What is this?

Ecarr9 · August 1, 2015

Ok guys and girls, I have four pictures. The first two pictures (which are the worst) were taken of a plant that I had actually given up on. I repotted it to a smaller pot and replaced it with a healthier plant as an experiment and whadda ya know.. it started producing. But I have noticed the spots on the leaves for some weeks now. I was looking around this morning and I noticed the little black bugs that you can see in the pics, maybe only two of them that I could see. Are they what is causing this discoloring and the spots? or is it something different?

In the bottom two pictures is my healthy Heavy producing plant that I really want to keep going. The leaves don't look AS bad and I found no bugs.. Also it's good to note that I was going to clip these limbs off anyway because they were too close to the ground.. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. ? The rest of the plant is as Healthy as can be. It has about 20 tomatoes growing on it right now. So It could be a completely separate issue from the first plant.

I'm new at all this stuff guys, so thanks for all the input!

Erick

b54red · August 2, 2015

Looks like flea beetles. They will aggressively attack the leaves nearest the ground but will also move up the plant doing damage. Clip off all the lower leaves and mulch under the plants if they are not already mulched. Check the remaining parts of the plant and if you see a fair number of them on the plant you might want to do a Permethrin or Pyrethrin spray late in the evening so as not to bother the bees. Make sure to spray the undersides of the leaves since that is where most of them will be.

Bill

Ecarr9 · August 2, 2015

Thank you for the help. I would have no problem trying what you recommended if I hadn't just bought this today (I didn't buy the huge quantity in the picture!). And I still might have to use the Pyrethrin. But do you think this will help at all? and Also do some of the spots on my plants look sort of like blight to you? all that being said, I was thinking this 3-in-1 deal which is mostly sesame oil would help prevent some fungus problems along with kill some insects. have you had any experience with it?

August 2, 2015	#2
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Looks like flea beetles. They will aggressively attack the leaves nearest the ground but will also move up the plant doing damage. Clip off all the lower leaves and mulch under the plants if they are not already mulched. Check the remaining parts of the plant and if you see a fair number of them on the plant you might want to do a Permethrin or Pyrethrin spray late in the evening so as not to bother the bees. Make sure to spray the undersides of the leaves since that is where most of them will be. Bill