Pests on tomatoes & peppers, help ID and resolve

[Ryez]

Hi all, I really need advice here, first time growing tomatoes and peppers. I think they have aphids, not too many yet, only the occasional leaf has a group of them, most have one here and there. And there are some tiny flies, with long wings near them occasionally, possibly eating them?



But there are some other guys I cant identity, these look like white maggots, I found them on both tomatoes and peppers and the internet is of no help. Are they good or bad? They behave like worms and they don't have legs. Might explain the small holes I find in the leaves of my peppers? Although of course there is a slug or two.



So, should I leave them to it, or do something about it?

I also cut my tomatoes hard back a few days ago and mainly left the main stem in each as they had turn into a rainforest, its easier to deal with the pests now I hope. They are in pots in a tiny polythene greenhouse.

Thank you very much!

[Penellype]

Picture 1 are aphids, which are pests. Picture 2 are hoverfly larvae which eat aphids. You could just leave the hoverflies to do their job or you could try to squash the aphids.

[Ryez]

Good job I asked you! I got rid of two of them and then I thought, wait a minute, these might be good guys! Ok, will leave them to it! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really hope this little "ecosystem" that has formed in my greenhouse will be balanced.

[Ryez]

One question, do you squash them on the leaves or try to remove them and then square them?

[Penellype]

I just rub aphids off between my fingers, trying not to let them fall to the floor (which they are quite good at!)

[Penellype]

I nearly made the same mistake in my fruit cage when I found small black bugs on my strawberries. On closer inspection they were ladybird larvae and I remembered I had imported a ladybird to the strawberries earlier in the year because they had aphids.

[Ryez]

It is so easy to get rid of the good insects by mistake! I now have removed the yellow tape as it kills flies but also good bugs, like hoverflies (which I just google to see what they look like and found there is one in the greenhouse right now) and even bees. I hope the bugs will sort it all out between them.

[roitelet]

You need a decent population of aphids to feed the hover fly lavae. Once they have moved in I stop trying to get rid of the aphids. The parasitic wasps will also be around as well.

[Ryez]

Yes the parasitic wasps have moved in already, I thought they were flying ants or something... oh dear me, just google to see what they are. I learned so much here today, thank you very much! No more yellow tape! Nature knows what to do best.