Tomato Worms

bk · Joined: 22 May 2003 Posts: 3

Hi, what is a good way to discourage tomato worms? And are these the only culprits when it looks like something has been eating your tomatos?

Thanks!

dragonfly · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 11:07 am Post subject:

Are you asking about the big green ones that eat the foliage or small ones that seem to bore into the fruit?

bk · Joined: 22 May 2003 Posts: 3

Good question. Something is eating the tomatoes which sounds like the small ones. I had the same problem last year and pulled a couple of the big green guys off the vines and didn't have any more problem so didn't realize there are two worms. So it must be the small ones causing trouble this year - it would be good to know how to discourage both kinds.

Thanks very much!

dragonfly · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 7:41 pm Post subject:

The big green ones, as far as I know, just eat the foliage and they are easy to hand-pick(the one that is usually called tomato horn worm). The small ones (sorry, but I don't know what they are called) seem to be some kind of boring worm which I would think could be controlled with Bt. I'll look it up and see if I can find you more information. I've rarely had any problems that were significant with the boring worms. I do pick an occasional tomato that has one or two in it, but it seems like most of the tomatoes I grow don't have them. My guess is that is some type of moth larvae, but I'm just speculating on this. Will post again after I look it up and can give better information.

bk · Joined: 22 May 2003 Posts: 3

Thank you very much! The little buggers got about half my tomatoes last year and all of the cherry tomatoes. Any help is very much appreciated...