A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Question about insect on my tomatoes (Central Florida)

Hi, Big Jim here:

I was wondering if this guy hanging out on my tomatoes is good or bad. He does not seem to be doing anything but sitting on them.



Thanks in advance,

Big Jim

Here are some insect guide pics.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/176/bgimage
I am searching there and other places to see if I can id yours.

By the way, that is a great shot. And some good looking tomatoes too.

Thanks jonni for your help and tomato compliment. :)

I wish there was a web site that asked you questions like "how many legs" and "what color" and so on and so forth. That seems like it would be so easy.

I did a search for flat black leaf hopper Due to the looks of It's hind legs I felt it was in the leaf hopper family,,, I'm seeing them around here that look close like that so I was curious as well : there are different kinds of leaf hoppers But here is yours.......

>>> leptoglossus phyllopus leaf hopper <<<

Good job, Diane. I was completely missing the white 'line' across the back. One to get rid of if seen.

Wow thanks! I ran out and removed the little guys from my tomatoes. Y'all are great!

you're very welcome,,
there are so many different kinds of leafhoppers the markings were key in Iding,,

Thanks Tina for providing that site in your first post,, it will serve me well in the future,, I think I'll need to spend a lot of time there,, I have a lot of insects to I.D.

Wow, that was a great catch, angelblossom. I wouldn't have known to look for leafhoppers.
I know those as leaf-footed stinkbugs, that may not be completely accurate, but here's another page to gander at...
http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG295/html/stink_bugs_and_leaffooted_bugs.htm
Those and the the green stinkbugs have been the most destructive bugs on my tomatoes. I believe they must release some sort of digestive secretion into the fruit when they pierce it. First the fruit shows some deformation, then develop dead spots and are eventually ruined. Infestations can become so bad that practically all fruit is ruined. They hide well and quickly move out of sight when approached. They seem to have the fairly typical insect pattern of heavier and lighter years of populations. They are also most numerous here toward the end of the season, so early and mid-season fruit are less affected.
I tend to try and knock them off and crush them under foot, and only use an organic pesticide when the damage starts to get bad or when the numbers of bugs increase.

Wow, thanks, tina, that is a great web page!
I realized I had better mention one more thing, care to see this subject greatly complicated? Hehe.
Make sure and look over this page, http://bugguide.net/node/view/166
and maybe do a little more searching, t9o ensure that you don't kill an extremely beneficial insect thinking it's a stinkbug. Assassin bugs can look almost identical to the stinkbugs...