I'm not an expert, but it looks like you have leaf miners

hey, thanks! i think youre right (after some googling)

there have been alot of flies around my house recently.. i bought a truckload of topsoil for a landscaping project i did in the frontyard.. and what was leftover is what i used to mix up my soil for my containers (looking back, i would never have done that, but this is my first time, dont kill me!)

i'm off to lowe's to buy insecticide... thanks again

The leafminers may not be a threat to tomato development, insecticide may be unnecessary. Suggest you read up on gardening and insects a bit.
-O

You don't need to spray your plants with anything. Sometimes it can cause more harm than good.

Take the time to learn that there is not a "cure all" for every pest at every stage of it's life cycle. Some won't work if it's going to rain. Some don't work well if it's too hot, etc.

Pest management is complex, if you wish to use chemical products, do so responsibly which goes further than reading the label. If you want to learn, a good place to start is here:

Integrated Pest Management
This lecture is presented in two parts. Each part is 90-minutes in length. Recorded in Sacramento County in California's Sacramento Valley, this lecture is by Mary Louise Flint, Ph.D., Director, IPM Education and Publications, UC Statewide IPM Project and Extension Entomologist & Cooperative Extension Specialist.

Education:
B.S. Plant Science, University of California, Davis
Ph.D. Entomology, University of California, Berkeley

Appointment:
100% Cooperative Extension

Research Interests:
Integrated pest management of landscape, agricultural and garden pests; biological control of arthropod pests; alternatives to pesticides; adoption of alternative practices by practitioners; innovative delivery of pest management information.

Topics discussed in the Integrated Pest Management Lecture:

* IPM references and resources
* Preventing pest problems
* Natural common enemies
* Making less toxic pesticide choices
* Controlling aphids, scales, caterpillars, coddling moths, tree borers, snails and slugs, and lawn insects.

You can watch the programs now online:

Just make sure you have Real Player installed or download it free.

Integrated Pest Management Part1 90 minutes

Integrated Pest Management Part 2 90 minutes

You'll want to bookmark the following link to Professor Flint's Lab Research on:
Controlling Pests in Gardens and Landscapes: Vegetables and Melons

I promise you'll learn one or two things to put in your gardening bag of pest management arsenals.

;)

wow, thanks!

Hi there! I'm also growing my first ones and I had leafminers on my 2 tomatoes too.

I snipped off all the leaves that had damage. The plant with the worst of it? I replanted in a trench figuring since I took off leaves, it may as well get a change to kick out more roots. It has since almost caught up in height to the other one and it is filling out leaf-wise.

I also sprayed with soapy water in the evening to discourage adults from laying more eggs in my leaves. Can do much about the ones inside the leaves. Eventually they tunnel out and leave. It's a 2-3 week life cycle. I have a plastic mulch down so if I see any bugs on the plastic I can pick them off.

The plants seem to have outgrown the leaf miner problem, but now I battle armyworms -- found two chomping at my lower leaves this week. Flicked them off and stepped on them.

But all in all, my container tomatoes are doing ok. Try not to worry too much if some leaves get a little damage. Just do your best to encourage growth and the plant should get big enough to take it.

Hang in there!

{{gwi:75518}}

HTH!
V.