 1 week after setting about 50% of tomatoes in the ground - winds, much as yours, shredded about half of what I planted! We've never had such strong winds that I can remember, I actually had to replace about 15 plants, that is how bad it was. Yesterday winds destroyed about half of my eggplants, and younger tomato plants are stressing

Wishing you happy and prosperous growing season!!!

Regards,
D

[ContainerTed]

Ami, I might have to move a bunch of "villagers" in to handle the "critter swatting" chores. And if those things are lizard eggs, then, with my luck, they'll be the Kimodo Dragon variety.

B54 - I think you might be right and ladybugs would be a true blessing. My beans, okra, and corn are breaking thru and I have only to get the tomatoes and peppers in.

D - Everybody here says they don't remember wind like this coming this late in the season. This house was built on a small hill, and there is nothing to slow it down. It hits the rising ground and accelerates. My brother, who lives in town, was here this morning and was somewhat astonished at the velocity. He said it was CALM at his house.

Here's a picture on my first five rows. Two rows of sweet corn (all about 2 inches tall so far and hard to see in the picture), and two rows of beans (5 types), half a row of both red and green okra, one row of 31 tomato plants (5 more rows to go), and there will be one rows of peppers and one row of cucumbers and onions.

Ted

[rxkeith]

looks like colorado potato beetle eggs. if they are you will see some pink grubs with black dots along the torso. they grow fast and will defoliate plants pretty quickly. they were a yearly problem at the calumet farm. they really like egg plant, in addition to potatoes.
if they are potato beetles, crush them fast, and check the plants daily for survivors. the sooner you get them, the better. for a spray there are bt products for potato beetles.
another thing to do is plant parsley, dill, and carrots, let them go to seed. in the spring you will have lots of volunteers. you will also have less beetles. after 3 years, the beetles in my garden at the house in town disappeared.


keith

[veggie babe]

They do look like ladybug eggs, that would be great! The pictures that b54red linked us to is very helpful, I had no idea what their eggs looked like. I will be more careful if that is what they are I love my ladybugs, they are busy in my garden eating aphids off my collard plants that I let go to seed. Keith, we hope you are wrong about this one........

Neva

[ContainerTed]

Well, I found more eggs and this kind of bug doing the mating dances. Only found them on tomatoes. Nothing (yet!!!) bothering the beans and corn. The okra is still too small.

Ted

[kath]

Colorado potato beetle it is, yes. Handpick adults & crush eggs.

[rxkeith]

sorry ted,

i was hoping i was wrong. i have seen a lot of those egg clusters though, and lady bugs don't chew up tomato plants. the adults and juveniles are real good at dropping off the plant and playing dead as soon as you touch them. hold a jar or can underneath them when you pick or knock them off the plants. the newly hatched larvae will congregate at the new growth leaf tips. check the plants daily if you don't use chemical warfare.i have checked plants top to bottom, and the next day i would find more. check both sides of the leaf. caught early, you can minimize the damage by eliminating future breeding generations. i hate the little buggers.


keith

[ContainerTed]

I sprayed last night with Garden Safe and will add Malathion tonight. I checked this AM and did not find any more adults. However, I did find three egg clusters and smooshed them under my heel. I'll be checking two or three times daily until my comfort factor improves.

And BTW - The original perpetrator of the devastation to the herb garden (a certain Mr. Squirrel) was taken out by a 35 yard shot with my trusty Daisy pellet rifle this morning. I didn't really want to do this, but he had been digging in the DW's day lillies and she was not in a good mood about it. So, I had to choose between the happiness of my DW and the squirrel's right to do his thing. Sorry, folks.

Anyhow, thanks for the egg ID. Keith, it IS what it IS and we just need to deal with it. Thanks for the good info and the empathy.

Today, at least one more row to tomatoes going in.

Ted

[ContainerTed]

Noon update - More beetles and eggs today at noon. I'm going to hold off one more day on planting the next row of tomatoes.

Something that seems odd to me. I have beetles in the garden, but the tomato plants I have outside up here at the house have not had any (so far).

More later. I'm going to follow this infestation closely and document what I encounter for others to share.

BTW - If you squeeze these beetles between your fingers, they get "liver-bile" yellow-green juice all over you.

Ted

[dice]

How do you plan to irrigate all of those rows, just out of
curiousity?

[ContainerTed]

Howdy, Dice. Right now, mother nature has provided moisture in a very timely manner. Being the first year, and being my first large in-ground garden, I am going to depend on my hose and city water as backup. I've located 10 of those 55 gal barrels and am setting them up to catch rain water from the gutters on the house.

I still have to work on soil amendments and getting some compost in there. This fall and winter I am going to spend a lot of time on amendments and mulch (probably ground up leaves and compost to start with). I'm going to mulch with straw this year. Eventually, I may put in a drip system.

I'll still have 15 or 20 buckets and containers up here at the house. After all, my handle IS ..........

Ted