Tomatoe Pest

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jrenick Panama City, FL May 12, 2006

Somethig is eating holes in my green tomatoes. I cant even see the pest. What will word. I perfer an organic compound.

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Calalily Deep South Coastal, TX(Zone 10a) May 12, 2006

There are little brown or black caterpillars that eat holes in tomatoes. Have you looked inside the hole for a worm? Also the big green caterpillars will eat holes in them.

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phuggins Fairmont, WV(Zone 6a) May 12, 2006

Try also posting in the tomatoes forum, preferably with a picture if you can. There are folks over there that can identify tomato problems like you would not believe. :)

pam

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bambamdryad Potsdam, NY(Zone 4a) May 14, 2006

I have had slugs eat holes in green tomatoes (and ripening ones) that are close to the ground. You do not see them in daytime, because it gets too warm, but when I go out early, I have caught them at it. These are shallow holes, though. sometimes almost like a trench. BAM

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jrenick Panama City, FL May 14, 2006

I did discover yesterday three bugs slightly less than an inch long with light brown thorax and a head and body dark brown bordering on black. I had recently powdered with Sevin Dust and they didnt seem disturbed by it. These looked like stink bugs, but they appeared to have a probossis with sucking mouth parts. Sound familiar?

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Night_Bloom Griffin, GA(Zone 8a) May 16, 2006

Stink bugs are supposed to have sucking mouth parts, but stink bugs come in two different kinds: pest kind with a longer, thin "beak" and predacious kind which eats other stink bugs and caterpillars. The predacious kind has a shorter, fatter "beak", but if you haven't seen one, they can be tough to distinguish. The coloration is often very similar, between the two as well.

Also, if it were me, I might be careful with the Sevin if your tomatoes have flowers. Visiting bees might be killed by residues from Sevin even after you have treated, because there can be a residual effect. If your pest is a caterpillar, you may wish to find Bt -Bacillus thurengiensis (sp) - usually in stuff called Dipel if you can find it. This will specifically target the caterpillars and leave the beneficial insects unharmed. For non-caterpillars, I sometimes (only when needed) use pyrethrins - these knock down the bad guys, but have almost no residual effect to harm the good guys visiting later.

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jrenick Panama City, FL May 21, 2006

Thank you for a well informed answer. I think I caught them. They are small green catipillars that are probably hitting in the early morning. I will try Dipel.

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