is recovering from hornworm posibble?

terryNeb 7/2/2016, 10:08 am

Went on vacation for a week and came back to discover a solid 1/3 of my tomatos had been destroyed by hornworms. we picked of 8 huge hornworms and several small ones. the tops of the plants are just stalks. they even ate a lot of the green tomatos. my Roma's took it the worst which is good, least favorite, then the cherry and grape tomatos. three of the plants are determinate, the rest indeterminate. will they come back and what are my options for keeping my plants safe besides picking off the worms I see. Help please.

countrynaturals 7/2/2016, 11:17 am

For me it was the red sweet peppers they got. I did the same as you and picked them off. My plants still had some leaves left, but they destroyed all the peppers. The plants are still healthy, so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed, but this happened over a week ago and so far there's no sign of new blossoms.

My only advice for others is to stay diligent. Those monsters can strip a large plant in just a couple of hours. I have no idea how they can get that big that fast. Evil or Very Mad

audrey.jeanne.roberts 7/2/2016, 12:18 pm

I had terrible hornworm damage last summer and the tomatoes recovered and eventually produced. Because they eat the tips they force the plants to put their energy into fruit production. I allowed several suckers to grow from below and they became the new growth for the rest of the season.

HATE those *)(U^&$%$(*&^*)(!!!!!

**Scorpio Rising** 7/2/2016, 11:37 pm

Recovery is possible. Prune hard, back to spots that will shoot out growth...not sure what else to say. They are voracious things.

Wish there was a fingers crossed emoji. That is what would be here.

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is recovering from hornworm posibble?

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