Barely visible, silvery wings - kiss of death

I'd all the reason to be jumping in joy today.

1) I completed mulching patch #1 - some 100+ gallons of mulch from the Miramar landfill + human grease carting it + flexing some lower back muscle spreading them evenly. The dark brown surface with neat pockets of green emerging from the ground - it has got the makings of art now.

2) The peas have put their first pods out - tiny, green and tender. I wanted to sit there and sing to them.

3) There was a healthy germination rate in the fenugreek seeds at the base of guinea pig (in companion planting) tomatoes.

Life was going really well until I noticed that someone was chewing off the leaves on my thriving tomatoes. Closer examination revealed these miniscule, yet devasting things call Tomato White Flies.

These critters are much too similar to aphids in the sense that they lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves, they reproduce rapidly and have piercing parts in their mouth that can suck the living juice out of my young tomato plants.

It turns out that these are not easy critters to control. I would choose to replace the plants rather than administer some industrial grade chemical pesticides to address this situation. Before fast forwarding to something so dramatic, here are the steps I plan on taking:

1) Buy a pack of lady bugs from the local Home Depot. By some estimates, a single lady bug would eat a thousand white fly eggs in its life time.

2) By another count, white flies can indicate phosphorous and magnesium deficiencies. So, I plan on drenching the roots in a mild epsom salt solution. It doesn't quite deliver the Vitamin-P, but is a decent first step.

3) I will stop by the friendly neighborhood store called Grangetto's with some sample in a zip loc bag and seek their expertise. The staff there are tenured, exceptionally knowledgeable, passionate gardeners themselves and courteous - everything I would want in my own employees. In return for this outstanding service and expert advice, I am only pleased to pay a premium at their store. In the past, they have always provided me a diagnosis, an organic solution (if one is available) and advice on prevention for the future. Enough said, I will be there when the clock strikes seven tomorrow morning.

4) Any critter treatment is incomplete without my magic spray that addresses it all - freshly brewed worm tea. I will stop at the local hydroponics store on Saturday to bring my two gallons of it. It is important to spray it all that afternoon and bring back more freshly brewed team mid-week for a follow-on application.