i can see clearly now...

tessa · December 23, 2011

OMG.
i just bought a 30x magnifier (jeweller's lens) and marched out to the patch to determine, without a doubt, what is blighting my tomatoes (and does every single summer around this time) and, while i had originally thought i had tomato russet mites...imagine my surprise to see big, fat (well...30x, right?) TWO SPOTTED MITES on the undersides of my affected plants.

i was really quite surprised a) that they were there (2 spotted mites, not russet mites) and b) that there were what seemed to be only a few of them...maybe 20-30 per leaf...and that they could do the incredibly amount of damage that they've done, being so small and relatively sparsely populated.

there is also a BUTT LOAD of small black specks everywhere, but mostly on the veins and stems. is that a butt load of mite crap?

tessa · December 23, 2011

OMG OMG OMG!!!!
all those little white balls are EGGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zana · December 23, 2011

Sometimes being able to see that clearly isn't always the most calming thing, is it? I did something similar with a handheld 20x magnifying glass about 5 years ago. Then the fun was identifying the little buggers (all puns intended). Good luck with getting all the eggs...and the buggers, Tessa.

tjg911 · December 23, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by tessa

OMG.
i just bought a 30x magnifier (jeweller's lens) and marched out to the patch to determine, without a doubt, what is blighting my tomatoes (and does every single summer around this time) and

around this time? summer? this is a new post, so i wondered where this person lives. oh i see now!

good luck getting rid of them, i suspect insecticidal soap would work just fine.

tom

December 23, 2011	#1
tessa Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: perth, western australia Posts: 1,031	i can see clearly now... OMG. i just bought a 30x magnifier (jeweller's lens) and marched out to the patch to determine, without a doubt, what is blighting my tomatoes (and does every single summer around this time) and, while i had originally thought i had tomato russet mites...imagine my surprise to see big, fat (well...30x, right?) TWO SPOTTED MITES on the undersides of my affected plants. i was really quite surprised a) that they were there (2 spotted mites, not russet mites) and b) that there were what seemed to be only a few of them...maybe 20-30 per leaf...and that they could do the incredibly amount of damage that they've done, being so small and relatively sparsely populated. there is also a BUTT LOAD of small black specks everywhere, but mostly on the veins and stems. is that a butt load of mite crap?

December 23, 2011	#3
Zana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Southwestern Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,521	Sometimes being able to see that clearly isn't always the most calming thing, is it? I did something similar with a handheld 20x magnifying glass about 5 years ago. Then the fun was identifying the little buggers (all puns intended). Good luck with getting all the eggs...and the buggers, Tessa.