Finally started picking some tomatoes and the bugs are already settling in. Anyone have a good solution to take care of them? Assume some type of chemical will do it, have been using the dust pretty regularly. Open to ideas.
Thanks
we grew dill in each one of our boxes and i’ll tell you this year we’ve not had nearly the issues with them this year.
Is this the bug you are referring too? I havent had anything on my tomatoes yet but they are all still green.
No bugs here but the last huge rain put a damper on my beautiful plants as the seem to be dying off from the bottom. Checked other neighborhood plants and they are the same 
Is this the bug you are referring too? I havent had anything on my tomatoes yet but they are all still green.
The ones along the right hand border are what we call picnic bugs but I’m sure there are a dozen variants to them.
No bugs here but the last huge rain put a damper on my beautiful plants as the seem to be dying off from the bottom. Checked other neighborhood plants and they are the same
That sounds like late blight. It’s caused by a soil fungus. Big rains splash soil on the bottom leaves and it spreads upwards through the plant, eventually killing it. I get it every year no matter how hard I try to prevent it. For me it’s a race between late blight and first frost to see what kills my tomatoes first.
That sounds like late blight. It’s caused by a soil fungus. Big rains splash soil on the bottom leaves and it spreads upwards through the plant, eventually killing it. I get it every year no matter how hard I try to prevent it. For me it’s a race between late blight and first frost to see what kills my tomatoes first.
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Maybe grass clippings or hay around the plant? I am told tomatoe like it hot and drier. We have had 3 big rains of 4-6″
Mulch seems to delay the inevitable. I generally start seeing late blight once the plant starts setting fruit. I think it’s pretty normal, it’s just a question of how quickly it progresses. I’ve actually never grown or seen a tomato plant without it to some degree by middle August. With all the big rains we’ve had, this year seems to be worse than normal. I’ll be surprised if I have any plants left by September
I do all the internet tips too… Heavy mulch, good pruning, only water at the base. Nothing seems to prevent it. Next year I’m trying a fungicide.
Sap Beetle is the technical name I am told. Malathion seems to have helped. They tend to get to an over ripe fruit that has been missed, and from there they are hard to get rid of. Obviously not letting them get over ripe will help the most, but those little cherry tomatoes like to hide sometimes…..
Thanks for all the tips. 
Mulch seems to delay the inevitable. I generally start seeing late blight once the plant starts setting fruit. I think it’s pretty normal, it’s just a question of how quickly it progresses. I’ve actually never grown or seen a tomato plant without it to some degree by middle August. With all the big rains we’ve had, this year seems to be worse than normal. I’ll be surprised if I have any plants left by September
I do all the internet tips too… Heavy mulch, good pruning, only water at the base. Nothing seems to prevent it. Next year I’m trying a fungicide.
Treat the soil. Copper fungicide and powdered sulpher are good ones to use.
When the plants get pulled in the fall I apply both of these and till them into the ground. In the early spring I spread them again before I till. Thru the summer I dust the ground around the plants at least once.
Some soils are prone to the fungus that causes this with tomatoes and a person has to be proactive in treating it. I used to mulch my tomatoes with grass clippings starting in the early summer when cages went on the plants. The fungus seems to appear when the mulching gets overly damp and it works in two directions: upward and into the tomato plants and downward into the soil, thus the need to treat the soil. Left untreated at the soil level its there from the get go the next spring. I hold off on mulching until about now and then will keep the clippings confined to the areas outside of the area within each cage.
My dad makes traps for them bugs by his raspberries. I think he puts watermelon in milk jugs and pokes holes in them and catches piles of them.
Thank you Tom. That is really helpful.
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