White dots, black dots, holes in leaves & fat green worms

Morning all,

Seems my issues this year keep on coming and keep me on my toes.
Since my heat troubles, I now seem to be facing bugs...
I have white dots on the topside of some fan leaves, with corresponding black dots on the underside, and for about 2 weeks, have been seeing small holes appear, some of them bigger than others. Then this morning, found a fat little green worm munching on a leaf. The plant in question (only 1 from 5 so far) is not in flower yet.
I am currently using Neem for my tomatoes and other veg which I've used for years with great effectiveness. Much prefer the organic route if possible and would like to ask if you think Neem would work in this case?
Thanks as always!

I dealt with the same issues last year. Unbearable heat which made me have to air out the room which attracted moths to my lights, who then laid little baby worms on my plants.

I trapped a lot of them and did experiments and found that a multi approach was the best. Neem works but it's best used as a preventative, and upkeep. It's also KEY to have QUALITY neem oil.

What I did last year along with the neem approach was this. I coated my mulch in a layer of diatomaceous earth. I filled up a brand new ketchup bottle from dollar store with the diatomaceous earth and BT and lightly coated my mulch and the base of the main stem. I then used spinosad on ALL the leaves and stems.

After I did this I got some mothballs and some cedar wood and oils and sprayed down the whole yard I also sprayed all the porch lights with the cedar oil and it got rid of all the moths clumsily banging into the lights.

GOOD LUCK!!

Wow, thanks for the reply YesMam!! Interesting approach and one I will certainly look into.

If you don't mind me asking…...


What brand neem oils are you using, and what is your routine of getting it to dissolve/emulsify thoroughly into your solution??? I feel if you possibly get a good routine on the neem it may take care of the problem without getting too complicated. My plants were only 12 days from harvest when I started seeing little worms so I took a nuclear approach………time was of the essence. You still have time to turn it around and get them banging before flower.

Hey, as soon as I get home will let you have the brand. To emulsify however, I use a neem soap, again, not sure on brand.
Get back to you.

Hey.
OK, so the brand is Naissance for the refined Neem oil. The brand for the soap is Bon Neem. The mix I use is basically 5ml of oil & 10ml of soap per litre, which I think is the recommended.

You know what else I'm thinking - could it be the hay I've put on top of the soil that's causing the bugs?
I've heard that hay can carry pests of all kinds. I put it on there initially to reduce the heat stress, but might take it off and replace with some light stones or perlite.

I mulch e very container. If i do get some bugs under the mulch I will go to the dollar store get an empty ketchup squeeze bottle fill it with diatomaceous earth and puff it all over the mulch. For the most part it is beneficial to the soil try your best to keep it dry. If it does get wet, reapply.

Neem cake from buildasoil.com will work as well