Damage to new small tomatoes - HELP !

[meatburner]

Hi everyone. I posted this in the general section but thought I should have put it here. Newbie ya know.
My new tomatoe plants in the garden (Better Boys), are being eaten by something. A suggestion was to put out beer traps in case it was slugs. Did that last night and got a bunch of small worms (almost a white color) but no adult slugs. I guess they were slugs. I have checked the plants thoroughly and haven't found any other critters in the last week. I did spray for aphids with an Ortho product for aphids a week ago. The damage is very smooth around the edges of the holes and they go quite deep into the small tomatoes. Does someone have any advise about what this damage is? Thanks so much!

Oh, these is no noticable leaf damage.

[livinonfaith]

Still looks like slugs to me.

[meatburner]

I found this bit of damage from last night and what looks like hornworm droppings. There are a few stripped off leaves as well. Have scowered this plant from top to bottom and cannot find anything. Any thoughts? Appreciate you advise and thanks again.

[barkeater]

Looks like caterpiller poop to me!

[kurt]

They stay in the ground during day and come out at night.Try flooding the ground and see if they emerge and snatch them up.Look for some egg sacs underneath leaves.They love irregular ground and rock so they can hide during the day from predators.If they are green hornworms they blend in the foilage and look like a mater stems.If they are stripping that much they are really large and getting ready to morph into another egg laying moth that you will see fluttering around and are mistaken for butterflys.

[tjg911]

if you suspect tomato horn worms then i'd spray the plants with BT immediately. it won't kill slugs but it will kill any caterpillar.

tom

[kath]

Usually you can find them above the largest new poops if you look long enough and try looking from different angles- I knock the old ones off the leaves after I find the worm and that way I can tell which ones are new the next day.

They say you can find them at night if you have a black light- we don't, so I've not tried that. Bt is a winner.

[Keger]

I have killed some on my plants, big green catipillars, hornworms, whatever. I just squash them when I find them, bit will be spraying Sevin tomorrow. But it looks like hornworms to me. Suckers are huge already down here.

[feldon30]

meatburner,

That looks like fruitworm damage. BT (BT Worm Killer liquid or Dipel Dust) to the rescue!

[meatburner]

Thanks for all the help everyone. So far, no more damage. Was out at midnight last night and found nothing and no additional damage this morning. Stopped by a local nursery yesterday and she asked if I saw any Robins in the garden. I did see them when I was home at lunch. She said it was very possible they took care of the culprit for me. I hope that's the case. Will keep a close eye on the plants before I do anything else. Thanks again for all the help!!

[livinonfaith]

Meatburner, I just saw your tag line!

[Tracydr]

Mockingbirds? I had a bunch of bird damage on green fruit last year.

[feldon30]

I recall Mockingbirds leaving more of a "pecked" or hacked-up appearance, and usually on fruit that is at least at the blushing stage. The picture posted by meatburner looks more like something "bored" into the fruit.

Bacillus Thuringiensis is a completely organic product that the worms take a bite out of, and develop a chronic case of indigestion.

While I may use Sevin early on in the season to keep leaf miners from decimating small plants, after about a month I won't use it anymore because it kills both pests and beneficial insects, specifically known predators of spider mites.

[mysidx]

Sorry, but what is BT?

[feldon30]

BT is Bacillus Thuringiensis. It's a bacteria that gives caterpillars/worms/etc. chronic indigestion. It's an OMRI organic product available in powder or liquid concentrate form.

You apply it to your tomato fruit and plants as a preventative and reapply it after it rains.