Eggs on tomato leaves- good or bad?
 

So I'm already in aphid squishing mode and worried about wiping out beneficial eggs along with the bad guys. Does anyone have a link to or recommendation of a book that is a good garden resource with pictures of eggs found in the garden?

I've been searching on Google for quite a while looking for a good resource for identification of the different eggs that might be found on tomato leaves. I'm familiar with green lacewing, lady beetle & hornworm eggs, but I found nearly 100 tiny white eggs that look like pearls on the underside of a rather small tomato leaf. Under 15x magnification there doesn't appear to be any color difference, indentation, etc. The closest I found were some type of butterfly eggs. Do they sound like eggs of a beneficial or do they get squished?

Thanks,

kath

If that many, look at the spider mite eggs online.ornworms 1-2-4 at most.Lbugs 4=6 yellow,laces about the same.

[QUOTE=kurt;277004]If that many, look at the spider mite eggs online.ornworms 1-2-4 at most.Lbugs 4=6 yellow,laces about the same.[/QUOTE]

I checked it out, Kurt, but that's not it. They are tightly clustered together in even rows and look very white in appearance. I remember seeing them once last year and just getting rid of them. I've checked all the leaves of 150 tomato plants and these eggs were only on one leaf.

Stink bug eggs?

If you still have that leaf take inside put in plastic bag top open and watch for what comes out.Check out Mojaves suggestion and only other would be whitefly for that amount.

[URL]http://search.aol.com/aol/image?q=white+fly+eggs+pictures&v_t=keyword_rolloverIf[/URL] this is it just got deposited(fresh)

Yellow or orange eggs can be ladybugs. Don't squish those.

:shock:Brown Marmorated Stink Bug eggs! Thanks, Mojave- mystery solved. Too late to hatch to be sure as they went down the toilet with the next flush.:lol:

Can't tell you how many of these things I killed last year and how many we've found stashed away in the garden shed in every conceivable spot./puke I haven't seen them out and about in the garden yet, so it's kind of surprising to find these eggs already. I'll definitely keep my eye out for more, though.

...or maybe not.
 

:(So I decided to look up more pictures of brown marmorated stink bug eggs and after looking at three different sites, I've read three different descriptions of their eggs.:roll: None of them match the first image that I saw which was labeled as eggs of the BMSB and which matched the eggs on the leaf I had. Oh well, my goal was to rule out the possibility of them belonging to a beneficial and it seems that's highly unlikely.

Thanks for the suggestions.

kath

Hi Kath!!!

I have nothing to offer you concerning an answer.
I've been closely checking my plants each day for any signs of aphids after some left over seedlings had some.
I have sprayed for them.
We also had a cloudburst of rain yesterday for over an hour which I'm very sure has washed any aphids along with my insecticide off my leaves.


Julia

that brown marmorated stink bug sounds like one nasty critter! i have read about it but so far as i know it is not here in ct or at least not in my garden.

tom

[QUOTE=PA_Julia;277187]Hi Kath!!!

I have nothing to offer you concerning an answer.
I've been closely checking my plants each day for any signs of aphids after some left over seedlings had some.
I have sprayed for them.
We also had a cloudburst of rain yesterday for over an hour which I'm very sure has washed any aphids along with my insecticide off my leaves.


Julia[/QUOTE]

Hi, Julia!

I'm really trying not to spray because I don't want to harm the beneficials and because it's always wet. Being next to the river, we get a lot of fog and dew in addition to the rainy drizzly stuff that's been our lot lately. This morning I took a look at the Cornell late blight map and the red dots are too close for comfort- they're predicting possible outbreaks by the weekend to my south and west.:o

I have trouble with aphids every year and when they colonize on the underside of a leaf I've never seen the rain have an impact.:no: They seem to love some plants especially. There is a Terhune plant that's a bit over 2' tall now and I had to smoosh aphids on every single one of it's leaves the other day!

Through the research I did online yesterday, I did learn what parasitized aphids look like and won't be squishing them along with the aphids any more.:roll:

Hope you remain relatively aphid-free-

kath

[QUOTE=tjg911;277194]that brown marmorated stink bug sounds like one nasty critter! i have read about it but so far as i know it is not here in ct or at least not in my garden.

tom[/QUOTE]

Tom, they are just gross and I hope that you never get to see one up close & personal./puke

kath

[QUOTE=PA_Julia;277187]Hi Kath!!!

I have nothing to offer you concerning an answer.
I've been closely checking my plants each day for any signs of aphids after some left over seedlings had some.
I have sprayed for them.
We also had a cloudburst of rain yesterday for over an hour which I'm very sure has washed any aphids along with my insecticide off my leaves.


Julia[/QUOTE]

I'm really trying not to spray because I don't want to harm the beneficials and because it's always wet. Being next to the river, we get a lot of fog and dew in addition to the rainy drizzly stuff that's been our lot lately. This morning I took a look at the Cornell late blight map and the red dots are too close for comfort- they're predicting possible outbreaks by the weekend to my south and west.:o The slugs are going crazy too- yesterday I spent over an hour combing the potatoes and brassicas, snipping them with my scissors!/puke

I have trouble with aphids every year and when they colonize on the underside of a leaf I've never seen the rain have an impact.:no: They seem to love some plants especially. There is a Terhune plant that's a bit over 2' tall now and I had to smoosh aphids on every single one of it's leaves the other day!

Through the research I did online yesterday, I did learn what parasitized aphids look like and won't be squishing them along with the aphids any more.:roll:

Hope you remain relatively aphid-free-

kath