Chester Boone’s is not a universal insecticide by design. It allows the preservation of beneficial insects in the garden. It also means that not every insect will be bothered. Small, soft-bodied insects are the best candidates for control like aphids, mites, scale crawlers, thrips, white fly and many others. Sturdy, large-bodied insects like locusts, grasshoppers, beetles and bees are unlikely to be affected.
It comes in two formulas:
Chester Boone’s All Purpose is very effective on all soft bodied insect pests, eggs, and larvae. All Purpose has added sorbic acid working as a mildewcide and fungicide.
Chester Boone’s Pure is formulated with the addition of stronger citric and fatty acids found to be more effective on adult hard bodied insect pests and is without an added fungicide.
Tomatoes have many insect pests, including;
Piercing – aphids, thrips, scale and white fly.
These sucking insects pierce plant cells and suck out liquid nutrients. This is very detrimental to harvest potential and may be a vector for viral disease. Check out our post about the “Unwanted List” to read more about these insects.
For normal pest free maintenance, after seedlings are well established, use up to one fluid ounce of Chester Boone’s All Purpose per gallon of water and spray over and under tomato leaves and stems to remove any insect pests. Depending on pest pressure, spray again in 5 to 7 day cycles if necessary.
Chester Boone’s is a contact insecticide. For control, insect pests must be wet with spray.
Some tomato varieties are more delicate than others. For delicate varieties, use only half a fluid ounce per gallon of water. Test first to be sure.
Chester Boone’s targets “piercing sucking bugs” but you need to add BT-K (Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. kurstaki) for the “chewers”.
Chewing insects – caterpillars, loopers, cut worms.
For control, use 1/2 fl oz of Chester Boone’s PURE with one gallon of water and tank mix with BT-K. Use PURE, not All Purpose.
Chester Boone’s PURE will suppress contacted insect pests and also act as a spreader – surfactant to power the residual efficacy of the BTK. Choose a liquid suspension of BT-K (Thuricide BT) not a powder or dust.
This combination is very effective in the control of hornworms and tomato fruit worms.
The timing of this application is critical. Observe your plants closely, and spray when you first see insects beginning to feed. Applications are most effective in the evening when temperatures are moderate and drying is slow. Repeat in 5 to 7 days as needed.
Thanks for the tips, looking forward to trying it on my tomatoes this spring.