Double Whammy

[VC Scott]

Planted 65 beautiful looking plants last weekend. I went out to the garden at noon yesterday and found several plants with little holes in the leaves. A little inspection located this little critter:

Fallbrook-20140325-00049.jpg
Maybe a baby Tomato Horn Worm? Never seen one in March before. The moth must have laid the eggs while the tomatoes were hardening off. All 65 plants were together on one patio table, so they might all have been victims.

An hour later I went out to spray with BT and five plants had been eaten by quail (I think). A rabbit will eat the stem down to the ground. Quail just pick off the leaves.

What next? Locusts? Early blight?

[Sun City Linda]

Oh no! I rarely even see tomato worms here until late summer.

[livinonfaith]

That worm is too tiny for me to see in that pic. Does it have a pronounced "tail" that sticks straight up at one end? Baby hornworms do. If it does, that might be what it is.

Also, take a look at the leaves of your plants. If you see any clusters of eggs, those are NOT hornworms. Hornworms usually lay their eggs singly and they are white to pale green little orbs, about the size of the head of a pin. Just pick them off and dispose of them.

Fortunately, tomatoes recover really well from being munched, as long as they have some leaves left and you get rid of the offenders. (which is pretty easy with hornworms. pick them off and throw them in some soapy water.)

I've had a few peppers that were stripped a couple of times, but that was my fault for not paying enough attention to them for three or four days in a row. If you'll check your plants every day, hornworm damage becomes apparent pretty quickly! Another thing to look for is frass. (worm poop) If you see little brown pellets on your leaves, just look around in the area above it and you'll usually find your culprit.

If I am telling you things you already know, please forgive me! With all these new members, I always figure that someone may be reading who has yet to learn this stuff.

[livinonfaith]

Oh, and if we're second guessing our next agricultural calamity, I'll shout out a big "Heck, NO!" to voles. Been there, done that, had to move everything into containers.

Despise those deceptively cute little critters.

[VC Scott]

Originally Posted by livinonfaith

Oh, and if we're second guessing our next agricultural calamity, I'll shout out a big "Heck, NO!" to voles. Been there, done that, had to move everything into containers.

Despise those deceptively cute little critters.

I checked on the range of voles, and it appears we don't have them in SoCal. I don't think that voles could eat the leaves off of a 10 inch tomato seedling without knocking down the stem. I think it is the quail. I have fought them before. They are small enough to squeeze through the neighbors chain link fence. The damage is done to the plants closest to the chain link. They don't like to run around in open ground, so they will dart out from under some shrubs in the neighbor's yard and take some bites of my tomato plants and then dive back through the chain link.

This weekend I will tie some chicken wire to the bottom of the chain link where they seem to be coming from. Either that, or I will have to wrap the entire garden with chicken wire. The good news is that once the plants are 18 inches or so, they can only reach the bottom leaves, which I would eventually prune away anyhow.