Tomatoe question

Autodoctor

Autodoctor

Well-Known Member
First time growing tomatoes. All the first tomatoes were fine and now all the tomatoes are doing this and or looks like their splitting. Don’t have picture of those. Not sure if from heat or bugs but also did see a bug that appeared to look like a small stink bug or something. Haven’t seen bugs at day time so I looked during dark time and seen one at night on a tomatoe but unable to get a picture of it but looks like what I goggled. Am I able to just put like sevens dust to resolve this
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T

threepercent

Member
Those are definitely stinkbugs, though. Real pests. I use various insecticides at various times during the season to keep insects down.
Spectracide, Sevin Dust, Neem oil, Bacillus thuringion, insecticidal soaps.... Some people don't like insecticides, whether natural or chemical...Personally, I'm not growing to feed insects. Zero tolerance.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
threepercent said:
Those are definitely stinkbugs, though. Real pests. I use various insecticides at various times during the season to keep insects down.
Spectracide, Sevin Dust, Neem oil, Bacillus thuringion, insecticidal soaps.... Some people don't like insecticides, whether natural or chemical...Personally, I'm not growing to feed insects. Zero tolerance.
Click to expand...
Some of us are growing to feed ourselves and would prefer not to use poisons on our food. Sesame oil and citric acid will kill and control the bad bugs when used strategically and won't harm beneficials like bees or earthworms. Carbaryl the active ingredient in Sevin is nasty stuff. It is highly toxic to bees and earthworms. I would never use that in my garden.
 
T

threepercent

Member
xtsho said:
Some of us are growing to feed ourselves and would prefer not to use poisons on our food. Sesame oil and citric acid will kill and control the bad bugs when used strategically and won't harm beneficials like bees or earthworms. Carbaryl the active ingredient in Sevin is nasty stuff. It is highly toxic to bees and earthworms. I would never use that in my garden.
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yeah..ok..well, I wash my food before I eat it...and yes...some pesticides can be bad for insects...They are only used at certain times and in certain ways...I'm not going to cry over a few ladybugs or praying mantises if they accidentally fall victim...grashhoppers, leafhoppers, stinkbugs, caterpillars, etc can and WILL decimate an entire crop if left to themselves
I live on 50 acres, including a 9 acre pasture though...please explain to me some more about growing food....
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
threepercent said:
yeah..ok..well, I wash my food before I eat it...and yes...some pesticides can be bad for insects...They are only used at certain times and in certain ways...I'm not going to cry over a few ladybugs or praying mantises if they accidentally fall victim...grashhoppers, leafhoppers, stinkbugs, caterpillars, etc can and WILL decimate an entire crop if left to themselves
I live on 50 acres, including a 9 acre pasture though...please explain to me some more about growing food....
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There are farms much larger than 50 acres that don't use toxic pesticides that are able to control various bugs using other methods.

You seem to have taken my post as a personal attack. It wasn't.

And yes I'll cry over some dead beneficials. We're destroying the ecosystem with this reliance on toxins. So many people are using them indiscriminately without a care in the world as to their long term effects. In another decade when the bee population completely collapses it won't matter. Everyone should be concerned and do whatever is in their power to mitigate the decline. But it's your land to do with as you will. I'll keep my small garden plot a poison free area. It's all I can do and I'm doing it.
 
T

threepercent

Member
xtsho said:
There are farms much larger than 50 acres that don't use toxic pesticides that are able to control various bugs using other methods.

You seem to have taken my post as a personal attack. It wasn't.

And yes I'll cry over some dead beneficials. We're destroying the ecosystem with this reliance on toxins. So many people are using them indiscriminately without a care in the world as to their long term effects. In another decade when the bee population completely collapses it won't matter. Everyone should be concerned and do whatever is in their power to mitigate the decline. But it's your land to do with as you will. I'll keep my small garden plot a poison free area. It's all I can do and I'm doing it.
Click to expand...
Right...I don't grow to feed insects. My 50 acres will just have to try to bounce back from all the "poison"...
 
Autodoctor

Autodoctor

Well-Known Member
I didn’t want this thread to become toxic. I’m up to any means preferably not toxic. Sevens dust is all I ever heard about. Just hate every tomatoe I pick is ruined and I hate really using any chemicals and almost rather just chop her down. So I’m up for any means to try. Also if the splitting is because of the bugs or Texas heat. Some have holes others look like their split and about to burst kinda look
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
What is in those photos was not caused by those bugs. If you have tomatoes with holes in them that's something different than what you posted.


extension.unh.edu

Growing Vegetables: Managing Blossom End-Rot [fact sheet]

Blossom-end rot (BER) is a disorder that commonly affects tomato, pepper and squash. Symptoms are caused by the death of a group of cells in the young expanding fruit. Initially, symptoms appear as a water-soaked area that becomes a dark brown or black dr
extension.unh.edu extension.unh.edu





extension.umd.edu

Blossom End Rot on Vegetables | University of Maryland Extension

Blossom-end rot is a common nutritional disorder of tomato, pepper, eggplant, pumpkin, squash, and watermelon that is caused by a shortage of calcium in enlarging fruits.
extension.umd.edu extension.umd.edu

 
Autodoctor

Autodoctor

Well-Known Member
Think I found the issue. They are actually growing in a five gln bucket with grow bucket inside. So looks like I have 2 diff things going on
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C. Nesbitt

C. Nesbitt

Well-Known Member
Mainly gonna stay out of the poisons discussion other than to say my parents used sevin, malathion ,etc. 30-40 years ago but I chose not to today. I manage to deal with bugs, slugs and other pests without having to resort to those things but YMMV.

Biggest issue this year is squirrels biting the tomatoes. Little bastards take a single bite then move on to another fruit. A pellet gun would solve that, but my wife strongly disapproves of such tactics.

BER looks like what you are dealing with mainly. Tomatoes like consistent watering, not too much, not too little otherwise they get BER and/or splits. I’ve found that is exceeding hard to grow tomatoes in 5 gallon pots. Those just dry out too fast on hot days.
 
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