Author Topic: Tomato plant pest  (Read 4572 times)

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Offline Eric Krewson

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Tomato plant pest
« on: June 13, 2023, 08:28:03 am »
Lots of us kind of folk grow gardens so I thought I would pass this tip along, I may have posted it previously, I can't remember.

This is to combat tomato horn worms.

The solution is easy, buy a UV black light flashlight (harbor freight sells them), go out after dark and shine this flashlight on your plants, every worm will glow like a green glow stick, you can find and pick them off easily, every one, I found some as small as one inch with my light.

I learned this method last year after having my plants ravaged by these worms for years, they are very hard to find in the daylight. I picked all of them off I could find in the daylight, I only found 5 worms. I went back with my light that night and found 13 more easily. The next night I found 5 or 6 and the next night 2 and none from them on, I got them all before they could do much damage.

I went out one night and actually flushed the moth that lays the eggs for these pests out of one of my tomato plants, that thing was as big as a sparrow, huge.

Harbor Freight was sold out of these lights so I got one from Amazon. These lights are made for people to use in hotels and motels to find "bodily fluids" that would indicate the room wasn't properly cleaned.


Offline GlisGlis

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2023, 08:43:15 am »
I'm fighting right now with much smaller green worms. The biggest little more than an inch long.
I was considering bacillus thuringiensis but I may try the CSI light to see if it works

Offline Stoker

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2023, 09:39:03 am »
Good advice. Thanks Eric.
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Offline White Falcon

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2023, 11:50:05 am »
Sprinkle some Baking Soda around the base of the plant. Nothing on the plant it self.

Offline Deerhunter21

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2023, 11:56:56 am »
That's pretty cool Eric! Im actually doing research on that moth you have there. They are called Hawkmoths and are essential pollinators for plants here that require a long proboscis, specifically the Oenothera plants! They can be really annoying pests though as you found out  ;)
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Offline bjrogg

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2023, 02:52:55 pm »
That’s pretty cool. A glow worm

Bjrogg
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Offline chamookman

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2023, 02:53:31 am »
When I was a Kid, My Dad used to pay Me a Quarter for each Tomato Worm I could find. Kinda fun steppin' on them  (lol). Bob
 
"May the Gods give Us the strength to draw the string to the cheek, the arrow to the barb and loose the flying shaft, so long as life may last." Saxon Pope - 1923.

Offline Pappy

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #7 on: June 14, 2023, 07:05:44 am »
Good idea Eric, had some of them nasty things last year and like you said hard to find. I thought I had got them all and had a buddy walk up and pick 5 more off, guess you just have to have an eye for them.  :-\
 Pappy
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Offline M2A

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #8 on: June 14, 2023, 07:39:52 am »
Nasty little critters that can really do damage in a hurry if your not paying attention. Good idea.
Mike

Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #9 on: June 14, 2023, 08:45:56 am »
I checked my plants a couple nights ago, no worms so far, it seems like they show up about the time I start picking tomatoes. Because of late cold snaps and excessive rain early I am a month behind on my garden, I won't have ripe tomatoes for at least a couple more weeks.

Offline PaulN/KS

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #10 on: June 14, 2023, 03:02:24 pm »
Had a friend tell me about this trick last year. It sure does seem to work.

Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #11 on: June 26, 2023, 08:10:38 am »
I hadn't seen any worm damage but decided to check my 9 tomato plants last night with my black light, I found 18 horn worms, all sizes. I found a couple of small stems that had worm damage on one plant, most of the worms were eating leaves lower on the plants when I found them.

I found 15 worms initially, when I got back into the house, I realized I had overlooked a plant in the back corner of the garden that was a leftover I stuck in the ground rather than throw it away. I didn't find any worms on this lone plant but found 3 more worms when I walked through my main tomato patch.

Imagine the damage that 18 horn worms could have done to my plants, I will check the plants again in a couple of days, I am sure I must have missed some worms in the dense foliage.


Offline Buckskinner

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #12 on: June 27, 2023, 09:50:14 am »
Those buggers are a PITA, my kids used to have a bearded dragon that loved them though.  As much as I hate them because of the damage they do, it's kinda fun hunting them.  I need to try the black light trick...  Since we don't have a lizard anymore now I bury them at the base of my pepper plants for fertilizer.

Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2023, 07:49:49 am »
I should have gone back the night following my first search with the black light. I skipped one day of checking and found 3 more worms in the daylight that had done some damage to the tops of a couple of my tomato plants. I checked my plants last night with my black light and didn't find any worms.

Offline Hawkdancer

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Re: Tomato plant pest
« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2023, 06:31:39 pm »
Neat idea!  Off to HF next rip to civilization!
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