unknow bug eating tomato plants

Discussion in 'Garden Pest Management and Identification' started by Annageckos, Jun 28, 2008.

  1. Annageckos

    Annageckos Active Member 10 Years

    Messages:
    55
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Levittown, PA USA
    I found these bugs (quite a few) eating my tomato plants, stems leaves and all. I couldn't find them listed on any website. I don't know what they are but they are eating machines! I did get some pictures. They are red with black dots along their sides and 6 black legs. They remind me of a grub type of insect. Any help would be great.

    Thanks,

    Anna
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Annageckos

    Annageckos Active Member 10 Years

    Messages:
    55
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Levittown, PA USA
    Anyone have any idea what this bug is or where I could look to find out? I know that I have seen this one before but don't know where.
     
  3. lbatzzz

    lbatzzz Member

    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    ithaca ny
    Colorado Potato Beetle Larva!

    I have these on my tomatoes here in Ithaca. The parents crawl out of the soil in spring and lay eggs. They're voracious eater...luckily tomatoes can stand a bit of pruning. If your garden is small, like mine, you can just squash them.

    Wonderful photos!

    Freese Rd!
     
  4. punkin patch

    punkin patch Member

    Messages:
    19
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Richmond, Va USA
  5. Alida

    Alida Member

    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Ohio River Valley
    Yes, we have them in our garden in Hanover, Indiana...what ARE THEY???
    I can't find any info anywhere on the internet.
     
  6. Alida

    Alida Member

    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Ohio River Valley
    Sheesh...why didn't I read your post more closely??
    I kept trying to find them on the post where the person said to scroll down and nothing was there...
    Thanks.
     
  7. Durgan

    Durgan Contributor 10 Years

    Messages:
    2,669
    Likes Received:
    100
    Location:
    Brantford,Ontario, Canada
    http://www.durgan.org/URL/?PBeetle i June 2007 Colorado Potato beetle - Leptinotarsa decemlineata
    http://www.durgan.org/URL/?Cluster 2 June 2007 Colorado Potato Beetle Egg Cluster

    Potatoes are the preferred host for the Colorado potato beetle. Up to about 100 plants, by carefully picking, the bugs they can be controlled. This must be done about four times per day. The secret is to get the egg clusters, which are located on the lower leaves on the underside. After 100 the labor is too extensive, and chemical control need be utilized.

    It may feed and survive on a number of other plants in the nightshade family: eggplant, tomato, pepper, tobacco, ground cherry, horse-nettle, common nightshade, belladonna, thorn apple, henbane, and its first recorded host plant: buffalo-bur.

    From egg to destroyer it takes about four days under ideal conditions. This nasty surfaced in Colorado and other locals in the mid eighteen hundreds. The bug jumped from its host plant to all these new additions called potatoes. The potato bug has encircled the globe.

    In the good old days Paris Green was used for control, and later DDT, now there is a hodge podge of control chemicals.
     

Share This Page