Subject: Re: tomato worms

From: [email-masked] (Steve Carnes)
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 19:24:34 GMT

In article [email-masked], [email-masked] (Jerald Brainin) writes:
>I am looking for an effective non-toxic answer to tomato worms?????

Hand pick them.  After work, I grab a scotch and my 3yr old and I
examine the tomatoes -- she picks and eats as many yellow pears or
cherries as she can reach, and I look carefully for hornworm damage.
When I find the occasional beast, I carefully unhook it from the plant
(only if it doesn't have the telltale white bumps from parasitic wasps)
and fling it up on the garage roof for the birds to eat.

The parasitized hornworms (I've only found a few) go into a bucket with
tomato plant trimmings to tide them over until such time as the wee
wasps flee their host, bless their little souls...

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From: [email-masked] (Lynn Edwards)
Date: 7 Mar 1995 21:20:34 -0800

Jerald Brainin ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I am looking for an effective non-toxic answer to tomato worms?????

What about Bacillus Thuringiensis?  It's sold under several brand names - 
ask any nursery.  Wait though, did you mean non-toxic even to tomato 
worms? :-)

Years ago someone told me that the stripes on a tomato worm were 
florescent under ultra violet light.  Since I am one to never leave a 
bizarre remedy untested I set out one night with the UV light from an EPROM 
eraser (never mind what that is - think of it a a blacklight on steroids).  
It was powered through a long extension cord plugged into my kitchen.  

Wow, what an experience!  The tomato worms were more visible then 
they are during the day.  In daylight the "color" of the worm is the same 
as the plant making them very hard to spot.  Under UV illumination the 
contrast between the worm and the tomato are quite different.  The 
stripes do NOT exhibit florescence, though.  The whole worm worm is just 
a different color.

It is not he tomato worms that are interesting though.  It is the spiders.  
There were some spiders in my tomato plants that lit up in incredible 
brilliance.  I mean BIG spiders, the ones you never see during the day.  
Big angry stripes over their eyes, racing stripes along their bodies, 
you have to see it to understand.  I have never been able to reach into 
the center of a tomato plant to pluck that last juicy tomato with the same 
casual attitude ever since.

The end result of my experiment is that the extension cord that I snaked 
through the garden did more damage than all the tomato worms I have ever 
encountered put together.  Each little tug on the cord sheared off 
another plant right at ground level totally unknown to me until I went 
out the next morning.  Extension cords just aren't visible at night even 
under UV.

---Lynn Edwards

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From: [email-masked] (Chenaya Strutton)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 18:25:00 GMT

LE>Years ago someone told me that the stripes on a tomato worm were
   >eraser (never mind what that is - think of it a a blacklight on

    Great story Lynn... nearly snorted my morning coffee reading it :)

                                 Cheryl
---
 * OLX 2.1 TD * Someone, please, stop me before I plant again!

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From: [email-masked] (Peter Smith)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 21:56:37 GMT

>I am looking for an effective non-toxic answer to tomato worms?????

Plant lots of dill or other small-flowered herbs around your tomato
plants.  when the herbs bloom, they attract lots of parasitic wasps
(at least for me), which will help control hornworms and other
caterpillars.

good luck

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From: [email-masked] (Natasha Elizabeth Dehn)
Date: 8 Mar 1995 23:19:10 GMT

Assuming you mean tomato hornworms, I've never had a problem with them 
since my chinese mint (white blooming spearmint) got established.  
Attracts beneficials like you wouldn't believe!  Including various 
carnivorous and parasitic wasps....  Beware:  like all mints, this one 
will take over the universe given the slightest opportunity!

Good luck!
Natasha Dehn