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Preventing Tomato Hornworms in the Garden
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The UV Blacklight at night REALLY WORKS. The hornworms glow bright yellow-green on the dark stems. It may be that the person who tried it and failed did not have the right kind of light. I used a UV fluorescent tube in a desk lamp, on a long extension cord, to make the worms glow before they were picked off to their doom. One day I found 6-7 worms on my tomato plants, after seeing the missing leaves and black droppings. That night, with the blacklight, I found about 40 more. Please try it. It works!
I grew tomatoes in Oregon for 25 years and had never heard of these pests or ever seen one. I moved to southern Utah a few years ago and have witnessed the devastation these worms can do to a plant in 1 day. They blend in perfectly with their color. I do hand pick them off because I only have 10 or so plants. I've tried the black light at night but I haven't found that the light actually makes them stand out or glow. The only way I've been able to really find them is to follow their path of destruction. I look for the damage to the plant and the path of their droppings. They are very difficult to see so when you're looking in the right area from the evidence, focus on movement. I have used spray and it did keep them away for a few months but I worry about eating the tomatoes. That defeats the whole purpose of me growing my own food.
I pulled up my huge dill plant that was adjacent to my tomato plants. At that point, I had had NO ONE eating my tomato plants. within 2 weeks my tomato plants, vines, and leaves were being ravaged. Today while watering, I found a huge horned tomato worm on a tomato stalk right where the damage has been done. Can't imagine how I saw it because it is so perfectly camouflaged on the stalk of the tomato plant. Now I've got this one and looking for others. Can't bring myself to kill one, but at least I can throw it down into the woods. Here's the irony of this. The net shows that dill plants are good for keeping down horned tomato worms ! I should have left the dill plant, but I jus wasn't using the dill. I'll know next year
This Year I used a stick with 10 foot of copper wire wrapped around a wood stick, with about 10 inches on top and bottom sticking in the ground, top sticking up. I have not had no Mites, or squash bugs at all so the wood stick and copper wire works GREAT. I have NOT used any poison's at All. It only cost $3.00 to get 10 foot of wire at Lows I will put out 3 or 4 next year. this is with a garden of about 150 foot long 38 tomato's 4 rows of Green beans, 2 Zucchini plants, 2 squash plants, and 4 cucumbers, and 1 cantaloupe plants. The 1 wood stick with the copper wire has done Great in all of that. I put it in the tomato row.
Please provide more details. Such as length, size, placement, times of use, etc. Pics would be nice, and if you could, an explanation of how and why it works.
Thank You.
Thank you so much for sharing, Tony! This sounds like an economical and effective solution.
Hi, I'm a journalist who often writes about insects. Please note that the photo of the hornworm covered with what looks like bobbing grains of rice is not covered with tachnid wasp EGGS. This is a common rookie mistake. Those white things are pupae, cocoons, not eggs. The parasitic tachnic wasp injects her ovipositor into the living caterpillar, filling the caterpiillar's body cavity with almot microscopic eggs. They mature INSIDE the caterpillar, eating it alive in the process from the inside-out. FInally, the larvae of the WASP form cocoons and push through the caterpillar's skin, still attached to the living host. Eventually they burst out of their cocoons and fly off. Here's my article, which you are permitted to re-publish: https://www.peacefuldumpling.com/breaks-a-butterfly-upon-a-wheel
how valuable is a Hummingbird Moth at getting other bugs?
It's so great that you, a journalist, misspelled tachinid both times you tried to use the word. It's a common rookie mistake...
I never thought I'd ever live a day where I would cheer on a wasp. I prefer a wasp over those darned tomato killing caterpillars.