Here is some information on it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomtao bug IPM

Hi Kevin!

Those tomato bugs finally made their way into my garden. They are all over my tomatoes. Mostly at the tips right by the flowers. The plants are about 5feet tall, are still looking really good but have not produced a SINGLE tomato yet! They flower like crazy but drop all of them before the could even think about becoming little tomatoes...

Did you find a way to handle those suckers?

Olga

I just dug those tomato plants out and buried them in the garden, as the only thing I could think of: a mix of soapy water and jojoba oil didn't harm the bugs at all and I didn't seem to be able to win the fight. There where SO many bugs on these huge and healthy plants. I collected a few adult bugs and nymphs and sprayed them with my soap and oil mix but they didn't mind it at all and kept running around after they had cleaned the spray off their bodies. Obviously the adults survived when I trashed the plants as they can fly and now I found them all over my new little tomato plants in the garden, when they are only supposed to become a pest late in the season and it's just february... So I am starting the fight early this year and would appreciate any ideas.

For now I am spraying the plants twice a week with a stronger solution of soapy water. I use 1Tbsp Dr. Bronners to a quart of water and rinse it off after 30mins. Apparently soapy water kills Lysus bug nymphs, so contrary to what I observed last year, it should kill the tomato bug nymphs too. That's why I'm trying a stronger solution this time and hope for it to kill the younger nymphs? Although it makes me feel like a weirdo I also vacuum those plants to get the adults. From what I read they lay their eggs into the plant tissue, so I can't try and get those.

Any other suggestions? I would love to eat at least a few tomatoes this year!

Olga

Apparently these bugs are becomming a pest to commercial growers too now, so there will probably be research on them soon:

http://ucanr.edu/blogs/strawberries-vegetables/index.cfm?tagname=Tomato%20bug

Also, there appear to be different names for the same bug, that has actually been considered a beneficial insect under the name of Nesidiocoris tenuis and been used for controlling white flies so far:

http://today.agrilife.org/2015/09/14/tomato-bug-invades-south-texas/

These sources recommend Pyganic+OroBoost or pyrethroids...

Hm, would growing chrysanthemum help anything then???

I'm still fighting the tomato suck bug aka . My tomatoes are starting to drop their blossoms again because I can't seem to keep them in check anymore. Has anybody had some luck with anything against these bugs?

I'm in Honolulu and having the same exact Cyrtopeltis-modesta problems as described above. I've tried killing them with a high-pH baking-soda/water/soap mixture, with homemade garlic-mint spray, with neem oil, and with diatomaceous earth. They don't mind any of it.

Last night, I clipped all the flowers (since they're going to drop anyway). This morning I spotted many eggs and 1st-instar insects on the shoots (apical meristems), so I cut all those off as well. In the process, I discovered that they're slow enough to catch and kill with your fingers, so I smashed hundreds of them.

Tonight, I will try my neighbor's suggestion, which is tobacco water. I will continue to catch and kill every one that I spot on a daily basis until I get in under control. I might also try hanging a yellow sticky trap as it seems others have had success with this.

Looking forward to posting an update.

I am still very interested in this topic. Last year I tried controlling those bugs with soapy water, horticultural oil, vacuuming and squishing them and only got about a hand full of tomatoes until I gave in late in the season and sprayed the plants with cyfluthrin, a pyretroid. Growing food and plants in general organically has always been very important to me, but I didn't want to give up on harvesting tomatoes altogether. I had actually given up on that year already and had cut the tomatoes back heavily and was just going to spray the last load of tomatoes before they would go in the trash so that the bugs wouldn't survive and damage next years tomatoes. I didn't get around pulling them after spraying, though and I actually harvested a ton of tomatoes after that. So if I remember it correctly, I only needed to spray once and so far, I haven't seen a single suck bug this season either. I would still like to find a better solution, since I would MUCH rather grow organically!

I don't have any experience with sticky traps, but wonder if those wouldn't be harmful for the bees pollinating the tomatoes just as much as for the bugs? If so, the pyretroids may be a better option. I sprayed in the evening and there where no flowers on the plants left, since I had cut them back before spraying. The effect on bees shouldn't be too bad that way?

Last year I couldn't identify these little bugs, just watched them suck the juices from my cherry tomatoes, hundreds of them on one plant. I never sprayed or washed them off, as I couldn't decide if they were actually harming my plant. I'm in zone 5b CO, my tomatoes reached over 8 foot tall, and gave me more than I could give away even with all the little bugs. When I planted my toms, I put an egg under each one, along with some miccorhizal powder, I planted a variety of basil at the base of my tomatoes, I have no idea if that helped, but I didn't notice any damage besides almost every tomato had one or more little pin prick spots where they had helped themselves. I didn't have die off or blossoms falling off. I've read that they can be predators for other baddies, so maybe they had enough diversity that they didnt destroy my plants? I let some parts of my small urban space go wild with weeds and long grass to harbor beneficials, like I said though, there were hundreds of them on one plant and they didn't seem to be getting attacked by anything, I mean they seem barely scared of me when I brush them off the plant when its time to harvest. 🤣

For the past three years I been trying to kill these suck bugs . I tried every thing . I tried solutions of peroxide , alcohol , neem oil , safer products , nothing bothers them. They wreck my heirloom tomato and even my cannabis. I gotta go out at night with a commercial Q- tip with a dab of tangle foot for a few of them . End of last season I bought some organic Pyretherin . It seemed to work on the bugs , I'm trying this this summer.

Don't use poison on them, just go out and squish them!

Nancyjane

These are no ordinary bug . If you try to touch it , they run behind the stem they been feeding on to avoid you . Get even closer , and they fall below to escape. I like Organic gardening, I'll try the pyrethryn this summer. I hope your garden is free of these pests.