Here are some pictures of my bell pepper and tomato plants. (Top is tomato)The tomatoes are producing although the lower leaves tend to yellow and wilt there are bites out of the leaves. My pepper plants can't catch a break and I think they're stunted. Something keeps eating them to shreds. I've put out slug bait, DE, sprayed the leaves with oil and water and essential oils like peppermint. If I could at least know what is causing this I can work on remedies. I should probably mention I live in South Texas where it's hot and muggy already, and lots of pests. Also, could this be the work of flies??
Looks like grasshoppers to me. They have been hitting a few of my plants but they are tiny right now. Found one today on my spinach about 3/8 inch long. Don`t use oils on leaves,,plain old dish soap is a better surfactant. Are you growing organically ?? If so go to the dollar store and get Sergeants flea and tick spray for cats. The active ingredient is pyrethrin which is made from Chrysanthemums and is approved for organics. Mix about an ounce or two in a sprayer with a pint of water (amount of water is not important) just do not want it too weak. Spray the plants weekly or as needed !! No matter what the pest is,, this should take care of them. Not sure about the tomato,, could be early blight. If so there is not much to fix the problem. It will still produce tomatoes but will not be as long lived as normal. I would remove all the yellowed leaves and throw them in the trash can, Then spray the plant with an anti-fungal ( can just use betadine and water) no need to spend a fortune on stuff. Start spraying from ground up, stems and leaves. Thats really all you can do. They just will not make as many tomatoes as normal. I have a touch of it on a few of mine. Same yellow spotted leaves starting from ground up. Hard to say because if improper sunlight tomato plants will normally shed bottom leaves. I would spray it anyway,, if it doesn`t help,it isn`t going to hurt.
I was wondering if you have had hail? that is what the pepper plant looks like to me. The tomato... maybe not, but go ahead and break off each of the leaves that are yucky looking and then... all of the stems from ground level to about a foot off the ground. Rainwater that splashes up from the garden soil can deposit virus and fungus spores onto the leaf surface and kill the plant eventually. It also creates better airflow around the plant helping to keep the leaves dryer.
Great advice thank you. I will start from there. We have not had hail but tons and tons and tons of rain. Grasshoppers may be eating my plants I have spotted a couple small ones. Thank you! The other problem I'm having is fungus and mildew in the garden from all the rain. It's been crazy this year in the Houston area as I'm sure you've seen on the news.
Check out this website for using Hydrogen Peroxide as a fungus killer. using-hydrogen-peroxide.com I also know that diluted milk is also good for spraying on plants with mildew. Here is a good simple spray that will kill scale insects. I believe that grasshoppers has scales or a hardshell. 1cup of veggie oil 1 tbsp or Murphy's Oil soap Put the above mixture in 2 cups if water in a hand-held sprayer. Spray you pest ridden plants throughly from top to bottom. Shake the sprayer now and then to keep it mixed You can mix a bunch of the above oil and soap mixture in a bottle and keep in on hand for when you want to use it. Hope that helps.
T2s You might be able to use the Vegetable Oil where you are,, but remember we are in Texas. Oil on the leaves here would literally fry the plants in our heat. I am in NE Texas and already it is getting close to 90 degrees. Not much we can do about the weather but try the peroxide or the milk. We are all having the same problems. Powdery Mildew here on squash and stuff. I don`t even worry about trying to treat it. Sometimes its a losing battle.
