One other item I forgot to mention: In speaking to UC folks regarding my Eugenia psyllid problem (an ongoing war here....), I was told that this was one of the worst years on record for two reasons:
1. Our summer was so cool that none of the predator insects (most particularly the predatory wasps) were able to properly breed, since they need some decent heat, which they didn't get on the coast last summer.
and
2. That this winter has been so warm (witness my lovely tomato harvests) that we haven't been able to break the psyllid breeding cycle

So.....that means that unless we get some seriously cold weather down here (unlikely, since we're past SD's cold season) that things are just going to get worse.

Hi, I see you posted this a while ago but maybe it's time to bring this up again. I have found an infestation of the nymphs on a Champion plant that I transplanted a week ago. (late I know but I am a complete newbie to gardening...also had I done research before going to the garden store I would have prob bought something besides this plant.)

I wasn't sure what to do when I noticed them this morning and I just cut the affected leaves off with their branch close to the stem. I maybe shouldn't have done that but they were freaking me out. I will go out and buy some Neem and Safer Sun Spray to conduct further battle and maybe spay all my plants.

As far as how the plant is doing, I think I was really early at discovering these buggers. I have total of 3 plants. I transplanted the Beefmaster and Brandywine about a week earlier than the Champion because I ran out of soil and the Champion looked like it was the hardiest at the time and could tolerate being in it's little pot longer than the others. Now the other two plants are way bigger than this plant. This plant has more leaf curl and maybe a little purplish discoloration on a few leaves. Two flowers, unable to tell if they have fruit set since I haven't had any fruit set on the the plants yet.

Will update on further signs of damage/disease, recovery etc. I tried to take pictures of these little guys but it was no good with my camera to get a good close up. They look just like the pictures in the orginal post. Tiny little uniformly shaped oval scales, pale yellow or white, almost translucent though so look a little green on the leaf. Lots of them, like 30 on two different leaves, almost all on the underside of the leaf.

Disgusting stuff.

I'm so glad that this post was posted. I noticed these guys on my plants three years ago and wasn't able to diagnose until early last year. I just noticed their little eggs hanging off a leaf the other day.....here we go again. They are a pain in the butt. I also have small fruit, and low yield on many different varieties. I don't have ideal tomato growing weather so I don't know what is due to psyllids or what is due to the weather.
I'm a bit further up the coast in the Monterey area.
Good luck this season
Janet

tomgirl, janetta,
Want to hear more about your progress with these guys -- I'm really having a problem with them and they're just wreaking havoc with this year's harvest. I think my failure to net as I'd intended was a big mistake (see my post regarding my search for netting for my next crop this year....).

Glad the post was of some value. I knew I was posting it early, but wanted to start the awareness, as I was seeing some real trouble. Looks like I'm certainly harvesting the trouble now.

I think my two biggest mistakes so far are 1) I should have killed off my winter crop and disposed of it by mid Feb. and forgone the late winter harvest and 2) I really, really should have netted the plants.

I'm really regretting it. So far, the most badly affected plants have been the Sweet 100s (again, I keep trying), Sweet Baby Girl, and Black Cherry. All of these have had massive fruit drop and lost about 40% of their leaves. San Diego has been doing ok in spite of pretty big evidence of bug and a lot of yellowing and die off -- the plants are looking pretty bare, but the fruits are so far coming and about to ripen, though nothing yet to harvest, which is pretty late for these guys (planted in April). Momotaro flat out died. Fruits half grown withered and all leaves fell (in spite of spraying). Green Zebra so far unaffected (in spite of being in the same 30 gal container as one of the devastated Sweet 100s).

I pulled off the leaves where I saw the nymphs that day and haven't spotted any more nypmhs since, though have seen a lot of little gnat looking flies here and there. I guess I have been really lucky.

However, the plant that was attacked has been stunted since. It is a Champion, is much smaller than my other plants. All flowers have fruit set, 3 or 4 toms really growing but it looks like the largest of the bunch has BER but is still green. I think I may let this tom mature even though it's yucky just because it will likely be my first tom ever and even for educational purposes it will serve me in that manner. I think the plant is finally starting to grow again but I have very little hope for this plant amounting to much this year. No flowers or fruit have dropped yet though.

Otherwise I think I've got mild leaf Alternaria spot on all plants, one may have a spot of stem though only finally got some Seranade last weekend still haven't gotten around to spraying yet. I've got lots of other good foliage keeping the plants in business so it hasn't been a high priority and have been very busy in life otherwise.

Sorry to hear you are having such a rough time again. This is terrible to hear. Have you resorted to something serious like Sevin?

Maybe you shouldn't do a winter crop at all this year. Just concentrate on amending soil and making sure you have a super bed to put your plants out in next spring. Start spraying early etc. Also, over winter maybe you could do some research into what the folks at UC Riverside, UC Davis, and the San Diego folks have found out again regarding insecticides.

I feel really bad for you. These things are disgusting. I'm so lucky my situation with them hasn't seemed to resume.

tuesdayschild, I didn't know you could use netting to keep out something so small. Those little psyllid flies seem to be pretty small. I didn't know there was netting with a fine enough mesh. I've been spraying with Neem every 5 or so days. My other problem though is curly top virus. (I think that's what it is)Curled down and spiraling leaves. I've had a few whiteflies and something that looks alot like that beet leafhopper.
I have about 20 plants so I can go out and wipe the nymphs off manually which I've done in previous years. 20 is actually too many to do that with so I really empathize with you. All this disease stuff makes me want to stop growing tomatoes. )):
My area has the psyllid host shrubs everywhere. There're even sold in the nursery's. They reseed like crazy and are 15 feet away in my neighbors yard.

This is an old thread, but I'm bumping it up in case anyone has any new information on psyllids. They did, and still do seem to be some sort of mystifying insect to those of us here in California, and I still can't find any good, solid information on how to get rid of these nasty little buggers.

I had a huge battle with them last year, but when I went to the nursery for advice, they told me I was insane, and that they couldn't possibly be tomato psyllids. Then I took samples to the county extension office, and they hadn't ever seen them before, but did finally confirm that I wasn't crazy, and that they were psyllids.

Despite being completely discouraged after last year, I decided to give it another shot, but I'm pretty sure I just killed my first psyllid in the middle of its little booty-shaking, egg-laying dance. I didn't spot any of the telltale eggs sticking up from stalks around the perimeter of my leaves, but if there's one, I can bet there'll be more.

Has anyone found anything that kills these guys off without killing all the beneficials? I'd like to head off the problem before it gets too pronounced, especially since all my plants are still just babies yet.

I live in the Pacific Northwest and never had a problem before but I think I have psyllids on my tomatoes for the first time ever. I'm taking samples to the county extension office today to see if anyone knows for sure what they are, as all the leaves have curled. I'm afraid all six of my tomato plants will become infected. Organic gardening gets more frustrating and difficult every year. :-(

I'll report back when I know more. What a pain!

Well, looking at the UC IPM page, I want to mention to people that it specifically says DON'T spray Sevin, as it can actually promote psyllid development. The only low-tox solution I can find is Spinosad, and this spring's devastation by the spotted-winged Drosphila already had me wishing desperately that Spinosad was available for home use... it's only available commercially, so far as I know. Argh.

If you want netting fine enough to exclude psyllids, I'd recommend bridal tulle; it's lightweight and (if you find the right fabric store) not too expensive. I'd make a PVC pipe frame for it. The increased heat and decreased air movement you get with any netting is something to keep an eye on.

I haven't seen any psyllids up here in east Contra Costa county, but I'll keep an eye out for the yellows. Thanks for bumping the thread.

--Alison

Alison, you can get Spinosad at local nurseries. I've seen it sold in various forms at OSH, and the first bottle of concentrate I picked up was at Wegman's in Redwood City, so someone out your way must have it too. I've been spraying it for the last month and a half, but it doesn't seem to be doing much in the way of control. I went out today, and started feeling overwhelmed with all the psyllids and nymphs I was finding. I guess I need to mix up another batch of spray and give it another go.

Oh, wonderful! There may be help for my cherry trees yet, if the fly traps don't work next spring. :) I'll have to tell the head of the Master Gardeners here, she was lamenting the lack of good controls for the fly thing.

Good luck with the psyllids... it sounds frustrating for sure.

--Alison

It's an old thread, but I'm going to BUMP it because I think these pests have reared their heads here in Phoenix, much to my dismay. I have a couple of heirloom tomatoes in a container and they were doing well and now...uh oh. I detailed today's escapades over on my blog - check there for photos and story. I am now thinking I need to go get some NEEM oil? Or has someone come up with a better solution? Please note that I have a wild bee hive in the yard with these plants - so NO BEE TOXICITY is the goal. Of course, I also like to eat my veggies, so NO HUMAN TOXICITY is also a very good thing.

Here is a link that might be useful: TOMATO PSYLLIDs YIKES