TOMATO HORNWORM DAMAGE
Your day can be ruined after waiting months for that perfectly ripe homegrown veggie if pests beat you to it. Or, arising early to tend your garden to discover that, while you slept, nocturnal cutworms destroyed several feet of newly sprouted plants.
Insect control is a personal choice with some gardeners relying expressly on the ecofriendly method of handpicking and squishing those six-legged miscreants. Some gardeners prefer natural-based pest control liquids which are likewise ecologically friendly, while still others use broad-spectrum synthetic insecticides that kill a wide variety of insects.
Persons such as me combine all three methods because no single remedy controls all pests when growing a wide variety of vegetables.
Insect control is a personal choice with some gardeners relying expressly on the ecofriendly method of handpicking and squishing those six-legged miscreants. Some gardeners prefer natural-based pest control liquids which are likewise ecologically friendly, while still others use broad-spectrum synthetic insecticides that kill a wide variety of insects.
Persons such as me combine all three methods because no single remedy controls all pests when growing a wide variety of vegetables.
TOMATO HORN WORM
Natural Remedies
1 ) Insecticidal Soaps: For the largest part, these natural insecticides are less harmful to bees and beneficial insects than their commercial counterparts, but are only marginally effective for controlling larger hard-shelled insects and caterpillars. Coming in a wide variety of brand names, insecticidal soaps primarily kill smaller soft-bodied insects like aphids.
2) Nicotine: Perhaps the most effective eco-friendly insect control is one you can make yourself. Nicotine is friendly to beneficial insects while killing most large worms and many hard-shelled and soft-bodied pests. When sprayed directly on plants after dusk and allowed to dry overnight, it's safe for bees, ants and ladybugs, plus, it dissipates rapidly in the environment:
Add one-third cup of unflavored natural chewing tobacco to each gallon of boiling water, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Allow it to cool, then add one teaspoon of dishwashing detergent per gallon, mist plants at dusk.
Unfortunately, nicotine does not kill tomato horn worms (shown at right) or tobacco horn worms, and both eat tomatoes, tobacco, eggplants, potato vines and peppers. To control such pests, scroll down to "Synthetic Insecticides."
1 ) Insecticidal Soaps: For the largest part, these natural insecticides are less harmful to bees and beneficial insects than their commercial counterparts, but are only marginally effective for controlling larger hard-shelled insects and caterpillars. Coming in a wide variety of brand names, insecticidal soaps primarily kill smaller soft-bodied insects like aphids.
2) Nicotine: Perhaps the most effective eco-friendly insect control is one you can make yourself. Nicotine is friendly to beneficial insects while killing most large worms and many hard-shelled and soft-bodied pests. When sprayed directly on plants after dusk and allowed to dry overnight, it's safe for bees, ants and ladybugs, plus, it dissipates rapidly in the environment:
Add one-third cup of unflavored natural chewing tobacco to each gallon of boiling water, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Allow it to cool, then add one teaspoon of dishwashing detergent per gallon, mist plants at dusk.
Unfortunately, nicotine does not kill tomato horn worms (shown at right) or tobacco horn worms, and both eat tomatoes, tobacco, eggplants, potato vines and peppers. To control such pests, scroll down to "Synthetic Insecticides."
CUTWORM DAMAGE INDICATED BY EVERY SPROUT EATEN IN A STRAIGNT LINE AS SHOWN IN THE FOREGROUND
3) Corn Meal: Cutworms and slugs are nocturnal, so they're devilishly difficult to catch in the act. By day, cutworms remain tunneled beneath the soil, and slugs hide in dark dank crevices, then come out after dusk to consume foliage. But when given the choice between plants and corn meal, most cutworms and slugs prefer the latter.
These pests die shortly after consuming cornmeal because their guts cannot process it, and the next morning after spreading some at the site of damage, I've found cutworms writhing on the surface unable to burrow to safety.
Cutworm damage is usually diagnosed by damage consistency: Once they find a row of sprouts, cutworms eat their fill by going from one sprout to the next, then tunnel beneath the surface at the last eaten sprout to return the next night and continue. Simply put, if every sprout is missing within any portion of a row, suspect a cutworm.
Slug damage is more random but can be determined if the damage occurs overnight or during cool overcast days, and if glistening mucus trails are left behind. In addition to destroying seedlings, slugs can quickly devour larger mature plants and ruin ripening produce.
Shown at right is an example application where cutworms or snails would need to cross a line of cornmeal to continue feeding on plants.
These pests die shortly after consuming cornmeal because their guts cannot process it, and the next morning after spreading some at the site of damage, I've found cutworms writhing on the surface unable to burrow to safety.
Cutworm damage is usually diagnosed by damage consistency: Once they find a row of sprouts, cutworms eat their fill by going from one sprout to the next, then tunnel beneath the surface at the last eaten sprout to return the next night and continue. Simply put, if every sprout is missing within any portion of a row, suspect a cutworm.
Slug damage is more random but can be determined if the damage occurs overnight or during cool overcast days, and if glistening mucus trails are left behind. In addition to destroying seedlings, slugs can quickly devour larger mature plants and ruin ripening produce.
Shown at right is an example application where cutworms or snails would need to cross a line of cornmeal to continue feeding on plants.
CUTWORM LARVAE
4) Beneficial Nematodes: These naturally-occurring microscopic organisms are used as a form of biological pest control, and are usually mixed in water and applied to the soil to control cutworms, grub worms, ants, fleas, moths, beetles, flies, weevils, et al. Once established, they attack pests in their larval or pupal stage and continue propagating as long as live hosts are present.
Nematodes can be ordered from several suppliers found on the internet, and in most cases, the minimal amounts offered cover far larger areas than you'll need. Also, these are living organisms so a limited time exists for them to be used.
As such, I've twice found myself with an overabundance of nematodes, so I continued applying them every two weeks to my garden soil until all were used without any adverse affects.
TIP: Nematodes are especially useful in their ability to control moles by depleting their main food source, which are grubs.
Nematodes can be ordered from several suppliers found on the internet, and in most cases, the minimal amounts offered cover far larger areas than you'll need. Also, these are living organisms so a limited time exists for them to be used.
As such, I've twice found myself with an overabundance of nematodes, so I continued applying them every two weeks to my garden soil until all were used without any adverse affects.
TIP: Nematodes are especially useful in their ability to control moles by depleting their main food source, which are grubs.
Synthetic Insecticides
1) Zeta-cypermethrin: This broad-spectrum insecticide sold by Ortho under the brand-name "Sevin®" controls tomato and tobacco hornworms, plus more than 500 insect pests while protecting plants up to three months, but it does not control stink bugs.
2) Bifenthrin: As noted in this Mississippi State Extension News Letter, this broad-spectrum insecticide does control stink bugs (Ortho Bug-B-Gon, Max Lawn and Garden Insect Killer Concentrate are the most common brand name products) or permethrin: "Heavy stink bug infestations can ruin a crop of fall tomatoes or peppers or damage a crop of peas or butter beans so badly that it is just not worth the effort to shell them and pick out the damaged seed ... On tomatoes and peppers damage usually appears as irregular-shaped white or yellow blotches under the skin of the fruit."
3) Malathion: Likewise noted in the same Mississippi State Extension News Letter, Malathion is another good broad-spectrum insecticide that does control stink bugs. Garden-safe products can be purchased under brand names such as Bonide, Ortho, Spectracide, Hi-Yield, Gordon's, etc.
1) Zeta-cypermethrin: This broad-spectrum insecticide sold by Ortho under the brand-name "Sevin®" controls tomato and tobacco hornworms, plus more than 500 insect pests while protecting plants up to three months, but it does not control stink bugs.
2) Bifenthrin: As noted in this Mississippi State Extension News Letter, this broad-spectrum insecticide does control stink bugs (Ortho Bug-B-Gon, Max Lawn and Garden Insect Killer Concentrate are the most common brand name products) or permethrin: "Heavy stink bug infestations can ruin a crop of fall tomatoes or peppers or damage a crop of peas or butter beans so badly that it is just not worth the effort to shell them and pick out the damaged seed ... On tomatoes and peppers damage usually appears as irregular-shaped white or yellow blotches under the skin of the fruit."
3) Malathion: Likewise noted in the same Mississippi State Extension News Letter, Malathion is another good broad-spectrum insecticide that does control stink bugs. Garden-safe products can be purchased under brand names such as Bonide, Ortho, Spectracide, Hi-Yield, Gordon's, etc.