Early Blight + Devil Beetles

Solanum315 · July 19, 2017

All season long, my lower leaves have been turning spotty and falling off. It doesn't help that I plant densely since I'm in the city (kinda). As of late, I have been seeing these tiny beetles about the size of a pinhead eating my lower leaves. They seem to have a preference for sick leaves. Or they could be a vector for the blight and they are making the leaves sicker. I don't recall seeing them until a week or so ago and the blight has been here for well over a month. Anyway, what are some solutions for these little buggers? They are really too small to take a meaningful picture of. They hop around like fleas and appear to fly as well. I have never seen them before and would prefer not to see them again....

Labradors2 · July 19, 2017

Flea beetles! They have trashed my Bok Choi and, you are right, that they go for the sickest tomato plants. Hopefully, they aren't vectors for disease. They cause me to plant out my eggplants a couple of weeks later than I would choose, so that the plants are big enough to resist their raviges.

I don't normally worry about them on tomato plants.

Linda

brownrexx · July 19, 2017

They quit bothering my eggplants when I sprinkled them with food grade DE.

Gardeneer · July 19, 2017

Flea beetles love nightshade family of plants and eggplant leaves are their favorite. They also like cabbage family. But whether or not they eat tomato leaves, I don't know. As long as they eat/make holes in the very lower leaves it should not affect the plants health.

gorbelly · July 20, 2017

Flea beetles normally leave my tomatoes alone, as they prefer eggplant, tomatillos, and radishes, but they've been particularly bad this year, and I have a an unusual (for me) but ultimately moderate amount of flea beetle damage on the lower leaves of my tomato plants.

Still, the overall damage is so minor to a big, fast-growing plant like a tomato. AFAIK, they don't vector any diseases, and the damage is basically just cosmetic.

I consider them not worth doing much about. The only concern is that they'll eat the life out of small transplants, So I plant out my eggplants when they're on the larger side so that they can outgrow the flea beetle damage. That works fine for me.

BigVanVader · July 20, 2017

Reflective plastic is about 95% effective.

July 19, 2017	#1
Solanum315 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: New York Posts: 244	Early Blight + Devil Beetles All season long, my lower leaves have been turning spotty and falling off. It doesn't help that I plant densely since I'm in the city (kinda). As of late, I have been seeing these tiny beetles about the size of a pinhead eating my lower leaves. They seem to have a preference for sick leaves. Or they could be a vector for the blight and they are making the leaves sicker. I don't recall seeing them until a week or so ago and the blight has been here for well over a month. Anyway, what are some solutions for these little buggers? They are really too small to take a meaningful picture of. They hop around like fleas and appear to fly as well. I have never seen them before and would prefer not to see them again.... __________________ Scott http://worldtomatoes.blogspot.com/

July 19, 2017	#4
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,919	Flea beetles love nightshade family of plants and eggplant leaves are their favorite. They also like cabbage family. But whether or not they eat tomato leaves, I don't know. As long as they eat/make holes in the very lower leaves it should not affect the plants health. __________________ Gardeneer Happy Gardening !

July 19, 2017	#2
Labradors2 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Ontario Posts: 3,896	Flea beetles! They have trashed my Bok Choi and, you are right, that they go for the sickest tomato plants. Hopefully, they aren't vectors for disease. They cause me to plant out my eggplants a couple of weeks later than I would choose, so that the plants are big enough to resist their raviges. I don't normally worry about them on tomato plants. Linda

July 19, 2017	#3
brownrexx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Southeastern PA Posts: 1,420	They quit bothering my eggplants when I sprinkled them with food grade DE.

July 20, 2017	#5
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	Flea beetles normally leave my tomatoes alone, as they prefer eggplant, tomatillos, and radishes, but they've been particularly bad this year, and I have a an unusual (for me) but ultimately moderate amount of flea beetle damage on the lower leaves of my tomato plants. Still, the overall damage is so minor to a big, fast-growing plant like a tomato. AFAIK, they don't vector any diseases, and the damage is basically just cosmetic. I consider them not worth doing much about. The only concern is that they'll eat the life out of small transplants, So I plant out my eggplants when they're on the larger side so that they can outgrow the flea beetle damage. That works fine for me.

July 20, 2017	#6
BigVanVader Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Greenville, South Carolina Posts: 3,099	Reflective plastic is about 95% effective.