Are these spider mites? (Pictures)

9 years ago

Hi! I've expanded my gardening a lot this year, but I'm still in my infancy as a gardener. I've grown tomatoes in the past with a lot of success (as measured by getting a lot of tomatoes), but the soil is a lot poorer at my new house, so I'm growing in containers for now. I've made some mistakes, but the tomatoes did great at first. A few weeks ago I noticed that the leaves were curling upward, but I looked around and read mixed things, so I decided not to worry about it unless it got worse. I have two tomato plants this year, and I just picked up some hybrid plants from Bonnie/ Home Depot-- one is a Better Boy, and one (the one in pictures, which has had more trouble) is a Jet Star.

It got worse, and I decided it was likely a sucking insect, so I've been blasting the leaves and stems with hose water. It is removing the wee white things, but not completely (it's been three blasts so far, over two days). I wanted to make sure they are what i think they are; if I am probably going to need to use insecticide to kill them, I'll do it, but I'd rather avoid it if possible because I've seen a lot of beneficial insects around the yard that I don't want to kill by accident.

What do you think?

I have another picture that's farther out, that I'll post in the next one.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

livreosa
Original Author
9 years ago
Here's another picture. If you need different angles or a better picture, let me know. Since the leaves are so curled, I can see the bottom of leaves even from above.
digdirt2
9 years ago
Spider mites are almost invisible to the naked eye so they won't show in any photo unless a macro lens is used. It is the webs they make you can usually see, not the mites unless you use a magnifying glass.

So while you might have spider mites too, I do see an aphid or two in the first pic. And the effect on the leaves is more like aphids than spider mites.

Dave
Related Professionals
Elwood Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Anderson Landscape Contractors · Alpharetta Landscape Contractors · Shirley Landscape Contractors · South Lyon Landscape Contractors · Wilton Landscape Contractors · Cedar Hill General Contractors · Columbus General Contractors · Milton General Contractors · Mira Loma General Contractors · Braintree Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Chicago Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Leander Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Mitchellville Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Oak Ridge Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures
livreosa
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks Dave! I thought spider mites were tiny and hard to see with naked eye, which is why I thought it might not be spider mites after all. I'll look up more information for aphid control. Thank you again!
jean001a
9 years ago
A harsh water spray gets rid of aphids when repeated every several days or as needed.
jerijen
9 years ago
BUT the underside of those leaves has a grainy-webby look, that may well indicate the presence of spider mites.

In any case, Jean is correct about the spray of water. THAT can't hurt anything, so why not just do it? From under the leaves, mind.
livreosa
Original Author
9 years ago
I did notice webs on my other tomato that I didn't show pictures for. I think that the one I showed has a bad aphid problem, and the other one might have a spider mite problem. They are about three feet away from each other with a sidewalk in between, and I've been making sure to spray water AWAY from the other tomato plant so I don't blast the aphids/ spider mites from one to the other. Is that enough distance or should I scoot them further? I've been blasting both since neither one looks "healthy" to me, and I've seen signs of insect plant parasites on both.

I've been spraying the foliage everyday with a firm water jet for the past few days (focusing on the bottoms of the leaves, since that's where the sucking insects tend to... suck). I'll keep it up until most (90%?) of the leaves aren't curled. It's probably still around 50-60% curled right now, but most of the curling is improved with a few days to a great extent.

I might try the diluted soap in a sprayer solution (1 tablespoon in a gallon of water) if it's not getting noticeably better after a few more days. In the future, at least, I'll know the symptoms and treatments.

We had a hot dry stretch, and then we had a rainy week. Oddly, my other plants are looking great (except for the sunflowers), but my tomatoes have been looking worse and worse for maybe 2 weeks. I think I over-fertilized at the start (making them more attractive to aphids), in my ignorance-- I'll be more careful next year.

Thank you for the advice, jerijen, jean, and digdirt. :)

This post was edited by livreosa on Sun, Jun 15, 14 at 0:15