Things Needed
As great as tomato hornworms are – from 2 in up to 4 ½ inches or longer – they can be difficult to descry . These worms , in reality caterpillars , run through the Department of the Interior of the plant during the day to avoid the heat of direct sunlight and move to its more seeable areas only at dawn and twilight , accord to the Colorado State University Extension . Keep your middle out also for tomato fruitworms , up to 1 ½ column inch long , with yellow heads and dour legs , and armyworms , up to 2 inch long , with wide-ranging colorings .
Step 1
Prevent damage to young tomato plant transplantation from cutworm , stout grey - to - black cat that may attain 2 inches in length , by force into the soil around the flora a sleeve made from a paper cup with the bottom remove .
Step 2
Scout the garden for worms twice a workweek , particularly as the fruits touch maturity . Use a 10X hand electron lens to name louse . Check smaller tomato fruits for signs of louse - feeding damage . Look also for large sphere of impairment at the top of the plant or the worm ’s large droppings , called frass , accumulating on the earth under the affected flora or on lower leaves .
Step 3
Slice open damage yield to see if the trouble is make by fruitworms , with damage deep inside the fruit and muck often present , or armyworms , with feeding confined to the surface . discover the hornworms visually by looking for a body with seven diagonal bloodless chevron or eight V - shaped markings , feeding on leave or fruit .
Step 4
Shake the young plants over a handshake textile when there is a pregnant number of fruit , at least 1 inch in diameter , to observe armyworm egg masses or small larva .
Step 5
Spray Bacillus thuringensis , sold as Caterpillar Killer , Dipel or Thuricide , to down the little larval worms if worms are observed . Apply several meter if the plants are growing vigorously . This " soft " insecticide will not kill the natural enemy of tomato pest , notes the University of California Davis website .
Step 6
Remove a heavy hornworm by handwriting . drink down it by snipping in one-half with a sheers or dropping it into a pail of urine .
Step 7
Use insect powder like carbaryl , permethrin or spinosad to control larger hornworms and caterpillars . give consort to the label instructions .
Step 8
Rototill the soil after harvest to kill any pupa .
Tip
Place worms bearing small , white rice - shaped objects , which are parasitic wasp cocoons , in a glass jarful with no lid . The emerge wasps , innate enemies of the hornworm , will act as sponger on other hornworms . " The individual wearing them is already doomed , " notes the University of Illinois Extension . Keep records of worms find so that you’re able to identify periods of peak activity and predict peak activity in the future , the University of Alabama Cooperative Extension advises . When you see stems with leaves missing , remove the stems so you know that future leafless stems indicate new price and nearby hornworms , advise Garden Grapevine . If you keep chickens , you may beguile hornworms at nighttime by examining plant with a flashlight . The worms will be right out in the open . range the hornworms in a coffee can and start the Gallus gallus the next day , advises Mother Earth News .
References
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