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White bugs/ residue on tomatoes

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Posted by rbreedi1 Tennessee Zone 7b (My Page) on
Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 19:03

Noticed this has started showing up in my garden on the tomatoes and squash. There is patches of white stuff and little white bugs in it. What is it and what should be done? Thanks!

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RE: White bugs/ residue on tomatoes

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  • Posted by yolos 8A Georgia (My Page) on
    Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 23:09

I have the exact same thing on the stems of my pole bean plants. I went to bugguide.net and I think they are white flies. Would someone else confirm this. Also, what to use to get ride of the insects.

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RE: White bugs/ residue on tomatoes

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Not whiteflies.

If they move/hop, perhaps flattid leafhoppers?

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RE: White bugs/ residue on tomatoes

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They do move and jump

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RE: White bugs/ residue on tomatoes

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They do move and jump

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RE: White bugs/ residue on tomatoes

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Anyone else? Here is another pic. Lots of small white bugs on this stem.

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RE: White bugs/ residue on tomatoes

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Hmmm. Having a bad time trying to locate info for you.

Suggest contacting your county's Extension Service office, then please let us know what you learned..
Find the office with this map:
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/

Here is a link that might be useful: locate your county's Extension Service office

This post was edited by jean001a on Wed, Jun 25, 14 at 0:48

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RE: White bugs/ residue on tomatoes

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I also get this a lot. It's some kind of scale, I think (not regular cottony-cushion, though). I do know that it will kill the plants if left unchecked, at least it does here. It's the only thing that will kill tough natives like wild purslane and wild periwinkle in this area.

Touching it lightly with an alcohol-dipped swab will get rid of it. Safer soap also helps some, but not so much once they've really gotten going.

EDIT Just to clarify, I mean touch the insects, not the plant. You can save some time by knocking most of them off into soapy water, then just doing the determined ones and the webby stuff.

This post was edited by conchitaFL on Wed, Jun 25, 14 at 10:53

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RE: White bugs/ residue on tomatoes

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Mealy bugs?

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Yes, the second picture looks more like regular mealy bugs, but the white stuff in the first picture usually only has one or two insects in it (at least around here) and AFAIK ordinary mealy bugs don't spin that kind of stuff, just cluster in great quantities so that it can give a similar impression till you look more closely.

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I agree that they are likely Flatid Planthoppers.....I don't think that they are woolly aphids. The descriptions and images don't compare to whitefly or scale insects.

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Interesting. Yes I completely agree that the white stuff looks like the colony mass for Flatid Planthoppers, but I've never seen anything like the pictures of the adult insects or the spikier instars on my own plants, but the insects in rbeedi's second photo surely do look like the adult planthoppers.

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After doing some research online, the flatid planthopper looks like a very possible suspect. I have submitted some information and pictures to the local extension service as well to see what they say. They dont seem to be doing any damage to the plants. I sprayed some water on them last night and all the white stuff came off and white bugs went hopping in all directions.

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