"Stalk borer", horror, or hornworm?
 

On my tomato plants. I took off a stem where the really big hole is. Minor wilting, and dying leaves above. Will BT or spinosad work?

In my years of tomato growing I have never seen this phenomenon :surprised:

A borer of some kind. Make sure to open the stem and kill the borer. I had on ten years ago and it was a solitary worm thank goodness. The plant it got into was dead in a day. I killed the bugger (the caterpillar) and nothing else was infected.

I have read that spraying BT is one way to keep the worms away. Also putting a collar around the stem will keep them from climbing up the stalk.

I would definitely cut that stem open and then identify the caterpillar for future reference.

Thanks everyone!!

I cut it open but found nothing but the Jack's Dead Bug dust and a few aphids.

That is so strange. Looks like it bored into the stem and then left. Maybe some bug made a mistake and bored into the wrong plant and it was not able to eat it for some reason.

Here's someone removing one! I found a similar looking cat in two tomatoes from that plant.I thought she was going to cut herself with that boxcutter.


[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2CFLGY9fx8[/url]

Looks like the tomato fruitworm especially since you found them in the tomatoes which is where they are usually found.

I found one!

I think that you have a tomato fruitworm who made a mistake and went into the stalk instead of a tomato.

They can be green, brown or reddish in color. You can Google some photos.

Thank you, and yes; that's what it is!