There are quite a few garden pests that will attack your tomato plants so you need to stay pretty vigilant and keep a careful eye on your plants to make sure that they are not under attack. Many of the pests tend to lay their eggs on the underside of the the tomato plant leaves, so try and get in the habit of just lifting the leaves up and having a look underneath.
Some of the most common tomato pests are : -
- Aphids
- Whitefly
- Spider mites
- Leafhoppers
- flea beetles
- tomato hornworm
The list goes on but there are often common ways to rid yourself of the pests, for instance when they are still eggs and if you are not too squeamish, you can simply wipe them off by pinching the leaves gently between your fingers and thumb and using your thumb to squash the eggs and wipe them off the leaf at the same time. A bit messy but quite effective.
Larger bugs like caterpillars can be picked off and dropped into a jam jar with some appropriate cocktail that will see them off.
An effective way of dealing with whitefly is to mix a fluid of one part liquid soap and four parts water in a spray bottle and dowse the whole plant with the mix.
There is also the option of introducing tomato friendly bugs that feed on the unfriendly bugs, a good example is a ladybug (ladybird as it is known in the UK).
You also have the option of using chemical pesticides of course but I have to be honest that there are so many different types that I think what most people need is a pest control book or bible. Below is one of several 5 star reviews for a book that is available on Amazon at a great price, incidentally everyone who left a review for this book gave it 5 stars.
This is the Review
“This could be the most useful book I own. It gets more use than my dictionary. Tiny Game Hunting offers practical and effective methods of capturing or killing common household and garden pests; everything from insects and spiders, to lizards and snakes, and mice and gophers. It focuses on environmentally safe extermination methods. Many of the traps, repellents, and pesticides can be made cheaply with common items found in the kitchen or garage. More than just pest control, the book offers some basic information on the habits and history of the critters. Have a problem with a pest? I bet it’s in here. It’s honestly one of the best books I’ll ever own!”
This is the book: –
Have to say it covers pretty much everything you need to know on tomatoes and a whole bunch of other stuff as well, really is a good buy and well worth it for any budding gardener. But don’t take my word for it, take a look at the reviews and with the power of Amazon you can open the book up and look at the contents, even if you only go as far as the index to satisfy yourself you will have the information you need.
[...] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own [...]
Very informative entry.
This is kind of off-topic, but what is your favorite soil conditioning fertilizer? I’ve tried Pro-Gro on my veggie garden, but I don’t know how happy I am with the results. Anyone have suggestions?
I think making your own fertilizer is a great option for anyone with a garden. All you need is a compost bin of some sort, you can put in all your garden and kitchen waste, vegetable peelings, banana skins etc. you name it, just throw it in there. Most people would tell you not to include potato peelings but as long as they have no eyes in them I find they are OK. It helps, if you have a lawn, to throw in your grass cuttings as well and stinging nettles are great for composting.
The trick is you have to leave the compost long enough to fully break down, if you try and use it too soon then you don’t get the benefit of providing nitrogen, in fact it can actually pull nitrogen away if it is still decomposing. In practical terms for many people it is probably better to have 2 compost bins so that you can leave one to mature while you start the second, and then just cycle them around. I actually have 3 and run them on a yearly basis which means my compost is about 2 years old by the time I use it.
Few homeowners ever really want to believe they have a serious pest problem in their own house. However, it can happen in even the cleanest and most well kept residences.