iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Tomato worms

Started by Bro. Noble, September 09, 2005, 04:48:17 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Bro. Noble

What do these DanG tomato worms turn into when they get done being tomato worms?  I have trouble seeing the blasted things till they are so big I almost have to wrestle them to the ground to stomp on them >:(  It's a little easier to find them now that they have eaten most of the leaves off my plants as well as some of the pepper plants. 

I raised tomatoes for 30 years at the old house without problems with those nasty things----first year at the new place and the dadgummed things are taking over  :(

If I knew what they looked like in their afterlife,  I'd wrestle them and stomp them or shoot them or whatever was handy to get rid of the blooming things.
milking and logging and sawing and milking

Dan_Shade

plant marigolds with your tomatos, i'm not sure if it works or not, but my mom has done that for like 20 years now, and we never had tomato worm problems in her garden after she did that.

if only they worked for potato bugs....
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

Tom

It is one of the sphinx moths.  A picture is represented as #7776 on this site.

http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/LatinIndex.shtml

woodbowl

Tom,
   There's probably over 200 different types of moths with funny sounding names to click on there! It sure would be nice if Latin folks knew what a mater worm were.  ;D
Full time custom sawing at the customers site since 1995.  WoodMizer LT40 Super Hyd.

Jeff

Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Cedarman

Anyone who has raised tobacco is very familiar with this big worm.  If you see one with white egg looking things on it, they are wasp eggs.  When they hatch they burrow in to the worm and eat it from the inside out.  The worm gets lethargic and then dies. 
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

Paul_H

There you go Noble.Just look for a great big Wasp nest,tear it down and hang it by your Tomatoes.

What else can we help you with?  :P
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

Bro. Noble

What do you do for mutiple wasp stings? >:(--------just kidding.    I ain't very smart,  but I ain't completely stupid :D :D :D   Ya gotta hang the little white eggs on the worms ;D
milking and logging and sawing and milking

pigman

Next year Bro. Noble put out a few tobacco plants with the tomatos. The tomato worms ( aka tobacco worms) just love chewing on the  tobacco.  Spray the tobacco with a powerfull insecticide to kill the worms.  8)  
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

rpg52

B.t., a.k.a. Bacillus thuringiensis (sp.?) works great on them.  Under the trade name dipel, you spray it on the plants, within a couple days the worm gets sick, eventually turning black and dies.  Safe for every thing else except other Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies).  Really satisfying too!
Ray
Belsaw circle mill, in progress.

SwampDonkey

Well don't have to worry about no worms now, the blight turned everything black.  >:(
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

CHARLIE

I've seen those moths and a couple of those caterpillars around here, but we ain't got worms in our tomatoes.  We did find a little hole in the bottom of one tomato and when we opened it up, we found about 6 of those corn bugs (some people call 'em picnic bugs or beetles).  No worms though.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

farmerdoug

The moths of the tomato hornworm like to fly a night.  I catch them often in the greenhouses as they get trapped and just bounce off of the plastic until they starve to death.  I find that Sevin sprayed on the plants does a good job of taking care of them and the tomato fruit worm(aka the corn ear worm or pepper fruit worm) also. :P

That late blight also does wonders too. :D

Farmerdoug
Doug
Truck Farmer/Greenhouse grower
2001 LT40HDD42 Super with Command Control and AccuSet, 42 hp Kubota diesel
Fargo, MI

Corley5

Can't say I've ever seen one a them moths but we sure killed a bunch of worms this year.  Heard on the farm report that it was an exceptional year for them ::).  Musta got better than a 100 out of Mom's garden.  We used to use Sevin for everything but read it's pretty hard on honey bees and haven't used it in quite awhile.  It sure did a number on potatoe bugs and cabbage worms 8)
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

johncinquo

I hate using the pesticides on the plants at home, and had looked up some homeopathic and old style cures.  I mixed up a bunch of Ivory soap and water and sprayed the plants down with that.   dont know if it killed em, or just gave em the runs, but either way I had no more troubles with em after that. 

Blight is spread through the soil and water splash on the plants.  I grow everything with black plastic on top of the ground, and water from beneath with a soaker hose.  I have never had a problem with it at all.  Convinced my customer who had trouble every year with it and sure enough no troubles now that he is doing it that way.  Its a little more work to get started, but once you do theres no weeding, less water is used as the sol is not exposed to the air to dry out, and the soil stays warmer and the plants go "boom" and grow like crazy. 
To be one, Ask one
Masons and Shriners

CHARLIE

John, I do the tilling but Donna does the gardening. I think I'm going to suggest that method to her.  All that you said sure sounds reasonable.  How do you keep the wind from blowing the plastic up?

I think I might give that Ivory Soap solution a try too. Do you just spray the leaves or do you have to spray the fruit when it develops?  How often do you have to spray it on?

There is a spray sold commercially that contains hot pepper. I hear it works real good too. I wonder if a recipe for a homemade solution is available.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

beenthere

Quote from: CHARLIE on September 13, 2005, 02:08:59 PM
.... I might give that Ivory Soap solution a try too. ......
...... a spray sold commercially that contains hot pepper....... I wonder if a recipe for a homemade solution is available.

Sounds like you maybe are going to wash and eat these 'mater worms.  I thought the idea was to kill 'em. ;D :D :D
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

pigman

Quote from: johncinquo on September 13, 2005, 11:17:34 AM
I hate using the pesticides on the plants at home, and had looked up some homeopathic and old style cures.  
When I was a lot younger, Dad would send my brothers and I out to the tobacco field with small buckets to pick the worms. :( Took a lot of time, but as Dad said, the labor was free. ;) We never washed our worms, just killed them. ::)
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

Don_Papenburg

Put large sheets(refridge,freezer sized )  of cardboard on the ground in the fall weight down .Just throw a little dirt on the edges and soak.  Then in the spring the cardboard has taken the shape of the earth . Cut holes to plant your maters and Pepers. the rain and watering will soak through and the weed will stay below never to see the light of day.
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

SwampDonkey

I'm surrounded by thousands of acres of potatoes. Most famers are on top of things to control the blight. Then there are years when the potato beetle are bad and when the taters are dug, the beetles march on the garden to eat the maters. Didn't happen this year because the blight was first.  ::) I keep the maters off the ground with pales that have both ends removed. I'll have to try the plastic next year. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

johncinquo

I use lots of rocks from the rock pile to keep the plastic from blowing away.  Once the plants get big enough, theres no worry at all.    If you dont like pulling weeds, its the best way to go.  I get the thicker stuff, 3 mils that way it stays together well in the sun and when I take it up theres not pieces everywhere.    You have to remember to put the soaker hose down first, before the plastic and plants.  I only messed that up once!  There will be bumps and dips in the ground.  Poke a small hole in the dips with the pitch fork so rain water goes through into the ground and doesnt pool up on top.

That cardboard idea sounds like a neat idea as well.  You could just till it into the ground at the end of the year.  It would still let water out though, but you wouldnt have to clean up as much in the fall. 

I just spray the whole garden with the soap.  Doesnt really matter as its just soap, and will wash off when you take it to the sink eventually.  Doesnt work too well if it rains a lot though!  But its cheap.  I just spray a few times a summer and havent had any problems. 

Washing worms and the putting hot pepper on them, sounds lke another salsa recipe!  Ewwwwww. 
Then again, I saw where so people catch all the grasshoppers and fry em up crunchy or coat em in chocolate.    I think I'll stick with my tomatoes.
To be one, Ask one
Masons and Shriners

Corley5

You grow good maters John. ;D 8)
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Thank You Sponsors!