Fall Garden, Bug Issue, Pesticide....

A few quick questions about the fall garden...

What bug is this?? Found it last night on one of the cherry tomato plant stems almost out at the top. About 2 1/2" long and produce almost a rabbit-like pellet. Have seen an amount that would lead me to suspect more than one of these in the garden. What the heck is it?? What organic pesticide to get 'em??

I was able to purchase some seeds that I was going to use for next year, but with some of the problems we've had this summer so far, we're going to take out some junky non-producers and prepare a fall garden. Plan on germinating some Beefsteak tomatoes, maybe some Iceberg lettuce, and some other stuff. How long should I have the seeds out of the freezer before I attempt to plant them in the little greenhouses to get them going??

Don, PLZ show up Saturday morning.... I need some RAIN!!!!

It's a tomato hornworm. I would use Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew or BT. Not sure either are considered truly organic, but they're not Sevin either.

As for the seeds out of the freezer ... I have taken then out and planted right away and had no problems. Maybe someone else has other experience with them.

Good luck.

Those things give me the willies!

eeww. i have such a hard time with those hornworms. no matter how much i tell myself that little spiney thing wont get me, i can not make myself touch any part of them.

I'm almost positive BT is organic. Also your a little late to start tomatoes from seed for a fall garden and way too early to sow seeds for lettuce.

It's a hornworm!!! I pick them off my tomato plants by hand, throw them on the driveway, and my little girl runs over them with her bike. SQUISH!!! We love to watch them explode on the driveway! They can absolutely decimate a tomato garden. I have read that hornworms tend to be attracted to the most stressed, less healthy of our tomato plants. And I have found that to be true. If I work hard to keep my plants healthy, I will have very few hornworms show up.

Forgot to add: It was recommended to me by a friend who grows tomatoes every year that I could sprinkle flour on my plants. He said that the hornworms would ingest the flour, it would expand inside them and they would die. Don't know if that's true. Could just be "an old wives' tale." But I tried it this summer and didn't see any more hornworms.

The tomato hornworm will strip the leaves and eat the tomatoes. I put on a pair of gloves to remove them "organically" and euthanize them. When they develop, they become a hummingbird moth which is fascinating. Unfortunately, I find my tomato crop far more fascinating.

I keep seeds in the freezer and have always let them obtain room or outdoor temps prior to planting. 12 - 24 hours. Have had no germination problems with them.

Agreeing, we need the rain but don't stand a chance for Don in east TX. Dangnabit!

BT will get 'em. Its concidered organic. Its so cool! I had a couple and used the BT and the next day saw one hanging from the plant and when I went to squish it, just one touch and the thing exploded. Yeah!!! It really exploded and all this gook ran out which I understand is the BT after its multiplied in its gut. I have to get the BT for grasshoppers now.

Ugg, this thread is making me sick....

kevcarr59 - YUP! That's a tomato hornworm. I haven't seen any here in NC, but when I lived in South Florida they loved to eat the poinsettias.

As to control. Yes, Bt will kill them, but you have to purchase the correct Bt as there are different strains for different pests. My favorite way to kill them is to squish them between thumb and finger!

tommyr2006 - sorry about that :) After you've killed a few, you'll get over that queasy feeling.

Poor, poor, Harry....He just wants to live. He can't help it if he was created with a bottomless pit...

Thanks for all the replies. Actually just after posting this did find a picture of the hornworm and knew what it was. Was in the Wal-Mart this am and found some Bayer Garden Insecticide and it will kill the hornworm. Also ran across some Miracle Grow Organic Pesticide and a fertilizer. Anybody used any of this stuff and an opinion....

Thanks a LOT, DON!!! It don't look like we're even gonna get anything up here in Austin... Wasn't my INVITATION good enough????

LOL....

I haven't seen a hornworm for years as my garden has beneficial brachonid wasps living in the mulch.

Back when I did have them, I'd pick them off by hand and take them down to our pond. They float, and it's fun to get the bluegills in a feeding frenzy at the top of the water.

Geez, what a bunch of enthusiastic serial killers! Haha Haven't seen one of these guys yet but I'm sure I will also "organically" murder them. But I won't enjoy it like SOME do. :-)

Mindy

Oh Mindy, you will... when you see them kill your plants by stripping all the leaves and then they begin feasting on your 'naked' tomato crop.

You will have blood in your eye for them and you will savor the moment. That is a promise! lol

Mindy - I don't enjoy killing any of these creatures. I even leave some for the birds/wasps to dine on.

Last year I saw three tiny caterpillars on the parsley. I left them alone. The next day there were two, the following day just one, the third day none. Although I didn't see it, I know a black wasp took those caterpillars and fed them to her young.

I know everything is here for a purpose, but when bugs get out of hand, I remind myself that I gotta eat too!

1lisac-- I thought in another post you had said that you were getting ready to start your fall garden started in the middle of August. I was wondering what your planning on starting, and what would you suggest for a fall garden. We haven't taken out the junk that we had planned. I was hoping we might get some rain, but that didn't happen, so Monday I''ll get out and start cleaning it out. I've picked up one of those Jiffy Tomato Greenhouses with the little peat pots and planned on starting those this weekend with some Beefsteak seeds.

This message was edited Jul 30, 2011 8:45 PM

Going back on the bugs, I do not kill them with my finger or a tool but cut the leave and bury them.

Belle

Mindy, I relocate them. I rather like the moths they turn into, and if I watch the garden,, we can all co-exist. I take the hornworms (with a stick, or gloves) to a patch of American Nightshade, and they live perfectly happy little lives, if the something doesn't eat them :). My chickens won't touch them. One pulled one down one time, and eventually the whole bunch was circled around it staring down. I swear I could see them poking each other, "YOU try it! No, YOU... Let's get Mikey !!" *G*
In the end it crawled back up the plant.

LOL ~ I have often wondered if the birds would or not eat them. Now, I know. LOL Good thought to provide them with another source of food. Where do the cats come from?

catmad - You've got picky chickens. When we lived in Southern California my garden was next to the chicken pen, and when I'd find a tomato hornworm I'd throw it in the pen. The result was always a chicken stampede and the worm pulled to pieces - green goo all over the place, not a pretty sight.

Much worse, though, was when I found a little snake in our garage, about as big around as a pencil and a foot long. I caught it, held it behind the head, and TOOK IT IN THE HOUSE to show our girls, who were little at the time.

Then I went out and threw it in the chicken pen to watch the fun. The chickens all came running, then stopped and wouldn't come close to it. The little snake coiled, started striking at the chickens, and was shaking its' tail in the air. It was a baby rattler, and the chickens knew it - I think they were a lot smarter than me!

Then I went and got a shovel. lol

I was just as glad they didn't eat it. Maybe they just didn't know what it was....much bigger than anything else they had ever had on the menu, I think.
Probably more than you wanted to know about Hornworms and their mommies...

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html

I recently discovered that website and it is a good one. Thanks for the link to the hornworms, I now know where they come from and that explains why I didn't see but one this past tomato season. New raised bed with new soil. Very interesting.

Ya'll are totally hilarious!

I like Belle's humane (I bury it) approach! LOL!

Yup, tomato hornworm. I killed 7 of those little b....... yesterday off my tomato plants. I pick the stem they are attached to and either stomp on them with my tennis shoe, or smash them with a brick. I like the brick because it is fast and gets the job done. They also like to eat the leaves off my angel trumpet plant, its a wonder that doesn't kill them! Yes, I suppose we are all 'serial killers'; but in my mind, its them or my tomatoes and I love my tomatoes more.

If you look over your tomato plants every 3-4 days you will notice if here are horn worms dining on your tomato plants, no need to spray, just knock them off kill them. If you find one with white egg sacks stuck onto it, do not kill it. The eggs are sucking the life out of the worm while turning into a parasitic wasp, a very beneficial insect for your garden! Here is more info on beneficial insects for your garden, http://blog.gardenharvestsupply.com/2011/01/04/whats-bugging-you/

Joe

I found one of those on my peppers this a.m.!!!!!!! My son got a quick biology lesson.