Controlling Potato Bugs and Tomato Worms Organically in the Garden

Courtney
by Courtney
Easy
Tomato worms destroying your crop of tomato plants? Potato bugs attacking your potatoes? I've recently waged a battle on both of these and have come out on top!
Potato bugs and tomato worms (aka tobacco worms) can be the bane of any organic gardener’s existence. Tomato worms can dessicate your entire tomato or potato crop in one night! Potato bugs make quick work of your potato plants in a very short time as well.
Here is a group of young potato bugs chowing down on my red potatoes.
This pitiful plant was the victim of both potato bugs AND a very large tomato worm.
A half eaten green tomato – tomato worms don’t just eat your plants – they eat the tomatoes too, and most of the time do it all in one night!
I finally successfully erradicated my garden of both of these pesky pests using two different techniques: an organic spray to deter them and also by hand-picking the existing predators.
Courtney
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Samantha Burris Samantha Burris on Oct 17, 2016
    Those colorado beetles are fierce indeed. They will create a mess in no time. It's recommended that potato beetles are picked off by hand once infestation is light and gardeners can also opt for using beneficial insects. However, when the infestation is severe, gardeners need to take more drastic measures. Source: http://www.onlinepestcontrol.com/colorado-pot...
  • Lynn Sorrell Lynn Sorrell on Apr 26, 2019

    those are LADY beetles/bugs(3-4 varieties) they eat pests you do not want in garden aphids spider mites. Potato Bugs...A potato bug, sometimes referred to as a Jerusalem Cricket or Child of the Earth, is a small several inch long insect found in organic material ...Potato Beetles have 3 lines on their backs. A single horn worm caterpillar /Sphinx Moth can wipe out a tomato patch in just 2 days.

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