one is bad but seven is deadly!!

[neoguy]

Originally Posted by Riceloft

Oh man. Thats scary! Do you see them every year? Cause this is year #3 for my garden and I have yet to see any! I'm definitely going to check though!

I do see them almost every year. So far this year, I've only had them on my container grown peppers but I've had them on my in ground tomato plants as well. What alerted me this morning was that many peppers had their bottoms chewed off. I looked closer and sure enough, the suckers were munching further up the stems.

[babice]

Originally Posted by RobinB

Somebody once told me that they glow under a blacklight. Does anybody know if that's true? It might be an easy way to find them. I can just see myself outside with a portable blacklight, or wait... better yet, a fluorescent fixture with a long power cord going from plant to plant!

Hmmm - I actually do have a blacklight and will try it out and report any results. I have this because of a kitty I rescued that had pee issues when we first brought him home and I needed to find the spots in the room we had kept him in. It has a blacklight across the base but also you can switch it to the flashlight on the bottom. It's battery powered and very light weight. It was pretty inexpensive - probably bought it at Petco or something.

[kath]

Thanks, babice! I'm happy that someone's giving this a try. Once those hornworms get big it's sometimes really hard to find them even though you can see the poo. I also didn't know that you could use the blacklight to find cat pee spots. I may be hunting down a flashlight model myself before the season is out.

kath

[babice]

Originally Posted by kath

I also didn't know that you could use the blacklight to find cat pee spots.

Oh yes ma'am! What a life saver. You will be surprised - you may find a tiny spot here or a tiny spot there and that is what's stinkin' the room up. I had cleaned this particular room's carpet rather thoroughly and was just confounded because the smell just wouldn't go away. Bought that light and discovered not only a few spots on the carpet that I had not even known were there but also -- he had peed all over some of his toys. Those got thrown away and the spots got treated. No problems since!

I'm having so many problems with my toms and fungus, there may not even be any tomato plants left for any hornworms to try to eat. (posted in the Disease Forum about that).

[Ken4230]

Last year I had dozens of white grubs and hundreds of their eggs(along with thousands of ants) in each of my containers and raised beds. They just decimated my garden along with the flowers in the beds.

Dan, at my local garden store, suggested a late fall soil drench with Imidacloprid and a small amount in each planting hole this spring. I'm not very enthusiastic about any chemical use so I tried it with some reservations. I have had almost no visible insect damage this year.

I have found two in love Japanese Beetles and one Hornworm and evidence of three more hornworms. Dan said the bugs would take a bite or two and die. I still have ants but the white grubs are gone and their eggs are dried up.

[zeroma]

Originally Posted by babice

Hmmm - I actually do have a blacklight and will try it out and report any results. I have this because of a kitty I rescued that had pee issues when we first brought him home and I needed to find the spots in the room we had kept him in. It has a blacklight across the base but also you can switch it to the flashlight on the bottom. It's battery powered and very light weight. It was pretty inexpensive - probably bought it at Petco or something.

So babice, did you ever find out if hormworms glow in blacklight?

[sio2rocks]

I would only use imidacloprid with some trepidation as it can be harmful in higher doses. It typically is suggested for non-edibles like trees and shrubs. It is a systemic insecticide so it will be taken up by the plant's roots and distributed throughout the plant. I have only seen one product labeled for fruit and vegetable use that had impidacloprid as the main ingredient; it is made by Bayer and called fruit, citrus, and vegetable insect control. The active ingredient imidacloprid is only 0.235% in the concentrate and the suggested use is 0.5 oz concentrate per 10 square ft. of garden. So the dosage is very small compared with the use for trees and shrubs so I would be careful using anything with that chemical unless the concentration is specifically recommended for edibles.

Best of luck with your garden. I've heard there are some new products being engineered to remain in the plant itself but stay out of the fruit/vegetables produced by the plant (A Monterray Chemicals distributor was talking with me about these last year).

Colin

[babice]

Originally Posted by zeroma

So babice, did you ever find out if hormworms glow in blacklight?

Hi zeroma - I never did have enough more of them to try the blacklight thing.

[livinonfaith]

We have scads of hornworms here every summer.

I have never sprayed, though. I probably find 85% of them when they are still little pale green eggs sitting on a leaf. Most of the others don't get over an inch before the signs are visible. Then they are picked off and drowned.

I've lost a few branches a couple of times, and several tomatoes, but never a whole plant.

The key is to walk the garden every day, looking for them. (Keeping in mind that I only have twenty to forty tomato plants each year, so it's not so hard to do.)

Personally, I'll take hornworms over mites, voles, aphids, whiteflys, thrips, or most diseases any day.

[efisakov]

I was traveling last summer and my family was watering garden. They were surprised to find half of the tomato plant eaten up from one day to the next. During last year season I have found few more hornworms (4 in total and huge). I have never seen them here in NJ before the last year. Weird.

[Ken4230]

Originally Posted by sio2rocks

I would only use imidacloprid with some trepidation as it can be harmful in higher doses. It typically is suggested for non-edibles like trees and shrubs. It is a systemic insecticide so it will be taken up by the plant's roots and distributed throughout the plant. I have only seen one product labeled for fruit and vegetable use that had impidacloprid as the main ingredient; it is made by Bayer and called fruit, citrus, and vegetable insect control. The active ingredient imidacloprid is only 0.235% in the concentrate and the suggested use is 0.5 oz concentrate per 10 square ft. of garden. So the dosage is very small compared with the use for trees and shrubs so I would be careful using anything with that chemical unless the concentration is specifically recommended for edibles.

Best of luck with your garden. I've heard there are some new products being engineered to remain in the plant itself but stay out of the fruit/vegetables produced by the plant (A Monterray Chemicals distributor was talking with me about these last year).

Colin

I used the one made by Bayer and labeled for vegetables, Dan wouldn't let me use the stronger version. He's a special man and i am lucky to know him. his family has run a feed store for 70-80 years and are people you can trust.

Right now it looks like i won't have to use any this year, I've found only one grub worm and no eggs.

[Ken4230]

It's been a long day already