Hornworm galore

[Orly]

I'm kind of new to gardening but wow do the pests keep me busy.  If it ain't caterpillars on my banana trees, aphids on just about every other plant, leaf notcher weevils, mealy bugs on my papayas and lantanas, or white-flies on my peppers, now its tomato hornworms and lots of them. You name it, I got it.  My whole yard is under constant attack.  This gets really tiring.

I noticed some green tomatos half eaten and thought maybe birds.  After close examination I found these:



9 adults and several little ones, munching away.  I seem to be fighting pests constantly over the past couple months.  I'm releasing a couple thousand ladybugs next week in an attempt to fight the aphids and mealybugs and whatever else the ladybugs might eat.  I don't really want to have to resort to spraying all my plants with pesticide all the time.

I placed my single basil plant next to the tomatoes since they supposedly help repeal the worms but I think I need more than one basil plant for six tomato plants.

[spaugh]

BT is organic for what its worth.  One dose early in the season seems to keep they away here. 

[Orly]

BT is organic for what its worth.  One dose early in the season seems to keep they away here.

You mean Bacillus Thuringiensis?  Yeah I've seen mention of it but never tried it.  I guess that's something else I could try.  thx

Edit:  I just ordered some BT. A one-two punch with that and ladybugs hopefully puts a dent in my pest problem.

[fruitlovers]

BT works great on all caterpillars, as long as it does not rain and get washed away.
I think your problems will subside after summer. The heat explosion also causes insect populations to explode.

[Orly]

BT works great on all caterpillars, as long as it does not rain and get washed away.
I think your problems will subside after summer. The heat explosion also causes insect populations to explode.

Yeah, caterpillars are my biggest problem I think.  They're the most destructive.

[Orly]

Just found out my Ladybugs were delivered 2 days early so of course they were all dead waiting in my mailbox.     Waiting now to have them ship me another order with the proper expected delivery time.

[Mike T]

Hawk moth caterpillars are big and easy to pick off but you need to check often. Some of the big species have caterpillars that can do a lot of damage.

[Orly]

Hawk moth caterpillars are big and easy to pick off but you need to check often. Some of the big species have caterpillars that can do a lot of damage.

They are big but well camouflaged.  It took a while of close inspection to spot them all and I may have still missed a few.  I just 3 more large ones off today.

[TheWaterbug]

What kinds of critters will eat these critters? And can we eat the critters that eat the critters?

[roblack]

lizards love em. they sell them at the reptile store, not so cheaply

[Orly]

lizards love em. they sell them at the reptile store, not so cheaply

I guess that doesn't include our local lizards?

[beefyboy]

I would alternate Spinosad with BT. I personally like Spinosad much better than BT. I use spinosad 2-3 times followed by one treatment with BT. My garden goes in at the end of Sept or first week in Oct. Having tomatoes going now is not a good idea and really a waste of time due to excessive humidity and temp. Also, insect activity is at its peak now, not worth the bother for poor yields or nothing at all. One of the only vegetables that does well now is eggplant. I would like to see pics of people harvesting decent veggies now, I will bow to your greatness!

[Orly]

I would alternate Spinosad with BT. I personally like Spinosad much better than BT. I use spinosad 2-3 times followed by one treatment with BT. My garden goes in at the end of Sept or first week in Oct. Having tomatoes going now is not a good idea and really a waste of time due to excessive humidity and temp. Also, insect activity is at its peak now, not worth the bother for poor yields or nothing at all. One of the only vegetables that does well now is eggplant. I would like to see pics of people harvesting decent veggies now, I will bow to your greatness!

Thx for that tip.
 
This is my first time growing tomatoes.  I can understand your point with the heat and humidity.  I'm growing 3 varieties of cherry tomatoes (sweet 100's, yellow pear, indigo rose) since they do handle this weather a little better.  I can't say I've gotten great yields but it's mostly my fault.  I'm growing in containers but I made the mistake of using containers that are too small.  The root size is not able to keep up with the growth.  I fertilize with tomato fertilizer and calcium but plant seems to be in survival mode and drops most of the flowers to be able to support just the amount of tomatoes it's limited to at any single moment.  It's requiring frequent watering.

If I decide to grow again I'll either plant in a bed or use larger containers. If I would have planted them correctly I would have much better yields because they flowered like crazy. I recently relocated the plants to a cooler part of the yard which helped avoid the the splitting of the tomatoes but this recent influx of caterpillars just started and now my new problem.

I just sprayed them with BT so hope to see results soon.  I just walked out to take a look the the plants and picked yet another large worm.

[spaugh]

I would alternate Spinosad with BT. I personally like Spinosad much better than BT. I use spinosad 2-3 times followed by one treatment with BT. My garden goes in at the end of Sept or first week in Oct. Having tomatoes going now is not a good idea and really a waste of time due to excessive humidity and temp. Also, insect activity is at its peak now, not worth the bother for poor yields or nothing at all. One of the only vegetables that does well now is eggplant. I would like to see pics of people harvesting decent veggies now, I will bow to your greatness!

Really?  Is that just in FL?  Its prime tomato season right now here.  My vines are 8ft tall and Im getting bucket loads every other day.

[beefyboy]

Great pics!  Yes, Florida season is getting ready to start, I have grown over 450 varieties in Florida so far and have a great top 10 now. I will be trialing some new cherries this year to compete against sungold and they are OP. Yes, even cherries are not grown with any substantial yield nor is any other tomato bred for heat.  About the only thing you get is insect infestation. I am growing hydroponically outside and then also in earth boxes. Seed will be started in the next week, always by the 30th. I push them in my grow room using T-5 lighting and go from seed to transplant in 4 weeks tops.
   In Florida, gardening rules do not apply!

[spaugh]

I have 8 plants in 4 (4ft x 8ft x 1ft) raised beds.  Each non cherry plant gets an 8ft texas tomato cage.  They definitely don't mind the heat.  Its super hot here.  We started out plants back in April and hae been picking them for 2 or 3 months now.  They will still put out until October or November.

My kid and dog in front of 1 box.


Sungold
Rupunzel
Hillbilly heirloom
Striped german heirloom
Mortgage lifter heirloom
Brandywine heirloom
Green zebra heirloom
Marvel stripe heirloom

Todays harvest

[beefyboy]

I am getting a little jealous over here! great job my friend, yard looks fantastic

[achetadomestica]

I am growing some pepper plants in Florida now including tabasco, west African red, and wiri wiri. They are all flowering heavy with heavy fruit set. I did have a 6 week break between the last peppers and now. This is my third summer growing hot peppers and each year has been different. I grow my cherry tomatos and hot peppers in 15 gallon pots and I give them miracle grow 20-20-20 every week.  I got cherry tomatos last June but they tasted terrible and I jerked them? I know someone now who told me they are getting cherry tomatos all summer and
they taste fine??? Maybe I should start a couple new plants in April next year and try again with young plants? I started cherries last week to get a head start but the ones that sprouted are leggy so far? 

[spaugh]

Thanks, we are pretty much tomato'd out.  Will probably do only 2 boxes of tomato next year.  This was more of a test out different varieties trial.  Green zebra, marvel stripe, and rupinzel were a bust. Hillbilly, brandywine and always sungolds rock. Even the dog eats them.

[beefyboy]

Yeah, I agree, green zebra can be once in awhile ok, but it depends on what you like. Check out J & L garden seeds in New Mexico. I am trialing the OP seeds from them that are supposed to be sweeter than Sungold. I have two by them, that are going head to head with sungold but give me the added ability to save the seed. I am also trialing new oxhearts, roughly 12 to go against my favorite, Orange Strawberry. I am a huge fan of the black tomato, J.D Special C-Tex, it is always in my top 3 tomatoes grown.

[Guayaba]

What kinds of critters will eat these critters? And can we eat the critters that eat the critters?

I just had to post this link as an answer to your question.  I am surprised the recipe only has three stars!
https://www.thedailymeal.com/recipes/fried-green-tomato-hornworms-recipe

[beefyboy]

Holy shit Bob!  I was wondering what kind of link you were showing us and now I see.I could not eat a damn hornworm, hell, I don't even like touching them.

[Guayaba]

Holy shit Bob!  I was wondering what kind of link you were showing us and now I see.I could not eat a damn hornworm, hell, I don't even like touching them.

Lol! Can you imagine serving them for dinner! Protein is protein I guess! 

[Jct]

I have 8 plants in 4 (4ft x 8ft x 1ft) raised beds.  Each non cherry plant gets an 8ft texas tomato cage.  They definitely don't mind the heat.  Its super hot here.  We started out plants back in April and hae been picking them for 2 or 3 months now.  They will still put out until October or November.

My kid and dog in front of 1 box.

Those look great!  My cages are much shorter and the tomato plants overtopped them long ago.  One is overtaking a nearby rose bush and the other is obliterating some cukes.  All good though!