Potatoes/Tomatoes/Celery/Onions/Bugs (lots of ??? w/pics)

[SLC]

Please if anyone has the time to go through this long post, I would really, really appreciate it! You can click the pics to make bigger, if needed.

I have a bunch of questions (5 intricate questions), and I hope the experts here can help me out. I figured I would put them all in one post rather than start a bunch of posts. If you think I should spread the questions out, please let me know, cuz I need a lot of help! Please scroll through all the questions to see if you can help.

Question 1a. Potatoes and bugs (part 1)

Yesterday I noticed a bunch of very small, black, oblong beetle looking things all over my potato plants. There were probably about a dozen or so on each plant. The bugs are just a little bigger than the size of a pinhead, although they look bigger in the pics below. And they also fly. So far, I only see them on my potato plants, but they were there again today.

What are they? Are they bad? I don't want to take the insecticidal soap spray to them if they will not harm my plants. But if they will, I have no mercy! Please help if you can.

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/SecretlyLovesClay/Garden/P1090156.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/SecretlyLovesClay/Garden/P1090157.jpg[/img]


Question 1b. Potatoes and bugs (part 2)

While inspecting my potato plants, I found this growing and it looks like my potato plant is growing a tomato! ???? Then today, I found another one! What is this? What do I do with it?

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/SecretlyLovesClay/Garden/P1090161.jpg[/img]


Question 2. Celery

Take a look at the four celery plants in the first picture (above the marigolds). The ones on the left look good, but the ones on the right don't (closer picture of just 2 plants below that). Although, scroll down to the 3rd pic, and you will see a close up of the actual celery part, and it looks okay. At first, I thought it was lack of water, but that's not it. They have been like this for a couple of weeks now. They are growing, but the leaves just don't look good, but the celery underneath look okay. Should I spray it with something? Does it mean the celery is actually bad? What do I do about it?

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/SecretlyLovesClay/Garden/P1090162.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/SecretlyLovesClay/Garden/P1090163.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/SecretlyLovesClay/Garden/P1090164.jpg[/img]


Question 3. Onions

In the pic below, you see the onion (about golf ball size) emerging from the soil. A few of these are doing this. Should I cover the small onions back up with soil? Does it matter?

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/SecretlyLovesClay/Garden/P1090174.jpg[/img]


Question 4. Tomatoes

I have two types of tomato plants growing and just 1 plant of a “Largeâ€

[applestar]

First - there are no BAD spiders. Well OK poisonous ones, but the ones you have shown look like ordinary spiders to me. Don't try to catch them with your bare hands -- as if you would -- don't leave gardening gloves lying around, and shake out your boots before putting your feet in. But don't kill them. Think of all the pest bugs they are devouring so you don't have to deal with them.

When you find pests and pest eggs, don't spray -- squish. Especially eggs. They don't even bite back. I drop beetles into cup of soapy water, though I will also fling them on the ground and stomp on them.

Tiny black beetles on potato leaves are flea beetles.

Tomato-like fruits on potatoes are potato fruits. They are not edible, but you can actually let them ripen and collect seeds in same way as tomatoes, then start potato plants from seeds around the same time as tomatoes. Do site search/search the forum for "true potato seeds"

[DoubleDogFarm]

Flea Beetle
TPS
Don't cover the onion
Maybe irregular water on the split tomato
Tomato fruitworm
Good spiders
Daddy long leg
Oriental beetle, introduce to Connecticut 1920
Potato beetle

[DoubleDogFarm]

and Leafhopper.


Eric

[cynthia_h]

Suggestion for future posts: please give each vegetable its own post **IF** there are lots of photos, like this post has. I have a good, fast computer, but the thread loaded very slowly for me due to the photos. Sorry....

Agree: spare all spiders unless Black Widow and in your normal path of work. Spiders catch a lot of "bad" bugs for us.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[rainbowgardener]

Agree, you tend to get better help if you split your questions up into separate posts. This is a lot for people to go through.

Where gixx said TPS, that's true potato seed. The thing is, potatoes and tomatoes are closely related in the nightshade family. So the potato puts its seeds in a little "tomato" too. Howver, the potato fruit is toxic, don't eat it. If you like to experiment, you can plant the potato seed, but it is a very slow way to grow potatoes. The plant you get from the seed will not make potato tubers the first year.

The tomatoes may have a couple different things going on. They split or crack under irregular watering conditions - if it is dry, the skin hardens up to conserve moisture. Then if you get a big rain or something, the tomato swells up faster than the skin can stretch, so it splits. Solution is to keep them as evenly moist as you can.

But the dark part on the bottom might be the beginning of Blossom End Rot, BER. There's a Sticky on BER at the top of the Tomato Forum.

Your worm on the corn would likely be a corn earworm. Insecticidal soap works on (adult) insects. It is not effective against worm type pests. The DE you mentioned would be, or BT (bacillus thuringiensis, a bacteria that only affects caterpillar type pests). BT is available in garden stores sold as Thuricide, Dipel or maybe other names.

Both DE and BT are relatively safe in the garden, harmless to humans and other mammals and to most beneficial insects. But they will kill any caterpillars, including butterfly caterpillars. So be a little careful and only put them where you see your pest.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Where gixx said TPS, that's true potato seed. The thing is, potatoes and tomatoes are closely related in the nightshade family. So the potato puts its seeds in a little "tomato" too. Howver, the potato fruit is toxic, don't eat it. If you like to experiment, you can plant the potato seed, but it is a very slow way to grow potatoes. The plant you get from the seed will not make potato tubers the first year.

[applestar]

Eric, I don't think Rainbowgardener has seen your TPS progression thread.

And eh! People get her and me mixed up all the time.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Helicoverpa zea

Tomato Fruitworm, Corn Earworm and Cotton Bollworm are all common names of the same pest.

Corn earworm has a wide host range; hence, it is also known as "tomato fruitworm," "sorghum headworm," "vetchworm," and "cotton bollworm." In addition to corn and tomato, perhaps its most favored vegetable hosts, corn earworm also attacks artichoke, asparagus, cabbage, cantaloupe, collard, cowpea, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, lima bean, melon, okra, pea, pepper, potato, pumpkin, snap bean, spinach, squash, sweet potato, and watermelon. Not all are good hosts, however. Harding (1976a), for example, studied relative suitability of crops and weeds in Texas, and reported that although corn and lettuce were excellent larval hosts, tomato was merely a good host, and broccoli and cantaloupe were poor. Other crops injured by corn earworm include alfalfa, clover, cotton, flax, oat, millet, rice, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, sunflower, tobacco, vetch, and wheat. Among field crops, sorghum is particularly favored. Cotton is frequently reported to be injured, but this generally occurs only after more preferred crops have matured. Fruit and ornamental plants may be attacked, including ripening avocado, grape, peaches, pear, plum, raspberry, strawberry, carnation, geranium, gladiolus, nasturtium, rose, snapdragon, and zinnia. In studies conducted in Florida, Martin et al. (1976a) found corn earworm larvae on all 17 vegetable and field crops studied, but corn and sorghum were most favored. In cage tests earworm moths preferred to oviposit on tomato over a selection of several other vegetables that did not include corn.

Eric

[gardenvt]

I didn't see a response to the question about the celery plant. I have the same problem with a couple of mine celery plants.

Does anyone know what is causing this?

[SLC]

Tiny black beetles on potato leaves are flea beetles.

Will they do damage? Should I get rid of them?

And A HUGE THANK YOU to all for all of your help and suggestions!

[GardenRN]

Flea beetles can ravage a plant if left unchecked. They shredded my eggplant leaves into a fine lace last year. However, since I'm not much on eggplant anyway, and I noticed that they ONLY went after the eggplant when it was in the garden, I planted 3 eggplants this year to act as a decoy crop. But as luck would have it, the eggplants are doing fine and I haven't seen a single flea beetle. ::shurg:: Figures. Better too few pests than too many I suppose.

[SLC]

So if my tomatoes DO have blossom end rot, (which I am not so sure from the pics in that thread), does that mean the tomato is done or do you think it will grow out of it?

[GardenRN]

That tomato is done. Add compost to the plant, it needs calcium. Some will say throw egg shells down, which is a good idea, but your plant needs it now, not in a year when the egg shells finally begin to break down a bit.