Question
Hi Mike,

I live in Northern VA, about 1/2 hour outside of DC, and have just noticed some tiny red bugs on one of my tomato plants. They have red bodies and black legs and almost look like ants, but they're not.

The plant is doing poorly, even though it gets the same light, water, food as the others so I'm guessing the bugs are doing some damage to it. There are no obvious eaten parts or anything. The plant just looks like it's dying.

Any idea on what these bugs might be or how to get rid of them?

-Vanessa

Answer
Vanessa, I doubt the bugs are your problem, although from your description it sounds like one of several beetles that will infest tomato plants.  None of them usually cause any damage.  You can eliminate them by spraying with an insecticidal soap, pyrethrum, or rotenone.  These are organic solutions that are fatal to insects but non-toxic to humans.  They can be purchased at most garden centers or on-line through companies such as Gardens Alive or Planet Natural.

Normally, I would suggest fertility problems with the soil.  But since you infer that the other tomato plants are doing fine, we can most likely rule out the soil.

Instead, if the problem is isolated to one plant, the most likely cause is that the plant has contracted one of several diseases prevalent to tomato plants.  These would include verticillium wilt, fusarium wilt, or anthracose.

Unfortunately, once these diseases are in the soil, they quickly spread to the plants through spores in the soil from rain splashing or when you water.

You can try spraying the plants with any commercial copper-based fungicide.  These can be purchased at most garden centers and nurseries.

If the disease is at a later stage, these controls may not help.  If the other plants are still healthy, you want to pull this plant before the disease spreads.

Next year, you need to rotate your tomato plants to another area of the garden, or preferably to another bed.  Soil-borne diseases generally stay active in the soil for 2-3 years, so rotation is a must.

Another suggestion is to purchase disease resistant hyrids.  There are many on the market today that are not susceptible to most diseases.  These include Big Beef, Parks Whopper, Better Boy, and Celebrity.  You can search for more varieties on the Park Seed or Burpee websites.

http://www.burpee.com
http://www.parkseed.com

I hope this helps.  Good luck, and please write again if I can ever be of assistance.

Regards,

Mike