Ugly tomatoes

johnp 8/17/2015, 3:53 pm

Below is the result of beautiful tomatoes that have been attacked by the plague of grasshoppers:

I am so #%&*_mad I could and (have) screamed.

CapeCoddess 8/17/2015, 4:22 pm

Oh the little devils! Mad

John, don't know if you have access to knee hi's, but that's what I use to cover my blushing maters to keep birds from pecking on them. Maybe trouser socks would work as well?

CC

yolos 8/17/2015, 4:24 pm

I pick mine just after they blush. Helps keep the birds from pecking and the tomatoes from splitting somewhat.

johnp 8/17/2015, 5:08 pm

I tried tulle but the hoppers get under that. I will see what the wife has. These are the ones I saved (for tomato juice) but the ones still on the vine are much worse. They are also eating my raspberries, kale, peppers, beet tops and eggplant. worst year ever and all my neighbors are the same.

**Scorpio Rising** 8/17/2015, 9:40 pm

Nothing makes me madder than some bug eating my veggies before I get to! Twisted Evil

Never thought about knee hi's! Good idea!

BeckieSueDalton 8/17/2015, 10:03 pm

Oh, that's just horrible!

My tomatoes are still too small to Embarassed

, but after seeing your pictures I'll pick up some of the super cheap knee-highs next time I'm at the drugstore.

Marc Iverson 8/18/2015, 12:15 am

Sure would be nice if they just ate one or two instead of bits and pieces of all of them.

John, don't know if you have access to knee hi's, but that's what I use to cover my blushing maters to keep birds from pecking on them.

I wouldn't want my tomatoes to look too sexy. We have teenagers next door.

**sanderson** 8/18/2015, 3:48 am

Plague of grasshoppers is such a fitting expression. Your poor tomatoes. I think even I might say something stronger than, "Darn you little boogers, go away."

johnp 8/18/2015, 7:46 am

My wife gave me all I needed, I hope they work. Easy to put on also. These tomatoes are heirloom and very large and prolific. Best tomato ever for me. It is called brave general and I think it is from the Ukraine area. In size and taste it puts all my other varieties to shame (except for the black cherries).

CapeCoddess 8/18/2015, 11:14 am

johnp wrote:My wife gave me all I needed, I hope they work. Easy to put on also.

Photo please?
Very Happy

CC

johnp 8/18/2015, 6:09 pm

I'll go out and take some. She also gave some pantyhose she no longer uses so I cut the legs off and cut them into 3 or 4 sections and tied a knot in one end. Then slipped them over my hand, grabbed the tomato and peeled it right over the tomato. Works great, so far so good.

johnp 8/18/2015, 6:48 pm

For the third time, out for the evening:

Saved and lost:

I was going to show more but maybe later, it is not working to well.

**sanderson** 8/19/2015, 2:39 am

Double them?

audrey.jeanne.roberts 8/19/2015, 1:56 pm

I found 9, NINE!!! Horned tomato worms on just two plants this morning. I have never had this amount of worms *smoke coming from her ears!* I haven't even checked my hillside tomatoes, though they seem to be fine looking from the distance at their color. These two plants have been stripped twice this season just as I am trying to get them to produce growth and fruit that I will harvest over the winter (they're in my greenhouse).

grrrrrrr!

FACE 8/19/2015, 2:39 pm

You need to get those wasps which specialize in laying their eggs right on the worms, even when they're in the larval stage; they tend to kill those green caterpillar-looking things before they can do any significant damage.

In the meantime, pick 'em off by hand (or with a paper towel, or pliers)...they won't hurt humans!

FACE

Marc Iverson 8/19/2015, 4:29 pm

audrey.jeanne.roberts wrote:I found 9, NINE!!! Horned tomato worms on just two plants this morning. I have never had this amount of worms *smoke coming from her ears!* I haven't even checked my hillside tomatoes, though they seem to be fine looking from the distance at their color. These two plants have been stripped twice this season just as I am trying to get them to produce growth and fruit that I will harvest over the winter (they're in my greenhouse).

grrrrrrr!

Uggh, I hate those things! So destructive!!!

Sometimes I hear or read people say they want to encourage the lovely lovely moths that lay the eggs that turn into those caterpillars, and it really makes me grit my teeth.

I was never able to find a remedy to them. Maybe they just bred too fast. I hope you have better luck with them than I have come to expect.

**sanderson** 8/20/2015, 2:22 am

I hate them, also. I'm finally brave enough to pluck them from the tomato plants with gloves and dispose in soapy water.

audrey.jeanne.roberts 8/20/2015, 2:28 am

I search for them in the morning with pruners in hand. When I find one I just cut it in half on the vine. Serves 'em right!!!!! No need to touch Razz

FACE 8/21/2015, 3:17 am

Folks, stay tuned for a pic (if I can figure out how to do that!): the very next day after my WASPS post of 8/19/15, I found a little bugger (maybe 1.5 inches long) on one of my tomato plants...

Fortunately, not only was it on the end of an outside upper branch/shoot of leaves... so I just cut a few inches off the end of that branch (usually, they seem to bury themselves somewhere on the main stem, where they're really tough to see)...

But the worm had also already been hit by a mama Braconid wasp, as it had the distinctive white cocoons all over it...(usually, that alone will render the worm less destructive - and DEAD within a few days!

Actually, I just found an article online, with pics that are much more clear than the one I took...here's the link (you likely will have to copy and paste the link):

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-04_braconid_wasp_on_hornworm.htm

**Scorpio Rising** 8/22/2015, 10:55 am

Gee, gardening....not for the faint of heart. The entire thing is kinda gross and brutal. But I love my maters!

The worms work fast, I have had them in the past. Never saw the white cocoons on one though, good to know. But ewwwww...... Shocked

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WASPS TO THE RESCUE!

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Hornworms....

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