Hello Blades, I have searched high and low to identify this insect on line with out success. With out identifying the pest I am not sure what organic remedy would be best. This insect is eating the shit out of my Beefmaster tomato plant leaves. I am having to police each plant many times daily and pick them off. If anyone can make an identification and recommend an organic remedy I would be most grateful. Thank you and have a great day. MGB
Species doesn't matter - it's a herbivore Spinosad applied every 4 days until you've hit the plants 4 times. This will break the adult-egg-larva cycle. Monterey Gardens Spinosad Concentrate and Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew (Bonide) are the 2 companies licensed in the USA to pack & label this bacteria culture.
Thanks again CQ. Wife is picking up Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew (Bonide) from the farm store today. They offered a premixed and a concentrate version. They also had a powdered version. I bought the concentrate I will dilute it in my sprayer. I do have one question though. So what your saying is that you think these insects are living and breeding right in my tomato plants? You don't think they just fly onto the plants feed? Sorry for the questions I am just kind of strange in the fact I try to understand how things work. It is weird they are only eating the Beefmaster tomato plants. They are not touching my Tumbling Tom cherry tomato plants or my Grandma Mary plum tomato plants. None on any other vegetables or my cannabis plants. Thanks again! MGB
MGB On products like this the concentrates are your best way to go. For example Monterey Garden Products offers a neem oil product - worthless. Completely without merit. Yes - herbivore insects (Spider Mites, Whiteflies, whatever it is that you're dealing with) are like any other organism - eat, screw and reproduce. If you were to grab a bucket and turn it upside down as a chair and then used a large scope and looked under the leaves you'll find eggs, larva along with new junior and adolescent members of the tribe. Stressing out a plant with fertilizer hi-dosing insures that you'll attract as many problems your area can offer. Weak plants are far more likely to take the hit vs. healthy plants (part of the IPM paradigm). Diligence. Diligence. Diligence. Always assume that you have a major outbreak lurking because all it takes is a shift in weather patterns like high-humidity coupled with high temperatures and just like the fleas on your pets - Spider Mites respond rather well to the new digs. Perfect environment. Spinosad can be used to arrest and stop an outbreak - after that by implementing a logical IPM this will preclude another outbreak. HTH CQ
Well after several hours of searching I have finally identified the pest. It is a Clavate Tortoise Beetle. Here is a link if anyone is interested. clavate tortoise beetle - Plagiometriona clavata (Fabricius) I am glad I was able to identify the the little bastard. It helped me to understand why I have them and why tomato plants. You are correct CQ they eat, breed, and live all within the plant. Their larvae are in my soil. The photograph I posted is the adult form. Now that I was able to identify the insect and know their life cycle is there anything else I should do other than the Captain Jacks. I guess what I am asking CQ is will the Captain Jacks kill the larvae in the soil so the cycle is broken? If not what do you recommend for the larvae in the soil? Thanks again. All the best. MGB
Neem or Karanja meals and get the organic products from NeemResource.com because the organic oils and meals have far higher levels of the bio-pesticides, anti-feedents, etc. and these materials also facilitate nitrification in the soil. Crab meal (or lobster or shrimp - not mollusks) contains Chitin (Chitosan sound familiar?) and from bacterial action a specific enzyme is created - Chitinase It's this enzyme, specifically, which prevents insect eggs from hatching. The commercial product Chitosan is produced by using bacteria with this compound. Do that and you'll be way ahead of the game......
BTW - Spinosad is not a pesticide in the strictest definition. This fermented bacteria culture agitates the nervous systems to the point where they can't eat, reproduce, etc. Using a short-brew tea made with any of the Mint family (which would include Rosemary, Lavender, et al) you'll being applying Linalool in it's raw form and not a synthetic Linalool which you can find at your local garden center. Linalool will make eggs explode on contact - BAM!! Ain't rocket science in the whole scheme of things......
Neither is breaking down an MP5 due to a jam, in the pitch dark, in the middle of the dessert, while taking fire. We all come from different walks of life brother. Always remember what may seem like common sense for you may be new to someone else and vice versa. Thank you once again for your help I do sincerely appreciate you taking your time to educate and ignorant old bastard like myself. All the best. MGB
What I meant by that is the concept of prevention is easier than dealing with a massive invasion. Disrupting any organism to the point where they cannot eat or reproduce will keep them at bay. Take a product I stumbled on a couple of weeks back - Liquid Ladybug - organic, blah, blah, blah..... Here's the MSDS This magical concoction is $30.00 for quart or $90.00 for a gallon. A trip to the produce section at Whole Foods and about $7.00 later you would have 10 gallons of concentrated pesticide with 20x the number of pesticide and fungicide compounds than Liquid Ladybug CQ
MGB, If you have an extension office for your state's university system, you can take a sample of the damaged leaf and the insect to them for a free identification. I volunteer at my local extension office through the Master Gardener's Program and we routinely ID bugs, pathogens, weeds, and do a variety of other services. The information from CQ is precisely what we would recommend for a leaf eating vegetable pest whether ID'd or not. Spinosad is a hell of great organic treatment for most leaf eating, sucking and boring insects. Cheers, Chunk
I think every gardener should keep a jug of Spinosad on thier shelf - just for cases like this. It works. Best of luck MGB. Let us know how you make out. I really want to hear. I have the utmost faith in this product. Jerry
Hello CQ,Chunk, and Jerry, This is the product the wife picked up for me on her way home from the office last night. (photo bottom of page) It cost me $20 for 16 oz's. I did the first application last night after the sun ducked down behind the trees. When I checked the Beef Masters this morning I saw no beetles. This is the first morning in 5 days I have not had to pick beetles off from them. It may just be coincidence. The product may not work that fast. So, so far so good. I do how ever have a couple of questions. Last night I went by the manufacturers diluting rate when I applied it. You fellas know as well as I do many manufacturers of products advise you to use higher doses than needed so you will buy more at a faster pace. Is this the case with this product or should I continue to dilute it at the rate of the manufacturers recommendation at the regiment of which CQ suggested? If not the manufacturers recommendation then please recommend a proper dilution rate. I guess the next part is not really a question just a statement. This is a concentrate. The ingredients are , and I quote, spinosad 0.5% (A&D) other ingredients 99.5%. Whats up with that? You would think in a concentrate there would be more than 0.5% of the ingredient that effects the insects lol. Any how thanks again for your help guys. I truly do appreciate it. Have a great day. MGB
MGB Because only 2 companies have been licensed to use this bacterial culture, they have control on the pricing. However, the Monterey Garden Products Spinosad Concentrate runs about $20.00 for 1 quart - same dilution rate. The flea medicine for dogs and cats that includes Spinosad (Comforis, et al.) costs $110.00 for 6 tablets - 1 per month. Is that expensive? Not compared to an emergency trip to a 24-hour vet hospital to take care of a massive flea infestation which was over $200.00 for a temporary but immediate fix. On the dilution rate - anyone who has purchased this has asked the same question. I simply don't know but I agree with your suspicions on the manufacturer's dilution rates on the label. What I have done and will continue to do is to use one of the Mints and make a short-brew tea, diluted correctly, and use that as the 'water' for mixing the Spinosad. This gives me several compounds to work with in conjunction with the Spinosad. Remember - Monterey Garden Products Spinosad Concentrate
Just some reinforcement here but Monterey garden spray changed my life in 2 applications and now it's as important as water to me. Tho it is interesting to see it mixed in a short brew mint tea. I have lavender,rosemary and mint all over my lot I'll get onto putting that tid bit to use. I had mites so bad i was about to quit growin indoors altogether. I still have mites lurking around but under the microscope they're all twitching like crack smokers or straight dead. Every 3 days I alternate spinosid with aloe and einstien oil with dr bronners and I've been clean as a whistle ever since. Thanks to these guys^
heretikhashhead Replace the Einstein Oil ($420.00 a gallon - huh?) with the organic neem or karanja oils from NeemResource.com - they have sample kits and one of them give you 1 gallon of organic neem oil, 1 gallon of karanja oil, 5 lbs. of neem meal and 5 lbs. of karanja meal - $150.00 delivered price 1 gallon neem or karanja oil = 256 gallons of spray and you're getting 2 gallons of oil so figure 512 gallons for $150.00 plus you have the meals to add to your soil mixes or to make a tea if the situation is such that using an oil isn't the best path - late in flower, etc. HTH You'll never look back......... CQ
Do they only sell in bulk like that? I use down to earth neem see meal in my soil mix currently and stop sprayig around week 4 of flowering. But that is a good point on unit pricing. I currently have 1/2 cup of meal soaking in a jar making a nice stinky concoction now. I'm very new to the FPE and botanical teas so I'll be diluting the he'll out of that and tryin it out
heretikhashhead Here's their order guide and the oils are available down to 8 oz. and the 'cakes' (meals) are available in 5 lb. packs. Here's where the differences come in - Einstein Oil is a commercial grade neem oil (China) that is mixed with one of the Mint oils - Rosemary or Peppermint I don't remember which one but it doesn't matter - same compounds in either plant material, i.e. Linalool, Linalyl acetate, Lavunduly acetate, Myrcene, Eucalyptol, b-caryophlene, et al. Commercial neem oils like this one, contain on average 1500 ppm of the main compound discussed in these oils - i.e. Azadirachtin - fair enough. The pure organic oils from Neem Resource come in at 4500 ppm. Keep in mind that this compound is not the most important as far as being a bio-pesticide but it is found in the greatest amounts = easier to extract. Azatrol and Azamax are examples on how you can take an effective material and turn it into pure crap. With your program you could reduce your Spinosad application down to 1x per week, followed up with a neem/karanja oil application and you'll be shittin' in tall cotton. HTH CQ
[quote name='"ComfreyQuery"']heretikhashhead Here's their order guide and the oils are available down to 8 oz. and the 'cakes' (meals) are available in 5 lb. packs. Here's where the differences come in - Einstein Oil is a commercial grade neem oil (China) that is mixed with one of the Mint oils - Rosemary or Peppermint I don't remember which one but it doesn't matter - same compounds in either plant material, i.e. Linalool, Linalyl acetate, Lavunduly acetate, Myrcene, Eucalyptol, b-caryophlene, et al. Commercial neem oils like this one, contain on average 1500 ppm of the main compound discussed in these oils - i.e. Azadirachtin - fair enough. The pure organic oils from Neem Resource come in at 4500 ppm. Keep in mind that this compound is not the most important as far as being a bio-pesticide but it is found in the greatest amounts = easier to extract. Azatrol and Azamax are examples on how you can take an effective material and turn it into pure crap. With your program you could reduce your Spinosad application down to 1x per week, followed up with a neem/karanja oil application and you'll be shittin' in tall cotton. HTH CQ[/quote] Awesome! Couldn't ask for a better explanation on that. I didn't realize the "cold pressed" neem was so diluted. And yeah azamax pshhhh aza-mistake more like it. Curled up leaves and still had to bust out the vacuum in week 5 on out ha ha. I'll be ordering some of this for sure thank you.
Here's why you will want to begin including Aloe Vera juice in each and every foliar application, i.e. this plant is rich in both Salicylic acid and Saponins and their role to trigger a plant's immune system - Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) Salicylic Acid, a Multifaceted Hormone to Combat Disease And of course a liquid Silica (SiO4) product like Pro-TeKt