This little sack thing was on the tomato plant today. When it was touched, these little worm-looking things popped out, like a spider sack of worms.
- What are they?
- Why are they on the plant?
- Are they harmful to the plant or to us?
Thanks!
They’re on your tomato plant because their mama thought it looked like a tasty thing for them to nom on. Pinch off the leaf they’re on and throw it out (in the garbage, not your compost).
Those little turds. They’re off of there now. Thanks!
Probably white fly larva. Spray the plant down with hydrogen peroxide watered down by about 3:1 at a minimum. Alternatively you can buy some oil based sprays (neem and others, iirc) that protect against mold, fungus, white flies, etc.
Someone told me that Dawn dish soap, watered down, can be sprayed on the plants to keep bugs off. Is this true for food plants?
This is true.
Will it harm the plants or the ground, do you know? I haven’t done it, because it doesn’t make sense that it’s not harmful. It’s soap. I don’t know.
Take a minute and think. You wash dishes with it and send down the water pipes either direct into the ground or returned to the city to process and reuse. Dawn is used to clean oil off birds when it spills.
Right. I thought about that. But I’ve also been hammered as a kid to never consume any soap ever, because it’s really bad for you, along with “my best friend ended up in the hospital because of a couple drops of soap” and other dramatic stories by the adults of yore. To be fair, the engine degreasers we called soaps back then were probably vastly different than Dawn. Also, it being safe for us, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe for plants, but I see your point.
A couple of things.
Anything in large enough quantity can be harmful.
I’m not sure how old you are but dawn has been around since the 70s. As a product dish soap as a whole has been around since the early 1900s. I highly doubt that your mother was using engine degreaser in the kitchen in the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc.
To reiterate in case it wasn’t clear. A couple of drops of dawn or a store brand liquid soap in a large spray bottle of water will not hurt you or the plants. It will suffocate and kill the flies which is what you want. It’s also a really easy way to kill flying things that you can’t catch when they get in your house.
Cool, thanks! It’s more of the country I was in when I was a kid, we didn’t have Dawn.
I use Dawn in a spray bottle to kill wasps that get into the house, so this all makes perfect sense, I just never critically thought about it before. You’ve been a great help, thank you!
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