| My few tomatoes, now about 7 month old plants, have dents and holes in them. I also found many black with red/orange striped kind of crickets climbing in and around the vines. Could these pests be damaging the fruit? |
| Crickets can certainly damage tomato plants. There is an organic product available called Semaspore Organic Grasshopper Control which contains Nosema. This single celled protozoan infects all stages of developing grasshoppers, mole crickets, Mormon and black field crickets. Nosema, when ingested, creates a disease that is specific to these pests. It will not harm any other living species. Grasshoppers and crickets typically lay eggs in Southern exposure locations in hilly, sandy soil. As they hatch they will begin to travel to their food source (your garden). Head them off by applying Nosema in swaths as a barrier about 1 foot wide, or by generally broadcasting product in and around the area to be protected. Grasshoppers and crickets will begin to feed on the spore-infected bran and immediately stop feeding and become sick. They will die either from the disease or will be cannibalized by other hoppers. Nosema works best when applied to younger stages of hoppers. |
