How Can I Protect My Tomato Plants From Bugs?

Tomato plants sometimes need proection from bugs.

Keeping tomato plants healthy by supplying proper nutrients and water helps keep bugs away. If you see problems with your tomato plants, carefully examine them to identify the symptoms and find the bug causing the problem. Then the appropriate treatment can be implemented.

Natural Enemies

Parasitic wasps, lady beetles, lacewing larvae and other beneficial insects can help eliminate the bad bugs. These natural enemies primarily eat the larva and eggs of the pests such as thrips, whiteflies and aphids before they have time to hatch and eat your plants.

Mulches

Special reflective mulches may stop whiteflies from landing on your tomato plants. The use of ultra-violet reflective mulches may help keep thrips and aphids from settling on the leaves. Once the plant gets big enough to cover the mulch, though, the effect is lost.

Insecticides

Using insecticides on the plants or in the soil can eliminate some pests such as whiteflies and thrips. Insecticides should be used as a last resort and only applied to eliminate specific types of pests, not generally to kill all bugs. Otherwise, insecticides may actually enhance populations of some pests by killing their natural enemies.

References

• Colorado State University Extension: Recognizing Tomato Problems
• University of Florida IFAS Extension: Insect Management for Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplant

Resources

• Public Broadcasting System Questions & Answers: Pests & Weeds