Aphids are small and soft pests. It’s no bigger than a grain of rice! Its color is different: from pale green to plain black. It is mainly common black with white aphid villi. Usually the name of the insect coincides with the plant that it kills: tomato, cucumber and so on. Now we are interested in just aphids on tomatoes. We will look at several ways to deal with it.
How aphids harm tomatoes
It destroys some garden plants completely, and for some it only spoils the bush, allowing the fruit to grow quietly. Tomatoes belong to the last group. Aphids on tomatoes are the number one pest for any gardener! She attacks greenhouse and ground tomatoes, as well as seedlings and adult bushes.
First of all, aphids on tomatoes hit the underside of the leaf, especially if it is still young. The pest multiplies at lightning speed, sucking out all the juices from tomatoes and releasing a special sticky liquid that attracts ants. The number of pests is growing - tomato leaves are deformed and die. In principle, if the tomatoes are already ripe by this time, then they will not suffer. They can only become covered with sticky honey dew secreted by aphids. But this is not scary, because it is easily washed off. However, if the insect hit the tomatoes before they ripen, the fruits are very likely to deform. Oh, this aphid on tomatoes! How to deal with it - read on!
Fighting parasites
There are two effective methods to deal with this pest on tomatoes. Each of them is purely individual and depends on the number of insects on the bushes!
Attack!
The easiest way is a mechanical fight against aphids. You just need to crush the insects or try to knock off tomato bushes with a stream of water from a hose!
The fight against aphids on tomatoes with chemicals
Use such proven "chemistry" as the drugs "Aktafit" or "Aktara." Be sure to read the instructions - it contains information about what dosage and how to calculate. These drugs perfectly kill parasites both on tomato seedlings and on already mature tomato bushes. By the way, the leaves of the latter must certainly be sprayed only from the bottom! Processing plants is carried out regardless of their age - three times with weekly interruptions (exactly so many days the larvae need to mature).
Prevention
Remember, aphids on tomatoes, like any other parasite, can not stand pungent odors. That is why preventive measures to combat this pest include planting onions and garlic - plants that are not susceptible to attack by aphids. Plant them next to tomatoes or other plants that you want to protect from the invasion of this insect.
Another preventive measure is the careful use of nitrogen fertilizer. The fact is that the
nitrogen fertilizers needed to bait plants give young green shoots that are very attractive to aphids. Do not abuse these baits!