How to deal with pests of tomato seedlings

Seedlings of tomatoes during the period of active growth are prone to pests and diseases. Pests of tomato seedlings can damage the root system of the future bush and its upper green part. Timely cleaning of seedlings is carried out using purchased or made home-made products.

Pest control of tomato seedlings

To prevent tomato pests from destroying the future crop, preventive measures must be taken y and strengthen the seeds before planting in open ground or in a greenhouse.

Characteristics of pests

Diseases and pests of tomatoes directly depend on the variety of the selected crop and the soil in which it is planted Insects and pests are divided into 2 types:

• those that eat the root of tomato seedlings (underground part of the bush);
• those that eat flowers, stems and leaves.

Pests of tomato seedlings and methods of dealing with them depend on the time of planting seedlings: if a crop is planted in a greenhouse in the cold season, there is a danger insects eating the ground part of the bush. Insects and bugs that eat roots are dangerous for tomatoes on the open ground.

Pests feed on plant sap, its green part, or fruit. Depending on the type of insects or beetles, the leaves fade or the rot rot. Treatment methods are determined by the type of pest and are used to treat neighboring healthy crops.

Bear in seedlings

Bear insects are relatives of locusts.

The bear has a well-developed front part of the body, which allows the pest to rake the soil. The length of the insect is no more than 10 cm, the body color is brown or dark brown.

For tomatoes, both adult individuals and small larvae are dangerous. The main goal of the bear is the root system, which the insect eats up for weeks until the bush is completely destroyed. The pest is found only in open ground, and it cannot be found in the greenhouse.

Control methods

Fighting with a bear involves processing the entire land.

Spraying only tomato seedlings bushes is ineffective. For processing, granular agents are used, which, unlike chemicals, do not affect the quality of the soil. Popular drugs against the bear:

• “Granule”;
• “Medvetoks”;
• “Force”.

The fight with the bear begins with loosening of the soil (upper layers of 1-2 cm). Granules of the drug are buried in the soil and sprinkled with earth.The pest will easily find the granules, but they will not be eaten by pets or animals.

To combat the bear, folk remedies are used: the insect is repelled by strong odors. During planting seedlings in open ground around the beds buried garlic or bulbs (in extreme cases, stale meat or fish). Such ingredients will not affect the well-being of people, but will scare away the bear.

Traps are used to catch a large number of locusts. To do this, mix rotted manure with purchased baits. From home remedies, beer or sunflower oil is suitable.

Colorado potato beetle

Pests of tomatoes are Colorado potato beetle, which can be found in the garden and in the greenhouse.

Eating seedlings begins with the appearance of the first green leaves on the stem.

Beetles appear from bright orange larvae. For tomatoes, both adults and their eggs are dangerous. More often larvae eat the foliage, but the beetles eat leafy vegetables only at the end of summer.

Fight the beetle

The tops of tomatoes are mechanically removed from the Colorado potato beetle.

Specialized insecticides are suitable for mass processing of land. Such products protect the plant from pests until harvest.

Colorado potato beetle larvae damage plants

Insecticide treatment is carried out in neighboring cultures: the Colorado potato beetle loves eggplant tops and potatoes, and if you only collect beetle larvae, adults will produce offspring again. Only an integrated approach will solve the problem.

Garden scoop

The control of dangerous tomato pests begins in early spring when preparing the soil for seedlings.

Caterpillars are common pests. Tomato leaves suffer from the scoop, but it rarely gets to the roots. Gradually, the plant turns into a “sieve”, and the bush fades. Once inside the stem, the scoop completely destroys the seedlings.

The scoop grows up to 3 cm in length. The first generation of caterpillars develops on weeds, therefore, they are first of all disposed of. Larvae multiply rapidly and survive even in adverse conditions.

Pest control

In cases of spread of the larvae of the caterpillar, the use of insecticides is necessary.

Dry leaves should be sprayed at an ambient temperature below 20 ° C. For spraying seedlings, Arrivo or Decis, a purchased insecticide safe for humans, is useful.

Folk remedies will help get rid of a dangerous caterpillar: to prepare a home-made solution you will need grated dry soap, blooming wormwood and wood ash. All components of the product are thoroughly mixed and poured 10 liters of pure boiling water. The mixture should stand at least 6-10 hours. With a ready-made remedy, you can spray the whole seedlings of tomatoes and neighboring crops.

Tomato wireworms

Wireworms are dangerous for tomato seedlings. The fight against them begins in the spring before planting seedlings. A worm that harms tomatoes appears from the larva of common nutcracker beetles. The pest has a thick peel of light brown color.

Wireworms feed on the roots of seedlings. Such actions of pests leads to rotting of the stem of the bushes. Over time, the seedlings die, and the wireworm moves to a neighboring culture.

Pest control

The methods for controlling wireworm and May beetle, which often harms the measles fence system, are the same . Mechanical treatment will help to remove most of the larvae and worms:

• Manually from the soil (upper layers), larvae and healthy individuals are removed.
• It is necessary to treat the soil around the roots of seedlings with folk remedies containing urea and dry base: sawdust or straw.
• Bring birds or toads to the land. So it will be possible to defeat the wireworms with biological methods.
• Next to the seedlings, cabbage and radishes are planted, which scare away the worms.
• Additional means fertilize the soil before planting seedlings: shredded leaves and humus are added.

The selected methods do not exclude the processing of seedlings with chemical agents. To combat wireworms, wide and narrow spectrum insecticides are used. Processing of beds in the open ground is carried out using the “Anti-Crush” and “Rembek”.

The product is diluted with water: 10 l of purified water is used per bag of insecticide. environmental conditions above 25 ° C.

Diseases of seedlings

Diseases and pests are two problems that equally harm seedlings. Insects carry fungal spores from one crop to another. . For tomatoes, late blight is the most dangerous. The treatment of the disease consists in treating the seedlings with vitriol or iron oxide.

To protect the seedlings from the disease, the seeds of future seedlings are soaked in solutions that strengthen the immunity of the seeds. These drugs include “Fitosporin”: it is suitable for processing crops during the invasion of pests.