tomato pinworm....advice needed.

lang77 · July 21, 2010

I need some advice...
I have been watching my heirlooms for diseases and insects, and I have been spraying with Garden Disease Preventer (Daconil) faithfully after the rains ....and I have been very diligent about keeping the leaves from touching any soil and I have been using grass clippings to help control moisture loss. This past week I have noticed there has been some sort of an insect burrowing on the top of the fruit leaving a brownish blackish cavity and a sunken greasy entry that is rotting and leaving sunken depression. I have been looking at some photos and reviewing the information on different websites and it looks like tomato pinworm damage. I have also got some bacterial speck going on in. This is my first year in growing heirlooms and I would certainly like to have all of my 44 plants healthy and productive. Hope this cycle can be corrected. Advise needed ....will try to post pictures later today. Thanks in advance.

hasshoes · July 21, 2010

Buy some BT. It is I believe a bacteria that is harmful only to caterpillars. You spray it on your plants, the little jerks eat it, and die in two days. Not toxic to humans or pets. The only downside is that you have to respray often, but that goes with many things. :0)

IMO the little worms can be more dangerous than the big ugly hornworms- they often barrel right into the fruit before you ever see them, causing the fruit to possibly start to ripen early, then totally rot. There's nothing you can do once they get into the maters if they haven't already ingested the BT- you just have to hope they get the BT when they come out again. Sometimes they'll move from fruit to fruit--- very annoying in a rainy year when you can't keep the BT on! That's rare (a really rainy year) though-- start spraying with BT and you should be fine. :0) :0)

July 21, 2010	#1
lang77 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Sioux Falls South Dakota Posts: 22	tomato pinworm....advice needed. I need some advice... I have been watching my heirlooms for diseases and insects, and I have been spraying with Garden Disease Preventer (Daconil) faithfully after the rains ....and I have been very diligent about keeping the leaves from touching any soil and I have been using grass clippings to help control moisture loss. This past week I have noticed there has been some sort of an insect burrowing on the top of the fruit leaving a brownish blackish cavity and a sunken greasy entry that is rotting and leaving sunken depression. I have been looking at some photos and reviewing the information on different websites and it looks like tomato pinworm damage. I have also got some bacterial speck going on in. This is my first year in growing heirlooms and I would certainly like to have all of my 44 plants healthy and productive. Hope this cycle can be corrected. Advise needed ....will try to post pictures later today. Thanks in advance.

July 21, 2010	#2
hasshoes Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: MT Posts: 438	Buy some BT. It is I believe a bacteria that is harmful only to caterpillars. You spray it on your plants, the little jerks eat it, and die in two days. Not toxic to humans or pets. The only downside is that you have to respray often, but that goes with many things. :0) IMO the little worms can be more dangerous than the big ugly hornworms- they often barrel right into the fruit before you ever see them, causing the fruit to possibly start to ripen early, then totally rot. There's nothing you can do once they get into the maters if they haven't already ingested the BT- you just have to hope they get the BT when they come out again. Sometimes they'll move from fruit to fruit--- very annoying in a rainy year when you can't keep the BT on! That's rare (a really rainy year) though-- start spraying with BT and you should be fine. :0) :0) __________________ Sara