What are eating my 'maters NOW??!

[i_am2bz]

After getting the Invasion of the Tomato Worms under control, I now have a new pest.

These are about an inch long, thin (as opposed to roundish like japanese beetles) with what appears to be two black stripes on its back (altho it could be the topside of its wings), with gray borders & gray belly. They are happily munching on the leaves but leaving the fruit alone. I noticed them b/c there are loads (haha) of small black droppings all over one plant.

I don't know if this is enough info for i.d. Do I need to somehow get a photo...?

 

[vfem]

I'm needing a photo! But in the meantime I'm trying to visualize it for ya... :/

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do they look like a blister beetle? I just had a bunch on my potatoes, which are related to tomatoes.

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/medical/blister_beetles.htm

 

[i_am2bz]

Yep, RR, that's them! The top picture, the bug on the right, looks EXACTLY like them. How did you get rid of them?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I sprayed them with Sevin. That's not an "organic" solution, so maybe someone else can chime in with an organic method that works.

 

[hoodat]

Those can be a real problem. They like company so when they find something they like (as your tomatos) they send out a pheremone that calls thousands of them in for party time. They can eat you down to bare stems in no time. If you want to go organic probably your best bet is Spinosad. It's made from a fungus that naturally grows in soil. It's the only thing that did any good on that new African bug that is hitting us in California and Arizona. It knocked them right out so it should work on blister neetles also. You have to be persistent. That pheremone will keep calling new ones in. They seem to ike tomatos best when they are heat and water stressed.

 

[i_am2bz]

Those can be a real problem. They like company so when they find something they like (as your tomatos) they send out a pheremone that calls thousands of them in for party time. They can eat you down to bare stems in no time.

Yikes. I don't like the sound of that.

So nothing easy like DE or soap/water works with them?

 

[hoodat]

Those can be a real problem. They like company so when they find something they like (as your tomatos) they send out a pheremone that calls thousands of them in for party time. They can eat you down to bare stems in no time.

Yikes. I don't like the sound of that.

So nothing easy like DE or soap/water works with them?

Not that I ever heard of. You have to use some prety powerful stuff and Spinosad is the strongest organic I know of. Even Neem bounces right off them.

 

[digitS']

I don't know if I should make it sound like Spinosad is safe. It is an insect disease and that in itself makes Spinosad seem really weird to be spreading around a vegetable garden.

The Bt sprays are bug diseases, also. They have been used quite a few years. The idea, as I understand it, is that the insects get sick, can't eat, and die.

I was almost shocked to learn that Spinosad is now found in tablets given to dogs to protect them from fleas! Yep, straight thru the dog - into the flea . . . flea gets sick . . . no more flea !

Steve

 

[hoodat]

Adamittedly Spinosad is not something to throw around lightly. Precautions should be taken to avoid spraying plants when bees are visiting them and you will lose your predators where it is used but in the case of blister beetles it is a matter of using it or losing an entire crop. It is amazing how quickly they can stip tomato plants. One day you don't even know they are there and a few days later there is nothing left of your plants but bare stems that will never recover. I can't think of any other insect that will destroy a crop so quickly. The reason is that attractant pheremone they put into the wind that will call others of their kind for miles around to your tomatos.