How to Kill Tomato Plant Insects

Tackle your garden pests before they get established in your garden.

Summer gardens take time and effort, but the taste of your first home-grown tomato makes all the sweat worth the effort. The worst feeling is to see your hand-grown fruit being gobbled up by pesky insects. Stink bugs, aphids and tomato caterpillars are the most common culprits and the worst enemies of tomato gardeners.

Things You'll Need

• Milk Carton
• Water
• Dish Soap
• Insecticidal Soap
• Pointed Stick
• Spray Bottle

Instructions

1. Hand pick the bugs off your plants. As you water and walk through your tomato plants, visually inspect the leaves, stems and fruit of each plant. Carry a milk carton (with the top cut off) half-full of soapy water and drop insects into it, where they will drown.

2. Use a pointed stick to impale slugs. As you inspect your tomato plants, use a pointed stick to stab and kill lurking slugs. You can also keep your garden free of weeds and decomposing litter to prevent slug infestations.

3. Use Bait. Hang damp, red tennis balls from the stalks of your tomato plants and coat each with sticky spray, such as Tangle Trap, to capture stink bugs. Inspect the traps each morning and knock any found bugs into your milk carton of soapy water.

   Place bowls of stale beer in your garden to attract slugs. They will fall into the container and drown.

4. Spray your plants with Neem oil. The Neem tree produces oil that contains azadirachtin, which effectively kills many leaf-eating insects. It exhibits very low toxicity to mammals and can be applied up to the day of harvest. Mix a Neem Oil concentrate with water (about 3 to 4.5 percent azadirachtin) and spray directly onto your plants.

5. Use diatomaceous earth. Made from fossilzed water plants, this powder has tiny sharp edges that puncture the exoskeletons of insects and dehydrates them. Dust your plants with diatomaceous earth to rid your garden of slugs and snails.

6. Spray plants with insecticidal soap. Natural plant oils and animal fats in insecticidal soaps kill soft-bodied bugs such as aphids without damaging your plants. Such soaps are not harmful to helpful species such as lady bugs.

7. Try Rotenone. This general, plant-derived pesticide is highly effective in killing house and garden insects. It can be applied as a dust or powder directly onto your plants. Be careful to avoid exposure to skin or inhalation.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to clearly label any jars used for insecticides. That will keep you from using it for something else and be exposed to harmful residues.

• Harsh Chemicals used on tomato plants can leave residue and be toxic when later ingested. Try organic gardening techniques to keep you and your family safe.

References

• Living with Bugs
• The Garden Helper
• Simple Gifts Farm