Little holes in my tomatoes, something eating 'em?

[luigiwu]

Does you guys know what these holes are from and how to take care of them?

Some are larger, and some are actually super tiny, like pin holes almost.

Thanks!

[newatthiskat]

Birds?

[bcday]

Those holes are not from birds. The tiny holes are way too tiny. The bigger ones look chewed.

Did you cut into any of the fruits to see if there was a maggot of some kind in there?

[b54red]

Spray with Sevin and make sure to spray the fruit and the stems of the plants. I think the small holes are from some type of pickle worm that I have seen twice before in my own tomato garden. They will bore into the tiniest green tomatoes and ruin your whole harvest. The larger holes are probably some type of larger tomato fruit worm or army worm and the Sevin will get them also.

Bill

[luigiwu]

Hey Bill,
How does one apply Sevin (drench the whole plant?) And its okay to eat the fruit after that? I'm a totally newbie gardener and am trying to do things as less-chemically as possible. I've looked and looked for the culprit (I also see only a handful of eaten leaves) but I cannot find who is responsible!

Bdcay,
I did not cut into it. That one I found on the ground so maybe something on the ground was responsible for the bigger holes.

I am not cut out to be a gardener - I hate bugs!!!

[gnol]

Possibly some caterpillars?

[b54red]

Originally Posted by luigiwu

Hey Bill,
How does one apply Sevin (drench the whole plant?) And its okay to eat the fruit after that? I'm a totally newbie gardener and am trying to do things as less-chemically as possible. I've looked and looked for the culprit (I also see only a handful of eaten leaves) but I cannot find who is responsible!

I would use the liquid Sevin for this purpose because it is easier to apply to the fruit. Yes you can eat the tomatoes after spraying but there is a short waiting time. Depending upon the directions on the Sevin you purchase just mix the strength listed on the directions attached to the container in a regular pump sprayer. The brand I have says to use between an ounce and an ounce and a half to a gallon of water. I also like to add a tablespoon of molasses as an additional sticker. Pump up the sprayer and apply to all of the plant especially the young fruit. You might want to go ahead and pick off the fruit that already has holes bored into them. Do the application late in the evening to avoid harming bees.

I am going to have to apply it to my tomatoes also as soon as the rain lets up because I am now losing a good number of fruit to worms now. I was able to go all summer without any significant worm damage to my tomatoes but now they are hitting my fall tomatoes pretty badly and I have been unable to spray because we have had hard rains every day for the last four days. I have been having to pull and discard a half dozen fruits for the last few days because of worm damage to them. It is supposed to start drying up today and hopefully by this afternoon my plants will be dry enough to apply the Sevin so I can stop them before they ruin my fall crop.

Bill

[bcday]

Originally Posted by luigiwu

Bdcay,
I did not cut into it. That one I found on the ground so maybe something on the ground was responsible for the bigger holes.

I wish you had said in your original post that some of the damaged fruit was found on the ground. A lot of things could have happened to it there. We were all assuming that these fruits were still on the vine, off the ground, staked or in a cage or trellis of some kind.

[ScottinAtlanta]

I am going to have to apply it to my tomatoes also as soon as the rain lets up because I am now losing a good number of fruit to worms now.

Me, too, bro, in Atlanta. Half of my fruits on the vines have large holes in them, causing them to rot.

[luigiwu]

Originally Posted by bcday

I wish you had said in your original post that some of the damaged fruit was found on the ground. A lot of things could have happened to it there. We were all assuming that these fruits were still on the vine, off the ground, staked or in a cage or trellis of some kind.

Actually I found one today that has one of these larger holes still on the vine. I'm going to pull it and cut it open and see wht I find. My poor babies...

[luigiwu]

b54red, do you use a 1 tablespoon of molassas to 1 gallon? Can I used a sprayer like this?

[b54red]

Originally Posted by luigiwu

b54red, do you use a 1 tablespoon of molassas to 1 gallon? Can I used a sprayer like this?

Yes that sprayer will work fine. I sprayed mine just before dark yesterday. I clipped off about a dozen large tomatoes with worm holes in them before I sprayed. It was too dark to check all the green fruit but I assume some of them already have holes in them. I had to cut all of the fruit off my fall cucumbers because they were riddled with holes. Many of my bell pepper leaves looked like lace because of the worms. I don't think I have ever seen so many different types of worms hitting my garden at the same time. Even my okra leaves were getting eaten up by the same type worms that were eating my pepper foliage.

Bill

[luigiwu]

Here are more pictures of the damage to my tomates. It looks like whatever it is starts boring into the middle from the stem. And then eats it from the inside out!!!

Also, I've been reading how toxic Sevin is... is there anything else I can use instead?

[b54red]

I tried using bt several years ago when my tomatoes were getting hit by a worm invasion of different types and ended up losing almost every fruit for over a month even though I was applying the bt every few days. I haven't found anything less toxic than Sevin that will work on these boring worms or on the tiny foliage worms I have seen in abundance this year. I have a ton of bees in my garden and by spraying only very late just before dark I have not noticed any lessening of the bee population. I have noticed that I haven't lost any more fruit to worms since I sprayed with the Sevin a few days ago; but it rained hard last night so I may have to retreat the toms if the worms show up in large numbers again.

Bill

[luigiwu]

Bill, the thing is I haven't seen any worms! Or am I not looking hard enough??