Tomato fruitworms

ander217 6/4/2010, 10:15 pm

Just came in from the garden after finding a new pest this year - tomato fruitworms. I've never had problems with them before - it's usually hornworms that plague me. I caught them at a very young stage, and pulled about seven of them from my Sweet 100 cherry tomato plant. I hope that will be the end of them, but probably not. The plant has just started setting fruit.

Today's worm "harvest" were small, thin worms, striped brown and green. I found a description of them on the 'net, and apparently they will grow much larger and do major damage to tomato fruits.

Ever vigilant!

**timwardell** 6/4/2010, 10:20 pm

Great... one more pest to worry about. ...Today I cut down 4 tomato plants that were too far gone with blight. All in a row, but in Earth Boxes and not my SFG so I don't consider it a strike against my SFG. Still, they were 5 feet tall, lots of blossoms but they weren't setting fruit.

Glad you caught your worms while they were small.

ander217 6/5/2010, 8:16 am

I'm sorry to hear you lost those tomatoes, Tim. It's so frustrating when they are doing well, and then suddenly they are not.

I hope you have plenty more that are located far away from them.

**timwardell** 6/5/2010, 9:26 pm

@ander - Thankfully I've got 7 more and they aren't touching each other. One of 'em looks a bit off but I'm treating it with a fungicide and think it will pull through.

ander217 6/6/2010, 6:48 pm

Is it just me, or is this turning out to be a tough year for gardeners? I don't remember so many insects, varmints, and blights hitting in the same year.

An article I read on the tomato fruitworm said it also eats corn, and is called the corn earworm, and it gets in cotton bolls and is called the cotton bollworm. I have two beds of corn next to my tomato bed, so I have a feeling there will be more of these guys making their debut in my corn patch at a later date. We've always had problems with earworms here, but I had no idea they were the same thing as the tomato fruit worm.

The good news is, still no more sightings of them in my tomatoes. (Knock on wood.)

sceleste54 6/6/2010, 7:23 pm

I have been vigilant.. checked all my tomatos each evening when I come home from work.. Yesterday they were fine, no signs of any caterpillers, today I find one tomato @ 3 inch diameter with 2 holes in it.. Not just nibbles.. HOLES...I am soo ##$%$^%^% !! I found several worms exactly as you described ander...they have ceased to exist...

Chopper 6/7/2010, 12:31 am

I think you are right about some tough gardening scenarios. I found one of that same worm on one of my tomatoes and haven't seen any more. I look, but the tomatoes are pretty thick. The one I found is no longer with us, of course. I am glad I am not squeamish.

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