These tomato plant pests can take a big bite out of your harvest.
Use these tips to keep them under control.
Tomato pests are a diverse group.
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Youll find them creeping, crawling, and burrowing through leaves and fruit.
Other pests will attack plant roots and stems.
Their destruction is varied but the outcome fortomato plantsis generally the samepoor plant growth and a reduced harvest.
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Aphids
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There are many species ofaphidsthatmunch on tomato plants.
These tiny, soft-bodied insects range in color from pale yellow to green to black.
They damage plants by piercing plant parts, causing new growth to curl and deform and blossoms to drop.
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These beneficial insects feed on aphids, keeping the population in check.
Promote natural predators by limiting pesticide use.
Pesticides, even natural options, can harm beneficial insects as well as those that are causing trouble.
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They damage tomatoes by nibbling little holes all over ripening fruit.
They typically damage many tomatoes in a fruit cluster.
Early detection is key to control.
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Inspect plant leaves during flowering to check for armyworms.
They kill plants by feeding on stems and roots, cutting off water and nutrients to the plant.
Tenderyoung tomato seedlingsare most susceptible to cutworm damage.
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Cutworms are rarely a problem in summer.
Place aluminum or cardboard collars around seedlings.
The collars will create barriers that stop cutworm larvae from feeding on plants.
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In fall, till your garden bed to destroy overwintering cutworms in the soil.
They are voracious eaters; a group of hornworms can defoliate a tomato plant in about 24 hours.
What to do:The best way to control tomato hornworms is to handpick them from the plants.
Pluck the caterpillars from plants and drop them into a bucket of soapy water.
Hornworms are parasitized by brachonid wasp.
The beneficial wasps will hatch from the white capsules and go on to parasitize other hornworms.
If you find parasitized hornworms, leave them in place to allow the beneficial wasps to hatch.
The tiny insects pierce plant tissue and suck plant sap causing leaf yellowing and stem dieback.
The damaged plant tissue reduces fruit yield.
Whiteflies damage tomato plants indirectly byspreading diseases as they move from plant to plant.
What to do:Silverleaf whitefly does not require control.
Environmental conditions will soon change, and the whiteflies will find other host plants.
The best defense against whitefly, and any tomato pest, is a strong,healthy tomato plant.
Fruit damaged by stink bugs is mottled with small yellow spots that are soft and spongy.
Stink bug damage is most prevalent in midsummerwhen tomato fruit is ripening.
What to do:Stink bugs are especially difficult to control.
The best control is prevention.
Stink bugs overwinter in wild, overgrown areas.
Tomato Fruit Worms
Feeding on fruit and leaves, tomato fruit worms are active throughout North America.
These 1 12-inch worm-like larvae are green-yellow to brown.
Tomato fruit worms often enter green tomatoes at the stem end, causing damage and decay.
Fruit worms damage leaves by feeding on developing buds and occasionally burrow into the plants stalks.
What to do:Insecticides are rarely needed in the home garden.
Egg-laying fruit worm moths will soon move to other crops and the larvae damage will dissipate.
If the tomato fruit worm population is intense, effective natural insecticides includeBacillus thuringiensis,Spinosad, and pyrethrin.
The insecticide must reach out to the larvae or eggs to be effective.
