21 Tomato Pests: How To Identify and Prevent Them

The main risk associated with tomato plantations is bugs and pests. Tomatoes can attract many pests and flies, which destroy healthy plants. So it is very important to ensure pest prevention habits rather than treatment.

Tomatoes are one of the delicious and tangy vegetables which can be easily grown at home. There are different varieties of tomatoes.

You can choose to plant any of the varieties as per your requirement. But you need to be careful regarding the pests irrespective of the varieties of tomatoes planted. 

I have discussed 21 pests that tomatoes attract if preventive steps are not taken.

Organic Pest Control Tips

Are you planning to control the tomato pest organically in your garden? You can opt for companion planting and attract predators for tomato pests to control and prevent the risk of pests in your tomato garden.

I would suggest the prevention of pests rather than their treatment. In Fact, having preventive measures rather than treatment is fun.

Companion Planting and biodiversity:

No pest control treatment is as good as companion planting. Your tomatoes would become more resilient if your garden had more plants, predators, and insects. These work best if you are opting to control the pests organically.

Some plants would work as a pest repellent due to their strong smell, and some work to attract pollinators and predators that can eat the tomato pests and protect your tomatoes.

Many plants like basil, garlic, and marigolds suit best as companion plants and prevent your tomatoes from various kinds of pests.

Encourage Predatory Species:

To reduce or prevent bugs, your garden must have predatory species that can eat pests harming your tomatoes. These predators are birds, ladybugs, spiders, lacewings, parasitic wasps, and lizards. Tomato pests are the favorite food of these species.

To attract these creatures of nature, you can plant flowers, vegetables, and herbs to attract them and can grow your tomatoes without any fear of bugs.

Plant your tomatoes in the right place:

Plants can grow and thrive in any situation. But in stressed situations, they are more prone to pests and disease. 

If you choose the plant type according to your climate, soil type, and sun condition, they would be at lesser risk of pests and disease and even thrive well. 

21 Most Common Tomato Plant Pests

I have listed 21 pests that are very commonly attracted to tomatoes. 

If you can primarily figure out what is creating obstacles for your tomatoes, it becomes easy to treat and solve the problem.

Go through the below-discussed common tomato pests and how to identify and prevent your entire plant from them.

Aphids

Aphids, a Sap Sucking insect, cause great distress to tomato plants. They can easily enter any garden at any time.

If left unattended, they can destroy the life of your tomato plants. They are mainly spotted near the growing tips on the stem and leaf of tomato plants. They can easily spread from one plant to another.

You can spread neem oil, insecticidal soap, and horticulture oil on aphids to throw them away from your garden, but the most effective technique is to flush them with hard water steam using a hose. 

In this way, they become totally incapable of returning to your garden again. Aphids hide underneath the leaves, so be sure to use this application underneath the leaves.

You can also go for companion planting, as it is proven to be one of the most effective techniques to get rid of aphids.

Mustard and Nasturtium act as trap plants for aphids. You can also plant other flowers and herbs together to protect your tomatoes from aphids. 

Blister Beetles

Blister Beetles just love tomato plants. They will not only defoliate your tomato plants quickly but can be destructive if not addressed initially. They can harm your tomatoes a bit, but they harm humans more.

These Bright Beetles have bright orange heads which exist around your tomatoes. You need to wear gloves while destroying them compulsorily. They release cantharidin, a blistering agent, while crushing them.

They are found in North America and are most common in the midwest, mid-Atlantic, and south of the US. You can use anchored row covers to treat many Blister Beetles.

If there are fewer Blister Beetles, you can remove them by hand picking (wear gloves while hand picking) and put them in soapy water.

You can also attract birds to your garden as these Blister Beetles are one of their favorite foods.  

Colorado Potato Beetle

Colorado Potato beetles are commonly found in North America. Along with tomatoes, other nightshade family vegetables like eggplants, peppers, and potatoes attract Colorado Potato Beetles.

Their appearance may confuse you and make you pretend to like a ladybug. Their shell has ten spots which distinguish them from ladybugs.

Their larvae cause more damage to the tomato plants and are very hard to spot. They damage the plant differently. If you see leaves only with veins and petioles, try to search for Colorado Potato Beetles.

Just pick them with your hands and put them in soapy water. Even if your tomato loses up to 50 percent of its leaves, you can initially save them by addressing these Colorado Potato Beetles.

They survive in the winter in the soil. If your solid is already infected due to these Colorado Potato Beetles, you should avoid planting any nightshade vegetables, including tomatoes, in that soil.

Potatoes are trap plants for Colorado Potato beetles. Many birds, ladybugs, and lacewings love them as their meal. 

Cutworms

Cutworms belong to the moth caterpillars family living in the soil. They appear to be brown or gray with black or yellow spots. If they catch your tomato plants, they can destroy the whole tomato crop almost overnight.

You can spot them anytime but they secretly work at night and hide in the soil or plant debris, during the day. They attack the plant’s stem and lead them to fall in and die.

You can reduce the risk of cutworms by checking the soil before planting the seedlings inside the soil. You need to dig in the soil where you plan to plant and check for cutworms.

If you trace one cutworm, thoroughly check because there might be more cutworms in that soil.

It would be best to create a barrier by placing a collar around the stem. For that you can put cardboard or aluminum foil and cutworms would be prevented from reaching your tomato plants.

Still, if you cannot get rid of hornworms, you can sprinkle some cornmeal around the plant base, which is enough to destroy them.

Even if this tip is not working, you can hand-pick them and put them in soapy water, which will kill them. 

Flea Beetles

Flea beetles won’t kill your tomatoes but vigorously impact them and make them unhealthy. They are very easy to spot and identify. They are very small in size – 1/10″ and jet black in color. 

Eggplants are more prone to Flea Beetles, so keep your tomatoes away from them.

You can dust diatomaceous earth on the tomato plants and their surrounding soil. But it has one drawback: along with flea beetles, it also kills your pollinators.

So using sticky traps to trap these bugs is a safer option. Planting companion plants like basil and Nasturtium also repels and prevent flea beetles from entering your garden. 

Hornworm

Tomato hornworms are the most dangerous bug for tomatoes. They can even destroy the whole crop in a single day and are commonly spotted in North America and Australia.

They are caterpillars with five spotted hawk moths. Never confuse them with species of butterfly or moth.

They feed the tomato crops continuously and can defoliate the whole plant within a very short span of time. They are hard to spot on the plants because of their green color and appearance.

They get blended with the plants and come out from evening to morning and are rarely spotted during day time.

The main sign of their presence in your garden is when you see some parts of your tomato plants without leaves in the morning.

They can be spotted when they become bigger in size but must have damaged at least some portion of your tomatoes. They mostly stick to the stem and lower surface of the tomato foliage only.

Handpicking is the best way to remove them from your garden. You would definitely not want to touch them. So wear gloves while removing hornworms. They are the best food for chickens. So you can feed these hornworms to your chickens. But you can smash or sink chickens in soapy water if you do not own chickens.

You can also companion your tomatoes with dill, basil, and marigold, which can easily repel hornworms from your garden. 

Leafhoppers

Leafhoppers damage not only your tomatoes but also other vegetables in your garden. They mainly destroy the plant’s foliage. They suck leaf sap which in turn causes leaf curling.

The main concern with leafhoppers is that they transmit pathogens and cause disease, which can spread from one plant to another.

Leafhoppers can be prevented with a large stream of water like aphids, but if you are already facing many insects and pests, opt for row cover to save your tomatoes.

Attracting Birds and predatory insects in your garden can help reduce these leafhoppers. 

Leaf Miners

The tiny Leaf Miners cause severe damage to your tomato plants. Their backs have bright yellow dots. Adult Leaf Miners feed on the leaf, but their larva is more dangerous.

The eggs of female leaf miners are laid beneath the surface of the leaves. The hatched larvae eat inside the leaves, interrupting the plant’s photosynthesis process. Your plant can die if it is spread into the whole plant.

Larvae leave white spots on the leaves so you can easily spot them. If spotted, remove those leaves and start tracing for more infected leaves, if any.

Natural predators like parasitic wasps are needed in your garden to get rid of these larvae. Keep your garden weed free and remove all the debris attracting leaf miners. 

Potato Aphid

Potato aphids, mainly found in the United States, are the largest aphids in the aphid family. They are more prone to potatoes and tomatoes. The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region is more impacted due to potato aphids.

Mostly they appear to be pale pink in color, but they are also found to be green. New or young leaves are generally attacked by them and resulting in downward leaf curling. It targets to drop the blossoms of the tomato or creates fruit deformities.

Hard spray water on the aphids to remove them. But some of them have wings, and again they can return to the plants. So it is better to attract ladybugs, lacewings, and parasitic wasps. 

Psyllids

Psyllids, migrating insect that looks like small aphids, survives in warm weather. Their existence in your garden won’t stress you that much.

They are too tiny to be spotted, but you can understand their presence due to their excretory wax-covered pellets on the leaves called psyllid sugar if they are left undisturbed due to the wind.

Their saliva damages the foliage of the plant, and the foliage turns yellow in color. This is the first sign of damage due to psyllids.

If you do not want to use pesticides, you must attract predatory insects in your garden, like spiders, damsel bugs, and minute pirate bugs.

You can also prey on adult psyllids with sticky paper, but dealing with nymphs already on the plant won’t be effective. 

RootKnot Nematodes

RootKnot Nematodes are tiny worms that directly impact the roots of tomato plants. They cause lumpy swelling on roots, leaves turn yellow and wilt, and the plant’s growth is compromised.

As it directly impacts the root of the plant, the roots become inefficient in delivering the required nutrients and water to the plant’s leaves, fruits, and flowers.

They can spread very quickly and are transmitted into the soil through garden tools, equipment, boots, or gloves.

So it is important to sanitize your garden tools afterward and while they are used. Wash your gloves and boots, and clean contaminated pots with bleach solution.

If you notice any plant or soil infected due to Nematodes, remove them immediately, as they cannot be treated at all. Do not use the infected plant as mulch or compost, or else it will simply spread to infected plants throughout your whole garden.

If your garden soil is totally infected due to this, you can plant marigolds profusely. When they bloom, dig them into the soil and let them decompose.

After the decomposition of marigold flowers in the soil, one chemical is released, which nematodes are not resistant to. You can also choose the tomato variety, which is resistant to nematodes. 

Slugs & Snails

Slugs & Snails are common in a healthy ecosystem. If they increase in number, they can cause serious health issues to your tobacco and tomato plants, and even destroy your garden.

In order to protect your tomato plant and avoid excessive damage to your plant and garden, slug & Snail pollution needs to be controlled.

You can attract predators like birds, frogs, lizards, and small mammals in your garden, as Slugs & Snails are among their favorite foods.

If you cannot attract these predators, remove them from your garden by handpicking them or try a beer trap. But please be informed that it is only a temporary solution; you need to balance their population.

Fill a dish or shallow tray with beer to make a beer trap, and keep it at soil level beside your tomato plants. Automatically, they would be attracted to this beer trap and die after sinking in it. 

Spider Mites

Spider mites are common in all types of climates but are mostly spotted in hot, dry climates. They come in very large clusters and settle in the leaves underneath.

If you see webbing around leaves and plant stems, it indicates the presence of spider mites.

Hardly any spray is efficient in destroying these spider mites. But if ice water is spread on it, it can leave your garden.

Refrigerate cold water spray and mist the leaves twice daily until they leave your plant. 

Stalk Borer

Stalk borer, as the name suggests, enjoys and loves to bore into leaves and stems, resulting in the plants’ wilting and dying. They function similarly to vine borers.

The holes are too small to trace, but you will realize their presence if caterpillars are spotted on the plant’s surface. They are easy to spot and appear to be purple in color. They have cream stripes with purple bands on its body.

Unfortunately, there is no treatment for the affected plants. You need to pull the infected plant and decompose them.

Never compost or use them as mulch. Control weeds and mulch your plants as a preventive measure. 

Stink Bugs

Stink bugs are newly introduced to the USA, but nowadays, they are very common everywhere. Mostly they are spotted at the end of the summer.

The stink bugs do not damage leaves and stems but love eating immature fruits. It may result in the early fall of the fruit and wrinkles.

You can remove them only by hand picking and putting them in soapy water. You should use hand gloves if you are unwilling to touch them barehanded. Ensure you won’t flick on other tomato plants in your garden.

Attract birds in your garden that are the best predators of stink bugs. Plant companion plants like marigolds, garlic, and lavender which can trap these stink bugs and save your tomato plants from them. 

Tarnished Plant Bugs

Tarnished Plant bugs are tiny pests ¼ ft in size and are brown in color with yellow, bronze, or reddish marks. They suck the stem, leaf, flower, and fruit sap.

Along with tomatoes, they are spread to nightshade family plants like peppers and eggplants, including strawberries, lettuce, and other fruit trees.

Though they are tiny in size, they leave distinctive damage on the fruits. Black spots on leaves and stem and cloudy spots on matured tomatoes are created. It also changes the shape of tomatoes and seems like catfacing on growing tomatoes.

You can get rid of these pests during the growing season. You can plant companion flower plants that attract predators insect pests like damsels and pirate bugs and repel harmful pests and insects. You can plant dandelion, chickweed, wild mustard, etc., to eliminate harmful pests.

You can protect your smaller plants with a row cover, but it won’t be effective for large plants.

If you have already identified tarnished plant bugs in your garden, you can spray kaolin clay which prevents them from laying eggs. Garlic spray also helps reduce them.

Thrips

Thrips are very small, but they can damage your plant quickly if they remain unattended. It can damage tomato plants differently and attack seedlings before they are hardened. They eat the very young plants, blossoms, new stems, and foliage.

This results in a loss of effort in the plant to grow and develop. But the main problem is associated with the spread of the wilt virus, which can even destroy your whole garden.

Unfortunately, it does not have any treatment. So it is better to take preventive steps to control the thrips.

Choose to plant companion plants like Yarrow, Queen Ann’s lace, coriander, and dill, which can attract ladybugs and many predators which can eat thrips. Ensure to control the weeds, and you will never come across thrips. 

Tomato Fruit Worms

Tomato Fruit Worms are also known as corn earworms and are very harmful to the tomato plant. They especially attack corn, tomatoes, and peppers, and it is very simple for them to jump the species. 

The adult tomato fruit worms can damage 3-4 tomatoes in one go. They lay eggs on the new leaves, which are near to fruits.

After the egg hatches, they are prepared to make holes in the fruits and begin to feed the foliage.

You can rarely spot the larvae so it is best to remove the eggs or worms by handpicking them.

Attract natural predators in your garden, and they would better help you to get rid of tomato fruit worms. It is one of the best foods for Pirate bugs and certain species of wasps. 

Please dispose of all the fruits infested by tomato fruit worms; otherwise, they may spread rapidly. 

Tortoise Beetles

Tortoise Beetles are commonly spotted on the underside of tomato leaves. They won’t harm your tomatoes much until they are high in number. Thus even if single Tortoise Beetles are spotted, check the whole plant.

You can handpick them and relocate them to the area of the undesirable weed if spotted. They are beneficial pests in that environment. 

Whitefly

Whiteflies are very small in appearance and almost like aphids. They mainly impact indoor and greenhouse tomatoes.

They can be treated similarly to aphids. Predators insects like ladybugs and cold water spray under the leaves help reduce the whiteflies.

Large numbers of whiteflies can be suffocated and reduced with the help of horticulture oil at any stage of their life. 

Wireworms

Wireworms are the larva of various click beetles and are spotted in the USA. They destroy the plant by eating germinating seeds, bulbs, tubers, and young roots and sometimes make tunnels in the stem of the plants too.

It can lead to wilting and killing of the baby or young tomato plants. Wireworms can be spread in large numbers in uncultivated new soil. To get rid of wireworms, cultivate the soil at least 6-8″.

As a result, they would not be able to lay eggs and are exposed to predators to be eaten. While creating a new garden, take all the possible measures to attract the birds in your garden.

Birdbaths and bird feeders can be effective for this. As and when the birds are attracted, they would do their job and eat all the harmful pests.

Wireworms can also be trapped with the help of potatoes. Cut the potato into two pieces, dig one stick in it, and then bury the same stick into the soil and leave.

Pull that potato after some days and dispose of all the attracted wireworms. Later wash the potato and repeat the process. 

Summary

Many pests love to feed on tomato plants, which damages the plant. Attracting predators and birds to eliminate pests and harmful insects is very important.

Do research and plant companion plants for your tomatoes so that favorable pests, insects, and predators get attracted to your garden. And this biodiverse ecosystem would definitely be flaunted with healthy tomato crops.