Help, horned tobacco worms are getting my tomatoes!

[misslissa]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep these giant worms off my tomato plants? I don't want to use pesticides because I like the whole organic thing. But I don't want to end up with hole-y 'maters, either!
Thanks yall,
MissLissa

[StellaBlue]

About the only thing you can do without the use of pesticides is pluck them off and squish them. If you notice any little eggs on their back, leave the worms there. The eggs are wasps, which are natural predators of the worms. So if you have wasps in your garden, leave them there, and they will help you get rid of the worms.

There is also a natural insecticide called Bacillus Thuringiensis (bT) that works well, if you can find it. A lot of organic farmers use it to get rid of unwanted bugs.

Good luck!

[PuddleMonk]

BT does work well. Otherwise just pick them off. I don't like killing them though. I just toss them over the fence into the neighbor's yard ... maybe I'll stop someday, when his Bush/Cheney '04 signs are taken down. :mad: Another thing they can't stand is garlic. Mash a clove or two and add them to a sprayer. Fill it with very warm water. When its cooled down, the garlic should be all through the water and you can spray it right onto your plants. I make the stuff in bulk batches and freeze it, with added seaweed emulsion. Once a month all my plants get a treatment.

Richard

[toman]

mmmm, garlic. Spray some on me! :cheers:

[butterflyDancer]

the tomato worms hate basil, so if you plant basil around and in between your tomato plants, you'll get rid of 'em.
it all works out great because they taste good together, too :)