Little White Bugs on my Tomatos

Cityboy · Joined: 24 Jun 2004 Posts: 7

Very small 1/16th inch or less. Look a bit like a spider but only six legs and antenna. Longish body and pure white, at first I thought it was ash from recent brush fires. There are tons of these and they just showed up a couple days ago. They are on both the leaves and stems and dont seem to care if they're on the top or bottom.

Can't tell if they are causing damage or not. Plants are healthy at the moment.

Thanks
Ken

Bekah · Joined: 28 May 2003 Posts: 43 Location: Coppell, Texas

Sounds like aphids. They like to eat the new growth and can stunt the growth. Lady bugs love them, so if they are still available they are a big help. You can also spray them off with water and then use the "garrett juice" with "garlic/pepper" tea to try and repel them. The lady bugs worked the best for me until the birds ate my lady bugs.

Cityboy · Joined: 24 Jun 2004 Posts: 7

Thanks for the reply. Thought I was just talking to myself there for a while. Aphids were my first thought too but after viewing a few pictures of them, they were not aphids.

Good news is they mostly all left about a week ago and plants are doing fine but now I do have aphids on my melon plants. I see a couple lady bugs on them but they would have to have really big appetites to rid all the aphids. I'll try the spray you mentioned.

Ken