Caterpiller(?) problem - need advise please

I have been trying to see what has been eating my bell pepper leaves and I just found it and I could use some advise.

I found two light-green hairless catterpillars(I think they're catterpillars). They're about an inch long and one end has a point on top about 1/8 inch long, making it look like a shoot of a young leaf (I guess some type of camoflage).

Anyway, I checked under each leaf of the Bell Peppers and the Jalapenos and only could find the two but I'm assuming there's probably more - I just couldn't find them. I also don't see any leaves eaten on the rest of the veggies. My garden is small and all the plants are close enough for them to just touch. Seems like these catterpillars(worms?) only like the Bell Pepper leaves. Also, they look like they prefer the young leaves just coming up.

Would someone tell me what they are and how to make sure I get them all and get rid of them?. Preferably without using commercial insecticides?.

Thanks in advance.

Special Thank to:

Farmardill, Linux_Guile and Feldon30 for all the help you've given to this newbie :D

Your typical fruitworm/leafworms. Spray with Bacillus Thuringiensis. Sold as BT Worm Killer, Dipel Dust, etc. It is completely organic.

Could be a small hornworm, either tobaco or tomato. uasually just picking them off and destroying them doss the trick. just keep an eye open for newcommers

btw here is the link for the horn worm. though you uasually find them when there quite large. but most catterpillars can be handled the same way unless you have a massive population

http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/35/

Hey, thank you both.

I think I'm going to just try and keep an eye out for now and see if I can just pick them off and kill them before resorting to spraying. In fact as soon as the day gets a little cooler, I'm gonna crawl under all my veggies and make sure there's no more.

How about a disease question next?

I'm pretty sure my one and only slicing tomato(hybrid Beefsteak) has the Top-Curl(?) disease. I noticed it about 3 weekes ago that a lot of the leaves were curling inward.

I tried to read up on it and all the articles I found said that the plant will definitely stop growing and die without producing anything. The articles say that I should just rip out the plant and replant. The only thing is that the articles I found were all pretty much decades old university study papers and my plant is not dying. It's been growing new leaves and it's even starting to set fruit(only 3 tiny ones so far).

It's the only slicing tomato plant I have and I really don't want to give up on it. So far as I can see, the disease seems to be less prevalent now since the plant has gotten bigger with more branches and leaves. One curious thing is that most of the leaves look like they're actually better than they were 3 weeks ago but about 3-4 leaves on the tips of two branches are very curled up with the veins under the leaves turning red.

My questions is: do you think it's possible that this plant may not die? Will it help if I cut of the tips of the two most affected branches? Is there something I can do to save this plant?

Thanks in advance.

I have a pair of big boys growing and for a while they were producing the gnarliest leaves ive ever see they were twisting and turning like none other but the leaves were a healthy dark green and the stalk is now a whopping inch and a half in diameter supporting a 4' tall plant that has several clusters of massive fruit that are still growing! so dont worry too much it may be that the root system is still catching up with the top half which is what i think mine were doing.

Andrew

Thanks Linux_Guile.

The leaves on mine aren't as dark as the Roma plant growing next to it but they look much better than they did 3 weeks or so ago.

I hope mine turns out like your's :-) Like I said, it's the only slicing tomato plant I have.

I think I'll grow two of each kind next year to be safe. I really want to try growing some beans, salad greens and strawberries too.

Heh, There's less and less grass in my backyard every year what with all the parennial flowers my mom planted when she lived here! LOL

lol, who needs grass anyway.

Curly Top Virus is serious business and I didn't think it was in Ohio. Could be wrong though. I thought it was a major problem in Florida.

The reason I spray BT the first time I see those little green caterpillars is because for every one I see there are probably a dozen I don't. I lost something like 2 dozen Cherokee Purple and other tomato fruits last year because I didn't spray soon enough. These caterpillars will eat leaves and fruit.

Leaves rolling inward is a common symptom of physiological leaf roll, which can be caused by any number of environmental factors, most of which are not cause for serious concern. Excess moisture, not enough moisture, abrupt change in temp to very hot and sunny, roots trying to keep up and adjust as the tops grow, constant winds, growing in really hot weather, etc, etc. It can also be caused by root damage from gophers/moles/voles.

Herbicide damage is yet another possible cause.

Curly top virus is a big deal. But like Morgan says, I really don't think it's a problem in your area. I take it you are suspecting a viral cause because of the purple/red veining, which is sometimes a symptom of curly top virus.

How large and old are your plants? What does the new growth look like other than the 3-4 red veined leaves you mentioned, any stunting in general, pale leaves, or skinny leaves?

I planted it on 5/11 as a seedling I bought that was about 5" high. I might have planted too early because we had a very cool Spring this year. The weather was fluctuating very drastically in temperature since planting up until the end of June. Now we are starting to see normal weather for us - very dry, humid and hot. We've been between 88 to 92 degrees the last week but we still cool down to the mid-60s overnight.

The highest point of the plant is about 4-feet tall. The new growth looks very healthy and moist. I don't see any pale leaves. I don't think I have any leaves that are skinny - all of them on the plant looks the same. Most of the leaves on the bottom are curled and looks dryer than the newer leaves.

Hi, and thanks for the further information - - based on what you've detailed, I doubt your problem is viral, especially since the new growth looks good. If you had a viral prob, it would all be downhill...

Just sounds like it has been going through a bit of stress, and is doing a fairly good job of trying to recover/adapt. Baby/watch the plant a bit in terms of keeping up with watering, monitoring it, etc. But do not be tempted to overlove -- a common tendency/mistake with sick and recovering plants. In other words, don't overfertilize or overwater to try and help it out.

Keep us updated. :-)

Edit - a foliar feed with seaweed or fish emulsion (weak per foliar feed instructions, not mixed up strong) never hurt anything if you wanted to do that to maybe help it along a bit.

This message was edited Jul 19, 2008 3:21 AM