What is this on my cherry tomato's leaves?

[indigosand]

This is on the leaves on my chocolate cherry plant only as of now. It seems to be on lower, upper, old and new leaves alike. It appeared rather suddenly and widespread. We have not had a single rain this season. The weather has been hot and humid 100degrees+ and this plant does seem to be affected by the heat the very most, wilting at the grow tips. I spray with neem oil about every other week and nothing else. It doesn't seem to affect the underside of the leaves as much as the tops. I don't see anything actually crawling. Never seen this before. Help? I see stickiness, little black dots and some trails and damage along the leaf edge and tip. No aphids.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--...o/100_9767.JPG


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...o/100_9768.JPG

underside of same leaf above
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7...o/100_9769.JPG

[Heritage]

Hi Elizabeth,

Those are very good photos of a spider mite infestation.

Steve

[Heritage]

It is strange to see that many mites on the surface of leaves rather than the underside. Do you have a hand lens strong enough to verify mites?

[indigosand]

AH, crud. After looking that up, now I know what the little tiny red things that kept blowing off the trees in the neighbors yard were. Stupid.. stupid... stupid. So how do I get rid of the little buggars, I suppose my neem oil isn't helping?

[indigosand]

Originally Posted by Heritage

It is strange to see that many mites on the surface of leaves rather than the underside. Do you have a hand lens strong enough to verify mites?

I do not, but I did see several red bugs that look like what I found googling spider mites blowing off of the trees in the neighbors yard and onto everything in ours. They were even coming in our window screens.

[Heritage]

Elizabeth, spider mites will look like dust size particles that move - It is probably worth investing in a cheap magnifying glass to positively identify the presence, and species, of any possible mite.

How often have you been spraying with Neem oil, and do you spray under the leaves. Also, what brand of Neem oil are you using?

Steve

[indigosand]

Originally Posted by Heritage

Elizabeth, spider mites will look like dust size particles that move - It is probably worth investing in a cheap magnifying glass to positively identify the presence, and species, of any possible mite.

How often have you been spraying with Neem oil, and do you spray under the leaves. Also, what brand of Neem oil are you using?

Steve

Well my eyes aren't very good to begin with (LOL) so I will pick up a cheap glass. I have been using greenlight neem, mixed as directed with water (no soap added) and I spray about every other week. We don't typically have much rain here, and it has not rained at all this gardening season thus far so the need to reapply is not as great here. I do brush the leaves upward as I spray with my hand. What puzzles me the very most is that the outbreak seemed to occur after I really drenched the whole garden with neem to the dripping point. Tonight I noticed that it had spread to my "sweet meat" squash. How disappointing. I hope it hasn't gone too far to get it under control.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by indigosand

Well my eyes aren't very good to begin with (LOL) so I will pick up a cheap glass. I have been using greenlight neem, mixed as directed with water (no soap added) and I spray about every other week. We don't typically have much rain here, and it has not rained at all this gardening season thus far so the need to reapply is not as great here. I do brush the leaves upward as I spray with my hand. What puzzles me the very most is that the outbreak seemed to occur after I really drenched the whole garden with neem to the dripping point. Tonight I noticed that it had spread to my "sweet meat" squash. How disappointing. I hope it hasn't gone too far to get it under control.

It is a well documented and common phenomenon that after any non-targeted pesticide use, even a safe mild organic pesticide like neem, quickly reproducing pests tend to get out of control. Why? Because you disrupt the predator prey balance.

Therefore your best solution is predatory mites as soon as possible, to restore that balance.

[zeroma]

Therefore your best solution is predatory mites as soon as possible, to restore that balance.

Where would one buy? get predatory mites?

[indigosand]

Hm. Well it stands to reason that if the neem didn't kill the bad mites it probably wasn't effective against the good ones either. I wonder if ladybugs or lacewings would be a viable option. I already have mantises in my garden but I suppose they are off to bigger and better things now.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by zeroma

Therefore your best solution is predatory mites as soon as possible, to restore that balance.

Where would one buy? get predatory mites?

There are several places. Here is one.

Natures control

[Heritage]

Originally Posted by indigosand

Well my eyes aren't very good to begin with (LOL) so I will pick up a cheap glass. I have been using greenlight neem, mixed as directed with water (no soap added) and I spray about every other week. We don't typically have much rain here, and it has not rained at all this gardening season thus far so the need to reapply is not as great here. I do brush the leaves upward as I spray with my hand. What puzzles me the very most is that the outbreak seemed to occur after I really drenched the whole garden with neem to the dripping point. Tonight I noticed that it had spread to my "sweet meat" squash. How disappointing. I hope it hasn't gone too far to get it under control.

I have had good luck with Greenlight brand Neem oil for mite control (on a small scale) - the effectiveness is similar to any other of the oils. It is a real pain to spray any of the non-systemic controls when the foliage gets massive because, to control the mites, you will have to get complete coverage on the bottom of the leaves. Also, spray at least once a week. Sulfur is a better mite control (wettable sulfur to spray) but it is not compatible with oils (waiting period of at least two weeks between switching from one to the other) Also, I believe squash would not like sulfur. You might try a product containing 'Spinosad' - the label does not list mites as one of the insects controlled, but it has been effective for me. It also has some faux-systemic properties.

I am not sure you could get a beneficial predatory mite population large enough, this late in the infestation, to help much. Maybe do a complete spray of Neem/spinosad and then, in few days (research this to check safety), add the predatory mites to finish the job.

Good luck, keep us posted!
Steve

[indigosand]

Thank you. I won't go the route of heavy chemicals. It goes in direct contrast to the reasons I grow my own and I don't want it around my children who play in the garden and my animals. I'd rather lose a plant and say try again next season. I scoured the shelves at the local stores and came up empty on anything really good. I did get this:
http://www.bayeradvanced.com/insects...-control/sizes Which is mostly sulfur and pyrethrum which I'm comfortable with. I sprayed that on the affected cherry tomato because that is the only plant I fear is in danger of dying. I tore out one of my winter squash vines that was fairly infested and sprayed everything top and underside with neem avoiding the previously sprayed cherry. I'll keep removing and burning affected foliage and keep spraying with neem and alternating with the miticide and see how it goes. I think I was up against a losing battle this year, given that the mites were already affecting the trees nearby. Ah well. Good time to observe which varieties I planted are the most resilient against pests.

[Heritage]

Elizabeth, that looks like a good spray for mite control but don't spray it in rotation with Neem - oil and sulfur aren't compatible. If you have already sprayed with the sulfur then I would stick with it and stop the Neem.

Steve

[indigosand]

Thanks Steve, I'll stick with the miticide for this plant only. Wish me luck, first thunderstorm of the summer has hit this morning and I had just started seeing the first bits of blight in the garden.