Tomato Worm

There is nothing more disheartening to be greeted by tomato worm when you wake up one morning to find your carefully laid out garden has become a waste land by marauding bands of insects.

Here are some helpful signs to be on the lookout for before the lowly tomato worm makes haste through your tasty tomatoes before you do!

Causes

When seedlings are clipped off at the soil line, you will often find the cause to be the worm. Check for fat, 1-2 inches long, dull gray or brown caterpillars in the soil near the base of the tomato plants. Once these cutworms chew off a seedling, there is nothing you can do except protect the remaining seedlings from a nocturnal cutworm attack. Cutworms are generally not a nuisance after the plant stems have thickened.

Another tomato worm to look out for is the tomato hornworm. The large green larva caterpillars rapidly consume leaves and sometimes fruit. Horns protruding from the hind end of the insect are how it got its name. Signs of hornworm damage are leaves with big, ragged holes or missing leaves. The adult moth has a 4 inch wingspan. They have voracious appetites and will strip leaves from stems and even eat unripe fruit.

If your fruit has small holes on the surface with the interior hollow and rotted, the tomato fruit worm could be to blame. A sign of tomato worm attack is when the fruit collapses. However, these pests also feed on leaves. Larvae of the tomato fruit worm are light yellow, pink, green, or brown. They grow up to 2 inches long with lengthwise stripes.

Fruit with narrow, black tunnels through the flesh and small holes near the stem could be caused by tomato pinworms. The larvae of this tomato worm are small and gray with possible reddish markings.

Best organic insecticide

Handpick tomato hornworms or control them with BT. Once removed from the plant, destroy them by dropping them into a pail of soapy water. Bacillus thuringiensis is very effective on larvae.

Non organic pesticides

If pest populations are high, use the least-toxic, short-lived natural pesticide to establish control. Then release predatory insects to maintain control. If pest levels become intolerable, spot treat with botanical insecticides

Preventions

* Protect young tomatoes plants from the worms using cardboard or metal cutworm collars.

* Folklore states that planting basil with tomatoes helps prevent a hornworm attack.

* Sprinkle moist bran mixed with BTK on the soil surface in the evening.

* Add parasitic nematodes to the soil at least a week prior to planting.

* Beneficial insects such as ladybugs, wasps, and lacewings will attack the eggs of the worms. Release when pest levels are low for the best results.

* Destroy fruit infested by tomato pinworms and fruit worms.

* Prevent eggs from being laid on tomato plants by covering them with row cover as they flower.

Till soil after harvest to prevent pests from over wintering. This action is effective because pupae are not usually buried deeply in the soil. Results have shown greater than 90 percent mortality for the worm on tomato is caused by normal garden tilling.

Tomato plants are not only attractive to us but to garden pests as well! A good idea is to use a trap crop to distract the invaders away from your desired vegetables. For example, plant loveage or dill to attract the tomato worm from your most valued crops. Watch for hornworms to build-up on the trap crop. Afterward, annihilate the intruders with an insecticidal soap spray or pull up the sacrificial crop and destroy it along with the insects.

Go to Identifying-Garden-Pests from the tomato worm