Gardening

Paper Roses

(7,504 posts) Tue Jul 14, 2015, 05:09 AM Jul 2015

What is the best product to kill Tomato worms?

I Googled for an answer and most suggest pulling them off the plant. No way am I touching these things.
Since I share a garden with a woman who seems to have her own ideas, I hesitate to jump in and spray without proving to her that whatever I use will not hurt anything. She has taken over the garden but my other neighbor(we all share the garden spot) is hesitant to do anything for fear of causing a ruckus.
I need the name of a good product that can be used that is 'harmless'.
Any ideas?

Remember this post? Yes, same garden bully.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11596110

Help Please.

6 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

What is the best product to kill Tomato worms? (Original Post) Paper Roses Jul 2015 OP

Diatomaceous earth or Bt should work Major Nikon Jul 2015 #1

Spinosad fasttense Jul 2015 #2

gloves? GreatGazoo Jul 2015 #3

Do you mean the big hornworms? femmocrat Jul 2015 #4

I do the same thing. Curmudgeoness Jul 2015 #5

The big tomato worms (hornworms), or smaller ones that burrow into the fruit (fruit worms)? NRaleighLiberal Jul 2015 #6

Major Nikon

(36,899 posts)

1. Diatomaceous earth or Bt should work

Reply to Paper Roses (Original post)

Tue Jul 14, 2015, 08:16 AM

Jul 2015

Both are harmless to humans and don't effect most beneficial insects.

NRaleighLiberal is the tomato guy, so PM him if he doesn't reply here. You might want to take a picture of them so they can be identified.

fasttense

(17,301 posts)

2. Spinosad

Reply to Paper Roses (Original post)

Tue Jul 14, 2015, 08:37 AM

Jul 2015

It's an organically approved plant eating bug killer. It was discovered in the soil outside of a rum distillery. It is a bacteria that affects an insect's gut. Anyway it has several versions of it so make sure you get the one that kills catapillars. It is effective but only lasts about a week, less if it rains. It is absorbed by the plant and when a bug eats the plant it kills the bug.

It is more effective than BT but it breaks down very quickly.

GreatGazoo

(3,954 posts)

3. gloves?

Reply to Paper Roses (Original post)

Tue Jul 14, 2015, 08:45 AM

Jul 2015

do they look like this?

If "yes":

The white projections are the larvae of the braconid wasp, Cotesia congregatus. Larvae that hatch from the wasp’s eggs, which are laid on the hornworm, feed on the inside of the hornworm until the wasp is ready to pupate. Such “host” hornworms should be left in the garden in order to conserve the beneficial parasites. The wasps will kill the hornworms when they emerge from their cocoons. They will also seek out other hornworms to feed upon and kill.

Want to attract this hornworm-destroying wasp to your garden? Then plant, and preferably near your tomatoes, such things as parsley, dill, yarrow, and mustard. Adult wasps feed on the nectar of these plants. Also, provide a source of water. A birdbath will suffice.

And finally, I hope you won’t scream if you notice a host-hornworm on your tomato vines. For it means your garden is ecologically balanced, thanks to your non-use of pesticides.

http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2011/08/when-not-to-kill-a-tomato-hornworm/

By all means move the leave-eating worms off your tomatoes but if they have the wasp larvae you may want to leave them alive somewhere else to foster more wasps as an easy control.

femmocrat

(28,394 posts)

4. Do you mean the big hornworms?

Reply to Paper Roses (Original post)

Tue Jul 14, 2015, 08:56 AM

Jul 2015

I cut off the branch they are on and dispose of the entire branch in the trash (or just throw it in the woods!). They stay on the branch and no need to touch them. I wouldn't spray them either.

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)

5. I do the same thing.

Reply to femmocrat (Reply #4)

Tue Jul 14, 2015, 12:10 PM

Jul 2015

There is no way that I am touching the worms, but I also do not want them on my plants. My solution is also to cut the leaf off and dispose of it.

NRaleighLiberal

(60,465 posts)

6. The big tomato worms (hornworms), or smaller ones that burrow into the fruit (fruit worms)?

Reply to Paper Roses (Original post)

Wed Jul 15, 2015, 10:01 PM

Jul 2015

tomato hornworm

tomato hornworm with parasitic wasp pupae

Tomato fruit worm

I don't spray - if you don't want to touch them, cut off the leaf it is attached to and put it in a bird feeder (platform type) - birds love them! If they have the white pupae, leave it - the wasps in the white pupae hatch and eat the hornworm from the inside out and make more wasps that go after more hornworms.

For the fruit worms, use something to poke them off the plant or fruit and feed to the birds - if they are in the tomato, remove it and toss it far away!

No need to spray for pests that large and easy to see - in my opinion, anyway!

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