I found a tomato hormworm in my once vibrant tomato plant yesterday.....?

after some research, I've read that they glow like scorpions under UV or black lights. true or false? These things are killing my tomato plant. :( Munching the stems and leaves. picked one yesterday and there is more damage this morning.


Any advice?

I found a tomato hormworm in my once vibrant tomato plant yesterday.....?
You can certainly hand pick them. They look much more fearsome than they really are %26lt;g%26gt;.





If you're going to have a killing frost in the next 6-8 weeks, I certainly wouldn't worry about the damage you're reporting here. Elsewhere I'd suggest handpicking the hornworms and applying


water and fertilizer (low N to P and K ratio)
Reply:Hello-------I am a Certified Master Gardener, and work with plants as a volunteer at my local University Botanic Gardens.





As an organic gardener, I definitely prefer NOT to use toxic chemicals whenever I can avoid them.





Handpicking them and then placing them in a container of water is the best way to control them.





This is the end of the season for tomatoes, so once you are assured your tomato plant is in decline, pull it up and compost it if you can.





I sincerely hope this helps.





PAMELA J.
Reply:Examine plants frequently from early July into August for hornworm eggs and small caterpillars and begin control measures as soon as young larvae are observed.





Cultural Control


Handpicking the hornworms from infested plants is a safe and effective option in smaller plantings. Roto-tilling the soil after harvest will destroy many of the burrowing larvae which are attempting to pupate. Tillage has shown to cause up to 90% mortality.





Biological Control


Tomato hornworm larvae are also parasitized by a number of insects. One of the most common is a small braconid wasp, Cotesia congregatus. Larvae that hatch from wasp eggs laid on the hornworm feed on the inside of the hornworm until the wasp is ready to pupate. The cocoons appear as white projections protruding from the hornworms body (see photo, below). If such projections are observed, the hornworms should be left in the garden to conserve the beneficial parasitoids. The wasps will kill the hornworms when they emerge from the cocoons and will seek out other hornworms to parasitize. PIC: http://www.vegedge.umn.edu/IMG/Tomato/20...





Chemical Control


The current action threshold for tomato hornworm is 0.5 young larvae/plant. If this larval density is exceeded, insecticide treatment is recommended. With all products, particularly Bt , treatments should be applied when larvae are still in the early instars. Late instars (%26gt;3/4") are difficult to kill.





- Bt subsp. kurstaki (Dipel and others)


- carbaryl (Sevin XLR Plus)


- spinosad (SpinTor 2 SC)
Reply:Pull em off!
Reply:They are about to make butterflies and moths. Most people drop them in water to get rid of them. You can spray if you wish, pick something up at the gardening center.

rain roots