Potato(Tomato) physillid

montanamato · July 6, 2006

Does anyone have experience with this vile little pest? I am having some pretty bad plant damage in my lower garden from these.
I am hand picking and spraying and still losing....Way too much foilage to find them all....

Jeanne

COgarden · July 12, 2006

I had serious problems with psyllids both of the last two seasons. I didn't even know what they were until the end of the first year. Thankfully this year they are nowhere to be found.

I don't know if it will have any info you haven't found yet but here is the link that helped me identify them
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05540.html
In my experience, once you see the strange purplish yellow, feather-like new growth the plant is pretty much history. Growing tomatoes just stop growing and never reach mature size. The sugar like waste was everywhere, some of the leaves had as much as 1/8 tsp on them! It was disgusting. The first year I didn't treat them with anything and they pretty much ruined any late tomato harvest I might have had. The second year I tried treatments with insecticidal soap and some sort of powder, sorry I can't remember what it was. Neither treatment seemed to do much, though the soap did knock them back a bit. The problem is all of the nymphs are on the bottom of every leaf and its impossible to get complete coverage.

Springtime those first two seasons were very wet and cool here. The psyllids were everywhere (easily 25 nymphs or adults on EVERY leaf!).This Spring was extremely hot and dry and there have been no signs of them.

Last year I posted on GW asking for experiences from others and got a couple responses from folks in southern California who were starting to see them. I'd be very interested to hear all about your experiences with them. They were a huge problem for me and yet it seems very few others have run into them. For example, the information I've found suggests that they come into Colorado from New Mexico and Texas with certain weather conditions and yet I've never seen a post from anyone who lives there asking about them !?

I had no idea they were as far North as you are! Please post some details about what you've seen in your garden. Trust me, I feel your pain!

Kurt

montanamato · July 12, 2006

Kurt,
Thanks for the post. I have read most everything on the internet and I was surprised to see them list MT as well. My friends who garden on the Missouri River were up here and sure I had insect damage. I argued that some of the plants were still showing affects of my husbands over fertilizing 2 years ago. Then we started examining undersides of leaves. I have used some Pyola that they gave me and ordered more. If it doesn't arrive soon I will lose alot more. I have been trying to save the plants least affected and some of my last seedlings planted out which only have a few critters on them. My patio plants and cold frame plants are all ok, very lightly infected and big enough to save. I lost all the plants in the lower 2 raised beds as they migrated in from that end of the garden ....except an Arcadia which still is setting fruit. I guess they migrate south when the days get shorter and that explains why a few of my plants last year developed normal leaves and blossoms right at the end of the season, after looking twisted and horrid all summer. I had had a soil sample analyzed last fall and assumed that was the problem...apparently not.
Anyway, there is something to be said for a drought! I was set up to have an incredible year and still have alot of fruit set, so it could be worse...
Jeanne

tomgirletc · July 13, 2006

I'm in Southern California. I had psyllid nymphs (maybe 25) on the underside of one leaf, and one other leaf also had a few this year on a youngish transplant. I think I got to them pretty fast and just yanked the leaves in a panic because they were so disgusting looking. Didn't get around to doing much immediately after but did eventually spray with Seranade for various other symptoms.

They are definitely nasty and quite devasting in large numbers I would imagine. I think I have been pretty lucky my infestation wasn't severe. That plant was pretty severely stunted for a long time, it has been setting fruit all along but so far 4 have come off for what might be BER but I haven't figured it out yet. Hope it's not something more serious than BER. Brown spots and indentations on the sides towards the blossom end, that if left to fester do end up taking the whole blossom end so I just cull them now as soon as I seem them get a spot or sunken area.

Anyway, the plant does seem fully recovered, finally growing and getting bushy, catching up with it's neighboors. Remains to be seen whether or not it will grow out of it's problem with maturing fruit. No other signs of illness are on this plant.

I do have a lot of flies around my plants, have all along. They aren't aphids, look more like gnats but could be psyllids. If they are, they haven't laid eggs that I can tell.

There is someone on GW from NM who posted today about them, thinking they were aphids and eggs. I responded but they could probably use more advice from someone more experienced than me.

Otherwise on GW, it seems I've only seen posts from other Southern Californians this year.

July 6, 2006	#1
montanamato Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Montana Posts: 1,038	Potato(Tomato) physillid Does anyone have experience with this vile little pest? I am having some pretty bad plant damage in my lower garden from these. I am hand picking and spraying and still losing....Way too much foilage to find them all.... Jeanne

July 12, 2006	#2
COgarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: CO Zone 5 Posts: 97	I had serious problems with psyllids both of the last two seasons. I didn't even know what they were until the end of the first year. Thankfully this year they are nowhere to be found. I don't know if it will have any info you haven't found yet but here is the link that helped me identify them http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05540.html In my experience, once you see the strange purplish yellow, feather-like new growth the plant is pretty much history. Growing tomatoes just stop growing and never reach mature size. The sugar like waste was everywhere, some of the leaves had as much as 1/8 tsp on them! It was disgusting. The first year I didn't treat them with anything and they pretty much ruined any late tomato harvest I might have had. The second year I tried treatments with insecticidal soap and some sort of powder, sorry I can't remember what it was. Neither treatment seemed to do much, though the soap did knock them back a bit. The problem is all of the nymphs are on the bottom of every leaf and its impossible to get complete coverage. Springtime those first two seasons were very wet and cool here. The psyllids were everywhere (easily 25 nymphs or adults on EVERY leaf!).This Spring was extremely hot and dry and there have been no signs of them. Last year I posted on GW asking for experiences from others and got a couple responses from folks in southern California who were starting to see them. I'd be very interested to hear all about your experiences with them. They were a huge problem for me and yet it seems very few others have run into them. For example, the information I've found suggests that they come into Colorado from New Mexico and Texas with certain weather conditions and yet I've never seen a post from anyone who lives there asking about them !? I had no idea they were as far North as you are! Please post some details about what you've seen in your garden. Trust me, I feel your pain! Kurt

July 13, 2006	#4
tomgirletc Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Alhambra, CA Zone 10a Posts: 30	I'm in Southern California. I had psyllid nymphs (maybe 25) on the underside of one leaf, and one other leaf also had a few this year on a youngish transplant. I think I got to them pretty fast and just yanked the leaves in a panic because they were so disgusting looking. Didn't get around to doing much immediately after but did eventually spray with Seranade for various other symptoms. They are definitely nasty and quite devasting in large numbers I would imagine. I think I have been pretty lucky my infestation wasn't severe. That plant was pretty severely stunted for a long time, it has been setting fruit all along but so far 4 have come off for what might be BER but I haven't figured it out yet. Hope it's not something more serious than BER. Brown spots and indentations on the sides towards the blossom end, that if left to fester do end up taking the whole blossom end so I just cull them now as soon as I seem them get a spot or sunken area. Anyway, the plant does seem fully recovered, finally growing and getting bushy, catching up with it's neighboors. Remains to be seen whether or not it will grow out of it's problem with maturing fruit. No other signs of illness are on this plant. I do have a lot of flies around my plants, have all along. They aren't aphids, look more like gnats but could be psyllids. If they are, they haven't laid eggs that I can tell. There is someone on GW from NM who posted today about them, thinking they were aphids and eggs. I responded but they could probably use more advice from someone more experienced than me. Otherwise on GW, it seems I've only seen posts from other Southern Californians this year.