super small white bugs

[kforbs126]

So I have had these super super tiny white bugs crawling around all my plants. Tons of them and they are on the plants. It's been going on for the past week or so. There doesn't seem to be any plant damage but I was wondering what they are. They are really really tiny dust size.

[Al@NC]

Similar to these? This is the white fly:

https://www.google.com/search?q=whit...JJSk8QSmwYCgBw

If so read this post:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ht=white+flies


Or are they more like aphids:
https://www.google.com/search?q=whit...w=1200&bih=519
Al

[kforbs126]

None of those look like these bugs but then again they are so tiny i can't make out anything except their color which seems white. I took a pic and if you zoom in you can see them moving around but that's it. They are tiny like a piece of sand I guess. And they don't fly away or anything like that. They seem almost like ants how they are running around everywhere.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by kforbs126

None of those look like these bugs but then again they are so tiny i can't make out anything except their color which seems white. I took a pic and if you zoom in you can see them moving around but that's it. They are tiny like a piece of sand I guess. And they don't fly away or anything like that. They seem almost like ants how they are running around everywhere.

OK I can't see those specks. So take this with a huge grain of salt. I could definitely be wrong easily. BUT as a general rule of thumb, if it is a fast mover, and there doesn't seem to be any damages to your plants, there is a pretty good chance they are predatory in nature, running around looking for something to kill and eat.

But that is only a general rule of thumb. No way to know for sure without positive identification, and that's going to take better magnification..

[Dak]

I had something like that a few years ago. It started out like you've described, little tiny bugs. Then they did start affecting my plants, I sprayed with Neem and they recovered quickly. From what I could guess, I think it was thrips.

[Cole_Robbie]

I had white flies last year; that's what they look like to me. White flies transmit plant viruses, and I had a few plants suddenly die. If you buy a chemical pesticide, you want Malathion and not Sevin. Sevin will kill the predators that eat the whitefly but not the whiteflies, so it just makes the problem worse.

[rnewste]

If you are going to be eating anything off the plants - personally, I would NEVER use either of the 2 products (above).

This is less harmful and will destroy Whiteflies:



Raybo

[Tonio]

looks like they changed the formula? I can only find a .1% pyrethrins

[Tonio]

oh, the RTU is .1% and the concentrate is .5%

[BucksCountyGirl]

Those look like spider mites to me. I've never had them on my tomatoes, but I had them take down a whole plant of pineapple sage before. I don't know if they affect tomatoes the same way, but if in a few days you see very thin, spider web like growths on the underside of your leaves they could be the culprit. Below is a link that details how to control spider mites...YMMV. Good Luck!

http://greenliving.nationalgeographi...ites-3181.html

[kforbs126]

I did spray them last night with earth tone and it eliminated 99% of them. I have no idea what they could be because there are no webs or anything. I appreciate all the help and will update when I get rid of them completely.