The Worms are Winning

[karstopography]

So far, I’ve harvested a grand total of 2 grape tomatoes, “sugary” is the type. Meanwhile, I’ve lost 4 other tomatoes to army worms, thankfully not the dreaded Tomato horn worm, 2 tomatoes to BER (side by side on same celebrity plant) and knocked off 3 Carmello tomatoes accidentally fixing a stake partially blown over by a ferocious windstorm. The ones lost haven’t been ones I haven’t tasted before, so that’s a plus. Only one was an OP type, Cherokee Purple, a worm got that one, but there’s plenty more CP behind the one lost and the one lost wasn’t a pretty or well formed tomato anyway, sort of a hidden ground hovering tomato that never are all that great.

Hard it is losing them before they get ripe, kind of feels like I won’t get any with the rate of loss, but when I think about it it’s well less than a tomato a day attrition averaged out since the tomatoes have set fruit. I’ve got more plants than I ever had so I should expect some extra losses, still, I sort of hate losing any. I do pick off any worms or flea beetles, so far that’s all that’s molested them, I see and I know that helps. No other sign of BER and this celebrity plant has struggled all along, not sure why, most other plants look great.

With keeping a log, I’ll get a good handle on the losses. I used to guess it was about 25% to bugs, birds, BER, and assorted other pests.

What say you, what’s a percentage of loss you typically see in your tomato patch?

[fluffy_gumbo]

Are you against spraying your tomatoes? I get worms too but at the very first sign I spray BT which is organic, and that usually takes care of the problem, and repeated if needed. But I understand if you are practicing no-spray, then the only way is to be vigilant and catch the eggs before they even hatch. It's hard relying on nature to take care of that even when we got lots of birds and lizards.
I don't usually get losses until later in the summer, due to leaf-footed bugs damage, and the plants dying from diseases. My big problem is more fruit setting Can't lose them if you don't got them!

[karstopography]

I might try the BT if it gets worse. Picking off pests give me an excuse to walk around and look at the plants more often. I don’t usually spray anything that’s specifically designed to kill insects. I did spray some neem oil on some other vegetables about a week ago. The worms really haven’t been too numerous. I haven’t seen a tomato horn worm yet. BTW, those make excellent catfish bait if you don’t mind touching them. If I was getting more fruit ready to pick, I wouldn’t even notice the tiny bit of loss. It’s the stage of tomatoes getting close to picking and that the worms are getting first shot at them that is the mildly annoying part.

I’ve had a lot of tomatoes set a lot of fruit so that’s very nice. Still some good amount of blooming going on and more favorable weather ahead for fruit set, so things really are very well. This should be my best tomato year ever based on first impressions, although, the bar isn’t very high. One reason I’m optimistic is simply because I’ve planted more tomatoes than ever. I’m also feeling good because I’ve been more diligent about the details and that’s translating to better looking plants than in past seasons.

[TomHillbilly]

I'll have to say, I'm totally ignorant about army worms. Never had to deal with them. So I youtubed them, to get educated on them. It was a good learning experience. I think I've saw a few of the destructive worms. But never in my life, like some places get them. PS-- I never wrote this to rub it in on others, that I don't have to deal with army worms. I wrote this so others like me, will research them. How many can congregate in areas is fascinating. They live up to their name. I'm lucky not to have that problem

[karstopography]

There would be dozens of tiny ones on a tomato leaf, but those are an easy kill. I just prune off the leaf and smash it to bits. That happened several times. I suppose if I didn’t spot them soon enough, the damage could be catastrophic in short order. A few do tend to escape containment and grow and those escapees are the ones to fear. They of course grow larger hiding in the foliage and then eat holes in the tomatoes. I stare at the tomato plants and look for their droppings, that’s generally what I see first. Droppings will be on lower leaves and then I peer into the leaf canopy or along the clusters of fruit. Armyworms like to rest at the base of the tomato stem. Pick it out and smash, that’s what I do. Very satisfying.

[Clkeiper]

do you have tomato pin worms? they are small black or dk grey. army worms are usually in corn. Bt is not an insecticide as you are thinking. it is a bacteria that the worms ingest while they are eating on the leaves. when they eat it it gives them a "full gut feeling" and they quit eating and die off. no matter what type of worms you have the dipel will help you get your crop rather than them destroying each and every fruit.

the product you would be looking for is spinosad or di pel. same product different names. you do need to reapply after a rain.


or you could have tomato fruitworms

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/veg ... inworm.htm

[karstopography]

Maybe I had both, but looking at the net on tomato pin worms I see they max out at 1/4” and the ones I get are an inch, at least.

[PlainJane]

I lose probably 10% to insects and birds; very rarely to BER.
As soon as I spot any insect frass or chewed holes I pull the leaf off and toss it in the trash. I inspect my plants twice a day and have been able to keep worms in check without any kind of spraying or dusting.
I have Seabright Labs sticky traps all over the place for smaller flying pests.

My biggest problem is that once humidity rises (about now on the calendar) I start to see foliage diseases manifest. I use a diluted bleach spray to knock them back long enough to get through my harvest. By end of June tomatoes are done for me.

[Barb_FL]

Currently, for every large tomato that I am picking, I am tossing at least 2 due to caterpillars. I have never seen so many moths, butterflies flying throughout the day.

Earlier in the season, I was going out nightly in the dark with my black light - totally visible are hornworms, the grey tomato worms when they are younger and in their green stage, and the green stink bugs. I had a lot less waste when I was doing this but now I'm ready for the season to be over.

I actually saw how the tomato worm gets into a tomato. It was hidden on a leaf stem, and worked its way into the stem part of the tomato still hidden by the leaf stem.

I had one plant that produced a ton of large tomatoes but all were caterpillar damaged.

I too have the Seabright Yellow sticky cards on every plant. I sprayed BT once, but I blast my plants almost daily so not effective.

[karstopography]

I’m surprised I haven’t seen a single tomato horn worm yet. Last year, I had half, less than half, the tomato plants I do this year and generally picked off 2-3 a day on average, but it might have been more than that. No stink bugs either, yet. It’s been much drier this year so that’s one key difference.

I’ve got a great 1 liter Solo mist sprayer. I’ve been misting the tomatoes about once a week with kelp. Earlier, I was hitting them with fish emulsion. I’ve read kelp has some efficacy against tomato pests, but maybe that’s just marketing claims.

[karstopography]

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Found one on my Roma plant. This one now swims with the fishes.

[karstopography]

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Found these Roma tomatoes with armyworm damage this morning. I’m hoping it’s from the worm I found and tossed in the lake yesterday.

[arnorrian]

My greatest problem by far are stinkbugs. 90% of tomato fruits I lose is because of them. The winter was super mild, I'm afraid they will come out in droves.

[EdieJ]

Yeah, because of the ultra-mild winter we are already swarming with stinkbugs too. Ugh. Thank goodness I don't think we have those army worms but now that I know what they look like I will keep an eye out. For hornworms we do use bT so maybe that's why we haven't had the armyworm issue. And Daconil for fungus - and that reminds me I need to get mine sprayed today!

[karstopography]

The count is 14 tomato casualties, 4 from friendly fire, 6 to army-worms, 4 due to BER. The BER are from one plant stuck in a corner. No sign of stink bugs or Horn worms and I look out for both constantly.

Total of 4 sugary grape tomatoes harvested. Lots of big, small, medium green tomatoes of various stripes, no color breakers yet, can’t stand this waiting!