By DoMyOwn staff
Our tomatoes are getting closer to harvest time! Most of the peppers are close and we have tons of basil. While we are still waiting for the early girls to fully ripen, we thought it would be a good idea to take this time and discuss the four most common pests that you find with tomato plants. We will go over what they look like and the best ways to get rid of them.
Pretty good! Straight from the garden. So things are starting to get a little exciting. Let me show you!
Alot of the super sweets have been ripening. As a matter of fact, we've been picking them as they get red. And let me tell you, they are delicious.
I mean just look at these radiant beauties! Absolutely delicious.
A few of the early girls are starting to ripen. So that's exciting. Getting closer with those.
And look at that! Some of our lunch box orange peppers are actually turning orange.
Poblano peppers are really nice and big. Probably time to start harvesting some of those.
And a lot of the Jalapenos are ready for picking as well.
Mmm.
Delicous!
Today's topic, we briefly touched on in our last video. Last video if you'll remember, we talked about how to identify the most common tomato disease problems. This video, we want to talk about the top four most common pests you find in tomato plants.
Just like most everything else that we've talked about, the best way to prevent a problem is to spot it before it happens.
This is easy! All you have to do is keep a close eye on your tomato plants while you're pinching off suckers or pruning. Giving them support systems. Keep a close eye on them; especially at the early stage for those pests that might lurk their way in and start reeking havoc.
A natural way to control most common pests in the garden, is by introducing beneficial pests like lacewings or ladybugs.
And if worse comes to worse, and this should most certainly be your last line of defense, you can use a pesticide. I would probably go for a natural pesticide if at all possible. But again that should be, absolutely the last resort that you should try when trying to control pests in the garden.
Now, on to the four most common tomato pests that you're going to run across. First up, Horn Worms.
Horn worms are destructive caterpillars that can grow to about three to three and a half inches in length. They're pretty hard to spot because they are green in color and can blend in the with foliage of the tomato plant.
And if you do spot horn worms, simply just spray them with a little bit of water, or even better, pick them off by hand.
But one thing you should keep in mind, where there's one, there's most likely many! So if you do have a large infestation, consider spraying them with a pesticide but try to go a natural or organic route.
Next up on the list, are fruit worms!
Adult tomato fruit worms are moths and are typically yellow or olive in color. One thing you most certainly do is, if you see fruit worms, go ahead and inspect the leaves, both top and bottom, for any kind of eggs that they may be laying.
Now the really good thing about this pest is that the larvae feed on the foliage before they move to the tomatoes. So it gives you a little bit more time to spot the damage and get rid of them before they attack your beautiful ripening tomatoes.
Next up on our list, are potato aphids!
These tiny, tiny little insects are most often found in dense clusters. While potato aphids are not serious enough to kill plants, if you have a large enough infestation, they can lead to mold and disease problems and also stunt growth of your plants.
If you do spot in infestation, make sure to remove it and throw it in the garbage. The reason we want to make sure that we pick them off and throw them away in a garbage can, if we simply just toss them on the ground, they will re infest your plant.
To control this pest, again, simply just pick them off but if you do have a large enough infestation, you can use a pesticide but even better, using an insecticidal soap will eradicate them from your garden!
And last but not least for our most common tomato pest problem, beet army worms.
Similar to fruit worms, beet army worm adults are moths with gray and brown upper wings and white or pal gray lower wings.
They also typically lay their eggs on the under side of the leaves. So when you're inspecting, make sure and take your leaf, flip it upside down, and take note of any kind of egg sacks that might be forming there.
Also with this pest, when the larvae hatch, they to will feed on the foliage before moving to your tomato plants, again just giving you a little bit more time to spot them before they can really cause serious damage to your fruit.
And like with most other pests, if you notice the army worm caterpillars, you simply just pick them off with your hands before they can turn in moths and really cause some serious damage.
So there we go! There are the four most common tomato pests that you're probably going to run across in your raised garden bed.
They're just so good! I can stop eating them!
Way better than anything you'll find at a store.
Garden is still looking really good. A lot of the sweet 100's are being picked off and we've been eating them and they're delicious. The peppers are rip for picking, we've got tons of basil and our early girls are getting closer.
If you have any other questions on pests that you might find in a raised garden bed or specifically on tomatoes, leave them in the comments section below, email the customer service staff, or pick up the phone and give us a call.
I hope you found this video helpful. Make sure to subscribe to the channel by clicking this button. You can click this playlist to see all the videos in the gardening series. And also click this playlist to see the Do My Own Lawn Care series.
And as always, thanks for watching!
