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From: beth@gymble.UUCP (Beth Katz)
Newsgroups: net.garden
Subject: Re: Little flies ...around tomatoes
Message-ID: <298@gymble.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 30-Aug-85 11:44:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: gymble.298
Posted: Fri Aug 30 11:44:46 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 1-Sep-85 12:35:44 EDT
References: <368@piggy.UUCP> <389@brl-sem.ARPA>
Reply-To: beth@gymble.UUCP (Beth Katz)
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Maryland, Laboratory for Parallel Computation, C.P., MD
Lines: 22

Geoffrey Sauerborn writes:
>	Around this time of year, (and especially during September and
>early October), my tomatoe plants get these little white bugs the size
>of natts. One way to describe them is they look like little moths the
>size of natts. They are apparently living parasitcally off the plant's sap
>(they suck the plant juices). But they don't seem to bother the fruit.

What you seem to have is the dreaded whitefly.  They are hurting
your plants.  The larvae and the adult flies munch on the tomato
sap and create a sticky substance that can turn moldy and kill
the munched leaves as well as the leaves the sap drops on.  At
this point, you might be able to just ignore them because the
tomato season is almost over.  Supposedly you can also spray
them off with water (I haven't had success with this0, use sticky
bright yellow paper to catch them (they like yellow), or spray
them with rotenone based products.  My indoor tomatos have had
these for the past two years.  I can't seem to get rid of them.
You have to spray every seven to ten days until all the larvae
die.  I'm currently using Ortho Tomato and Vegetable Insect Killer.
The major ingredients are pyrethrins.  Choose your weapon.
				Beth Katz
				{seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!beth