caterpillars on tomato's

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dexyblue

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caterpillars on tomato's
« on: July 06, 2010, 12:56 »
I have just found small green caterpillars on my tomatoes  :mad: how do I get rid of them before I have no leaves left please  >:(
I came I saw I grew my own veg

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titch

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Re: caterpillars on tomato's
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2010, 13:00 »
Remove to somewhere no where near your tomatoes - or squish them, check for eggs too and remove them - someone else may give you another method, these are the two I could think of
just keep breathing................

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8doubles

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Re: caterpillars on tomato's
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2010, 13:03 »
Tom moth , caterpillars can be green or brown and i think it`s a pick `em or shake the plants and then pick `em up job.
Luckily they only seem to appear in small numbers.

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hamstergbert

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Re: caterpillars on tomato's
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2010, 16:45 »
Never heard of caterpillars on tomatoes before.

But it made me reconsider as to whether the green squidge that dropped off one of my 'tom pinched out shoots that I am having a go at rooting in my office' and that I swept up and ditched might not in fact be a manky bit of leaf but might instead have legs.  Stone me, I bounced the pot on my desk and three of the little rascals dropped out of the 8" or so foliage!   I shall have a very careful look at all me toms now - greenhouse, tom houses and outside - and wreak tom-erpillar armageddon!

Thanks for bringing this subject up.  I learn something every day.

My word, what a super site this is!
The Dales - probably fingerprint marks where God's hand touched the world

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Snoop

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Re: caterpillars on tomato's
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2010, 17:45 »
I squish every single one I find and I squidge the eggs. The ones we have here are little green monsters that burrow into the tomatoes, turning the insides into unappetising pulp.

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hamstergbert

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Re: caterpillars on tomato's
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2010, 18:26 »
Dozens of the little scallywags! (But seemingly only in the tom houses and not hte greenhouse or outside.  Or else they cling on better.)

Tipped 'em into one of the bird bowls and it would appear that mr and mrs sparrow have cleared 'em out in moments, either that or they can somehow cover ten feet in the few seconds between being tipped and the hungry beaks arriving. 

Anyone know of any dissuasion methods - soapy water or  rhubarb leaf tea or agent orange or something or is it just a matter of keeping doing the knock and birdfood thing?

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VictoriaH

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Re: caterpillars on tomato's
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2010, 17:32 »
They destroyed 20 of my plants last year, the whole lot.
You need to keep doors and windows closed on th greenhouse at night, it's a moth laying eggs. The caterpillars start off green and are tiny, as they get bigger they turn brown. When little they eat the leaves, when disturbed they drop off and hang on a thread. When they are big they bury into the tomatoes. They are very good at hiding.
I haven't seen one on mine this year yet but am vigilant! I will be spraying with a salt solution. Tried washing up liquid last year and that was useless.
Last year a lot of mine were big by the time I realised what was going on, I found cutting them in half with the secateurs was quite effective.

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Yorkie

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Re: caterpillars on tomato's
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2010, 21:27 »
I found cutting them in half with the secateurs was quite effective.

Only quite effective?  ;) :lol:

P.S. Welcome to the site
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days all attack me at once...

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savbo

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Re: caterpillars on tomato's
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2010, 07:47 »
last year i had a few Hebrew Character moth caterpillars on my indoor toms...

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Snoop

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Re: caterpillars on tomato's
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2010, 12:14 »
I will be spraying with a salt solution.

I'm intrigued.

Will you use ordinary salt? If so, might it not damage the plants?

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Cheshire Phill

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Re: caterpillars on tomato's
« Reply #10 on: July 13, 2010, 13:10 »

I have these caterpillars too, and referring back to last year and a well known search engine tells me they were also Hebrew Character moth caterpillars, either green or brown.

They eat lots of leaves and the odd tomato, but I pick 'em off and squish 'em, and they don't seem to appear in large numbers anyway.

Phill  :(

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sarah-king

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Re: caterpillars on tomato's
« Reply #11 on: July 13, 2010, 13:29 »
I have them all over my greenhouse peppers toms seem ok there are hundreds!!! they have Destroyed 3 plants since yesterday :(


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