The Grass Doctor

What pesticide should I use on a potted tomato plant?

I'm growing my first tomato plant. Its in a pot on my front step (I have no lawn or garden or dirt patch what-so-ever). There's about a million green tomato's popping out all over the place but I'm afraid that its going to get infested really quick and I'm so proud of my little guys that I don't want them to get ruined. Is there any pesticide that I can use? I'm afraid I should have tought of this a while ago so I'd like pointers on what I can do to salvage my crop this year and what I can do earlier next season too. I also have one bell pepper plant that I would like to protect. I'm interested in organic methods and the chemical stuff. I didn't expect to care about my baby sized garden this much...

Public Comments

1. If you don't have any pests I would recommend holding off on the pesticide for now and concentrate on keeping the plants healthy. If you do have, or get, pests then you can worry about controlling them. For most of the common insects that attack tomatoes peppers you can mix 1/4 teaspoon of dish washing liquid with 1 quart of water and spray directly onto the bugs. This should kill most of them. Once the bugs are dead rinse the soap off the leaves as it will sometimes cause them to drop off the plant. For the others you can use Sevin (dust or liquid) for control. Most of them can also be picked off by hand and disposed of by stepping on them or tossing them into a cup of hot water. Good luck and enjoy!
2. Lowe's has an organic pesticide called Safer, it's in the same area as the chemical pesticides, but it's organic. It's safe for veggies and works well.
3. Congratulations of growing a container garden! But what are you protecting your tomatoes from? If nothing is bothering them you shouldn't need to spray them with anything. Pesticides are an overused product and that's why we are in the mess we are today (allergies, weak immune systems, poisoned honey bees, bird eggs breaking). For one little lonely plant species and this applies to your pepper too, all you need to do is make sure it always gets enough water and fertilizer (without burning it) and plenty of sunshine. Forgetting to water or keeping it in the shade or having it in a too small container without enough good soil and compost will stress a plant. It's when a plant is stressed out (just like us) that they get bugs. Bugs sense when plants are in trouble and know they are an easy target. If you should find bugs like aphids (little pale green soft guys crowded together on a stem), just make up a spray bottle solution full of water with a tsp of dishsoap and squirt the suckers off. You can even add a bit of garlic juice or rubbing alcohol (1 tsp) to it for extra kick and it will also confuse bugs looking for the smell of tomatoes. But don't bother if your plant is clean. In summary if it ain't broke, dont' try to fix it. Happy Gardening! Rolande