cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17588319
[Image description: a thicc green hornworm hanging onto the stem of a tomato plant. The hornworm is speckled with little white dots, has eyespots and angular white stripes down his side, and the namesake sharp little spike of a horn on its butt.]
Always double check that they are still active before killing them. I've found several on my tomatos before that have been essentially paralyzed. If you let them be, you'll see some cocoons of these parasitic wasps show up on their back. They will then go seek and destroy any others in your garden.
Don't know the range of those wasps, but I'm in inland southern California, and I don't think I've ever spotted a worm with them. Kinda glad of that tbh, the whole idea gives me the heebie geebies.
I don't know. I suspect that since it is a specific predator that has co-evolved with tomato hornworms, they would completely overlap ranges. Looking at the map of observations people have put on iNaturalist, though, it does not look like they are in your area, so who knows.
They can be very useful and are even used in homes to fight pests.
When I was a kid I had a dog who loved to put these guys in his mouth. He'd come in with a funny look on his face, we'd lift up his lips and he'd have one or several of them tucked up between his gums and cheek like it was tobacco. No idea why that was so appealing to him.
They have nicotine in them, your dog was probably buzzed
If you’ve got one you probably have a bunch. Check under every leaf and get rid of those fuckers.
I wish that they were the biggest problem bug for my tomatoes, but that title goes to the godforsaken spider mites. They decimate my plants every summer as soon as the weather turns hot, and I've tried so many things to combat them.
This year I've applied a couple rounds of predator mites, and in addition to some ruthless pruning of affected plants, I feel like I'm actually holding ground in the battle. Though really hoping that the predator mites will establish a population, as they're a pricy solution.
Predator mites work best on corn (they eat the pollen) and in the greenhouse. As you've noticed when it gets hot they don't do as well.
Stethorus punctillum work for when it gets hot.
Yeah, would be nice if I were in a closed environment and could keep them from running away!
I've tried neoseiulus californicus and galendromus occidentalis, and also zelus renardii as a generalist predator. I've considered stethorus punctillum, might have to give them a shot too.
Putting out the assassin bugs with the predatory mites is not a good idea. They are indescriminate hunters. They also tend to fly away. They do a better job on aphids and whiteflies in my experience.
The G. occidentalis usually only works in cooler temps below 90F. Above that their populations crash. They are awesome in a temperature controlled greenhouse.
N. californicus can take the heat but need high levels. This is why they work in corn. Apply them at tasselling and they reproduce on the corn pollen rapidly. They then can suppress spider mites for the rest of the season. Otherwise you are left releasing every 2 weeks for the rest of the season. It works but it's expensive.
That's a fair point, didn't consider that my generalists would probably also be happy snacking on my good guys. I released them along with the G. occidentalis back in May when it was much cooler, in the hopes of preempting the spider mite spread.
The N. californicus I released in mid June, and though I didn't happen to grow any corn in the garden this year, hopefully the volume of spider mites is enough to keep them well fed.
Is safers soap something you would be interested in maybe using? It’s safe on vegetables after washing them.
Yep, I've tried various soaps and all kinds of oils, tried regularly spraying down the leaves to keep them dust free and the humidity up, tried removing plants at the first sign of infestation, all of it seemingly futile under the literal avalanche of mites I get every summer. If I miss a few days of these preventative measures, my poor tomatoes will have leaves gone from a slight sign of damage to a fully webbed death. And it's not like my plants are water starved either, I use drip irrigation under thick mulch, so the soil stays moist even on the hottest days.
It's been really constraining on my growing season. I'm often able to get plants in the ground around mid-February and get a good harvest in May, but June/July is spent just watching all my plants die a lingering infested death. I'm in 10a, so I should easily be able to get a second summer crop in, but new seedlings planted at the end of spring seem to fare even worse than their established brethren. Hence why I've finally decided to spend the $$$ on predators, really hoping that their population establishes and tames the micro menace.
Shit that’s rough, is it localized to just you? Or do your neighbors get it as well?
Hard to judge, as not one of my next door neighbors is interested in gardening, despite my efforts at offering seeds/seedlings/help.
I haven't gotten to really connect with any gardening groups in my area, but the handful of folks I have talked to also have problems with spider mites, though not sure if to quite such a severe degree.
Hrmm I’ve heard skipping a season if they’re really bad can be a potential solution, I know it’s tough to not plant anything, but if it’s one year and it makes the rest better instead of a constant struggle. Maybe worth a try?
Yeah... the thought has crossed my mind, even though tomatoes are my absolute favorite thing to grow. If I knew for sure it'd really reduce the population, I could probably convince myself, but how sad would it be to have a tomatoless year just to have the mites back in full force the next. 😕
Grow indoors one year? You probably spend close to the same amount in remediation as you could get a light and a tent if the light bleeds an issue.
I’ve experimented with some veggies in my aeroponics system, but soil works too.
My understanding is the point is to make them want to go somewhere else and nest for the winter or whatever they do. They stay since they know they get fed every year.
I encountered these assholes for the first time last summer in my little box garden. I love caterpillars, so when I saw one I left him alone to snack. The next day I found close to 10 more and my plants were in bad shape.
Death to Hornworms!!!
Shame the adult moths look so cool ;_;
I know! Also, they are pollinators. And it tickles when they lick drops of water off one's fingertips. But I will not dissuade myself.
When I was a kid once of my chores was to check for these little fuckers on my mom's organic tomatoes, since she never used pesticides.
She did buy Mantis egg cases every year but they weren't enough to stop them all. On the plus side, that area developed a population of mantises at least partially because of them.
Is it just perspective or is this thing MASSIVE?
These fuckers get huge, fast. They will strip your tomato plant bare if you don't catch them early.
They can get quite large and will decimate a tomato plant in a day. Suffice to say, there are no survivors in my mother's garden.
Kill that plush looking muthafucka.
My first year gardening I found one of these. Not knowing what it was I put it in a Mason jar and crammed in the rest of the branch it was feasting on. By the next day it had devoured every bit of it and looked like it was starving
Nice photo, I hate it but I like it... but I hate it... but I like it...
They're terrible, but damn if those eye spots don't look like they belong in a surrealist painting. Bugs are neat (and terrible).
I presume it went for a swim in the soapy water jar moments thereafter?
I usually put them out on my driveway and it doesn't take long before a bird spots my tasty snack offering. Someday I'd love to have chickens to give them to instead.
Great idea. I've got a family of crows on the property that appreciate big bug snacks.
We feed them to our chickens 😝🐔
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