Something eating upper stems

uberest · May 9, 2012

An unknown pest is eating the tops of our tomato plants. It eats the interior of the stems in a stretch of a couple of inches. It is often times leaving the back strip of the exterior of the stem intact. Its not eating any of the leaves or the fruit only the stems.

Does anyone know what is doing this?

kath · May 9, 2012

That's terrible! I haven't ever seen this but could it be one of the corn borer pests? I think I remember hearing that they attack tomato plants as well as corn although I haven't seen it happen here. Hope someone with more experience chimes in soon.

Crandrew · May 9, 2012

WTH seriously thats bad, somebody has to know what it is. Wow.

b54red · May 9, 2012

That is a new one on me. Four years ago I had a small green borer worm that would bore a tiny hole into the stem about the diameter of a regular pencil lead and eat some of the interior but they also did the same thing to the young green fruit. They destroyed a couple of my best plants. They were light green and had legs at the front and back like a cabbage looper but much thinner and totally unaffected by Dipel. See if you have any entrance holes in the stems and how large they are. There should be a hole if it is some kind of borer. Despite that I would spray all of my plants with Sevin making sure to coat the stems well. I find adding a bit of molasses helps it stick better.

kurt · May 9, 2012

If you do not see any critters,looked in my book and saw something called pith necrosis that looks the same as photo.

uberest · May 10, 2012

Thanks for all the ideas we will check it closer and see if any of the suggestions match up.

May 9, 2012	#2
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	That's terrible! I haven't ever seen this but could it be one of the corn borer pests? I think I remember hearing that they attack tomato plants as well as corn although I haven't seen it happen here. Hope someone with more experience chimes in soon.

May 9, 2012	#3
Crandrew Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: asdf Posts: 1,202	WTH seriously thats bad, somebody has to know what it is. Wow.

May 9, 2012	#4
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	That is a new one on me. Four years ago I had a small green borer worm that would bore a tiny hole into the stem about the diameter of a regular pencil lead and eat some of the interior but they also did the same thing to the young green fruit. They destroyed a couple of my best plants. They were light green and had legs at the front and back like a cabbage looper but much thinner and totally unaffected by Dipel. See if you have any entrance holes in the stems and how large they are. There should be a hole if it is some kind of borer. Despite that I would spray all of my plants with Sevin making sure to coat the stems well. I find adding a bit of molasses helps it stick better.

May 9, 2012	#5
kurt Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Homestead,Everglades City Fl. Posts: 2,501	If you do not see any critters,looked in my book and saw something called pith necrosis that looks the same as photo.

May 10, 2012	#6
uberest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 2	Thanks for all the ideas we will check it closer and see if any of the suggestions match up.