Is this little thing really what's destroyed my gardens?

[z_willus_d]

The Background
I planted out a little over 2 months back (used walls of water to protect the little ones). For at least a good month, I had the healthiest looking tomato plants I've ever worked with. They were super green, blossom heavy, and best of all, when I used my vibrating toothbrush to rattle the flowers, at least half of the viable looking ones set fruit a several days later. So things were looking great, and then around 3 weeks ago...

The Decline
... I began to noticed yellowing of the leaves of some of the larger plants. The leaves weren't always the lowest, often midriff the plant. I'd been spraying weekly with a combination of AgriFos(Exel-LG)+Actinovate (and also Green Cure fungicide). I didn't notice any obvious pest issues, but nonetheless every couple weeks I sprayed with an insecticidal soap (also BT).

A week later the problem had become more apparent, affecting nearly all of my plants in my raised beds (these have freshly mixed grow medium). I culled out many stems/leaf branches to the order of many lbs of plant matter. I also started to spray with Daconil on something more like a 4 or 5 day cycle (in addition to the former fungicides).

In this last week and a half , I've noticed that many of my booms are bronzing/yellowing and just not looking viable. But, there are still some lovely, yellow ripe flowers, usually a few on every truss. Here's what I noticed recently...

The Baddie Bugger
I was out midday vibrating my blossoms (most of which BTW are just falling off now), and as I was cupping the blossom to get a better angle, I noticed on vibration that a spawn of little, slender bugs spewed out onto the palm of my hand. They looked about the size of dust, and I think I could have easily mistaken them for that, or pollen, had I not cupped the blossom and noticed them scurrying all around on my hand. As I was inspecting the ten or so crawling there, they one after another just took flight and disappeared into the ethos.

That got me curious, so I began cupping the rest of my blossoms while vibrating. Around three hours later, I had vibrated the remaining 20 or so plants. (It usually only takes 10-min. to do this, but I was very focused on finding and attempting to squish these bugs.) I found that every alive, sex-ready blossom was essentially infested with these small insects. I could obliterate them on my hand, well mostly. That's what I spent all that time doing. The next day, I vibrated again, and lo, they were all back in the blossoms. And again, and again, again...

Somewhere along the way, I started spraying after vibrating in hopes of catching the bugs outside their homes, but they're always back the next day. I started spraying with Monterey Spinosad, then Take Down garden spray, then Green light Neem Oil, then AzaMax, and most recently a 1/2 diluted strength of the first three. I even gave a half-strength spraying of Sevin, but my honey noticed I bought it and blew a gasket after reading about its health concerns, so back to H.D. it went.

What I've noticed is that whereas I used to get 50% + fruit set on my blossom trusses, I'm not getting 0%. Yes, that's right, 0% -- I've got so many raw, yellowing truss wires, I'm ready to cry. (Ok, there have been some cherries setting, but that's it and at a much lower rate.) I've noted that my yellow flowers are actually turning brown on their tips, presumably from the insect infestation. Now, my plants are also more stressed by the disease that I presume these bugs are infecting them with, so that might also be why the flowers aren't setting. My plants are strange looking. They have a nice set of fruit on their 1st and 2nd trusses, then sparsely set fruit on the next 1 or 2, and then the remaining 3-5' of tomato plant is bare.

Today, I noticed the same bugs in the blossoms of my work garden, and that garden hasn't really set any fruit. I got started about a month later there. So I'm of a mind to blame most of my garden problems--to ascribe their destroyer as to be--, these pesky little bugs.

I've attached my best impromptu attempt to capture the bug (a dead one) on my camera phone. Maybe you can at least make out the size. They actually range in size and color from smaller, to middling (what's shown) to a bit larger; light brown/red to black. I've also posted a couple pics of the less deathly looking yellow leafs (post culling).

The Questions
- Are these bugs Thrips, as I suspect they must be.
- In any case, what is the best spray regimen to get rid of them? What else can I do, short of nuking the world with man/earth-harming chemicals?
- Can my plants recover from this, or are they doomed to set fruit no more? I mean, is my theory that these bugs are to blame for the fruit set problem sound? Note, weather has been great. I've changed nothing in my feeding (minimal) and water regimes.
- Anything I can do differently next year to guard against these so they don't take hold. I really hate how it seems like they are able to hide in the flowers, even from my poison sprays. They've got me beat it seems, but I can't join them because I'm a human after all and don't fit beneath the stigma pedals of a tomato flower.

Thanks for helping.
-naysen

[gssgarden]

hmmm.....I'm curious too as I never check the blooms for critters.

I may be wrong but I don't think Thrips go into the flowers. Just the stems or stalks. Again, I may be wrong.

Guess who's going to check his flowers tomorrow??

Best of luck.

Greg

[z_willus_d]

Same to you Greg. Maybe these aren't thrips, in which case I darn well want to find out what it is they be. Don't let those little creatures abort your unborn tomato fruit.
-n

[dpurdy]

Naysen,
I can feel your pain. Sorry to hear about your problems. Yes, thrips can cause blossom drop. http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1191/ Here's a web address that will clarify some of the questions that you have. About 3/4 of the way down the page you can read about thrips. I also noticed that your were concerned about what you might spay on your plants. There's a product called EcoSMART that is all organic, that will supposedly kill thrips. I have not used it, but I know others who have. I couldn't really tell from your pics if they were thrips or not. I know their very small. If you can look at them under some kind of magnifier, you should be able to identify them from pics online. Nasty little buggers. Some thrips are carriers of TSWV which is usually devastating. If you find that you have thrips, there are some specific steps that you will need to do so that you can eliminate the recurrence of them next year. I'm sure that those procedures are discussed in most articles about thrips. I almost forgot, some that I know use sticky pads in their greenhouses or field to catch them. I hope some of this helps. It's a tough problem to deal with. Got my fingers crossed; hope your successful dealing with those nasty little buggers.
Dale

[lakelady]

Naysen, I wonder if you could snip one of those blossoms and put it in a zip baggie to have someone look at? Might be one way to catch one of the little buggers

[GaryStPaul]

Sorry to hear about this, Naysen. FWIW: I had a bad case of thrips on my roses this year. They're especially attracted to the white-flowering ones. But what I've noticed, in this and earlier years, is that they seem to run their course in a few weeks and then disappear, after which things return to normal. Maybe this will be the case with your tomatoes. I sure hope so. Thrips are hard to treat, but hang in there.

[amideutch]

Naysen, give these people a call and see if they can help identify your pest and suggest a fix. They deal in organic solutions and are located in California. They normally deal with commercial growers but will work with home gardeners as well. Ami

E-mail bugnet@rinconvitova.com
Call 800-248-2847 (BUGS) or 805-643-5407

[kurt]

If they are thrips minute pirate bugs can be bought online and will stop the life cycle of thrips since they drop into ground and emerge and start the cycle all over again. http://www.arbico-organics.com/produ...ects-organisms Might be pricey but spraying of blooms might affect pollen.

[z_willus_d]

Originally Posted by dpurdy

Naysen,
I can feel your pain. Sorry to hear about your problems. Yes, thrips can cause blossom drop. http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1191/ Here's a web address that will clarify some of the questions that you have. About 3/4 of the way down the page you can read about thrips. I also noticed that your were concerned about what you might spay on your plants. There's a product called EcoSMART that is all organic, that will supposedly kill thrips. I have not used it, but I know others who have. I couldn't really tell from your pics if they were thrips or not. I know their very small. If you can look at them under some kind of magnifier, you should be able to identify them from pics online. Nasty little buggers. Some thrips are carriers of TSWV which is usually devastating. If you find that you have thrips, there are some specific steps that you will need to do so that you can eliminate the recurrence of them next year. I'm sure that those procedures are discussed in most articles about thrips. I almost forgot, some that I know use sticky pads in their greenhouses or field to catch them. I hope some of this helps. It's a tough problem to deal with. Got my fingers crossed; hope your successful dealing with those nasty little buggers.
Dale

Dale, you've nailed it! After hours of web-searchino trying to find the answers to my questions, you've managed to hit the web site that succinctly answers just about all of them. Yes, I do have thrips.

I think this information is worth posting from the site, so others searching for information on thrips can access it here:
Thrips

Figure 12. Thrips in a tomato blossom
Several species of thrips may infest tomatoes, including western (Frankliniella occindentalis) and eastern (Frankliniella tritici) flower thrips, melon thrips (Thrips palmi), and tobacco thrips (Frankliniella fusca). These are tiny (1/16 inch), slender insects that may vary in color from yellow to dark brown or black (Figure 12). They prefer to feed in flowers but also occur in flower and leaf buds and, ooccasionally, on leaves. Thrips damage tomatoes in several ways. Feeding in blossoms may cause blossom drop, or fruit may not develop properly and become deformed. Feeding on foliage may cause a bronzing or silvering of foliage. Eggs inserted in fruit causes dimpling, and the infested area may appear white. Thrips are also vectors of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), a potentially devastating disease of tomato. Infected plants have dark lesions on the foliage (Figure 13) and fruit show characteristic halo markings (Figure 14). Refer to Extension publication ANR-836, "Virus Diseases of Tomato," for more information on this disease.
Figure 13. Bronzing symptoms of tomato potted wilt on tomato leaf Figure 14. Symptoms of tomato spotted wilt on fruit Research has demonstrated that even low numbers of thrips may be enough to infest fields with TSWV. However, high populations are more likely to result in a greater incidence of virus in the field. To determine thrips presence, sample one flower per plant during the routine scouting procedure. Thrips may be visible inside the flower using a hand lens, or the flower may be shaken over a piece of paper to dislodge the thrips for observation. If the area has a history of TSWV, insecticide application is recommended if any thrips are found. If TSWV has not been a problem in the past, the recommended thrips treatment threshold is five thrips per flower. Application of imidacloprid (Admire) at planting may help to delay the onset of TSWV symptoms in the field. Recent research in Georgia has indicated that insecticides applied during the first 4 weeks after transplanting provide the greatest protection against yield reduction from TSWV. As indicated for aphid control, reflective (aluminum-colored) mulch may also help to reduce thrips infestations and spread of TSWV.

[z_willus_d]

Originally Posted by lakelady

Naysen, I wonder if you could snip one of those blossoms and put it in a zip baggie to have someone look at? Might be one way to catch one of the little buggers

No, I'm pretty sure they're thrips now. I just never knew they fed and lived in the flower heads. They're so small, that I'd been mistaking them for pollen on vibration. Yeah, they're a little chunkier than your typical pollen stream, but I just figured they were clumps of pollen. Not a bad idea though, for a trap to ID.
Thanks,
Naysen

[z_willus_d]

Gary, thanks for your sympathies. Do you think they ran through their life-cycle because the rose flowers were no longer appealing, nectar-wise or whatever-wise it is they get out of the rose organs?

Ami, thanks for the contact. I will certainly give them a call. I've tried every organic solution I know of, short of purchasing beneficials. (They always seem to just fly away, and it certainly seems like they would so close to a greenbelt, as I am.)

Kurt, I'll check-out those "Pirates."

Thanks,
Naysen

[z_willus_d]

Wow Kurt, those sure are expensive hired guns. I'm not sure I want to open that door. Who knows where it will lead. If I knew they would settle down for future years, I think I'd go for it. They apparently lay their eggs in available plant tissue, which I assume means the tomato plants. I wonder if that has any negative side-effects.
-naysen

[coastal bend]

Thrip love to get into blooms. They will also put a toxin in the plant. It takes a while for the plant to recover from them. If it is a heavy infestation they can deform the growth of the plant.

[kurt]

They are naturally occuring in almost all areas,they feed one other insects only,infestations occur when one is not there to balance the other.As your posted info says that 5 per flower is norm then the 10 or more is a infestation.The problem for me early in my growing was the "lets go buy chemicals"and wipe everything else out.So now my regimen is to use beneficials onlyI buy one order of Lbugs,Lacewings,Pirates per season.Same cost as the chemicals per season in the beginning.All in all over the years things have balanced out.We have probly more insects here in Fla. so the beneficials stay around and keep everything in check.Good thing about pirates they love more than one pest insect.Since you have created a "new/garden"enviorment and food source in your area your balance curve will get stabilized after a while.I admire your diligence.For the thrips keep in mind that they do come out of the ground so maybe some plastic now will stop those generations from hatching and moving to plants,and will stop eggs from dropping down into ground.Good Luck

[kurt]

http://greenmethods.com/site/shop/buy-bugs/4/#BOINSA More options and less expensive for thrips.