What Is Eating My Leaves And How Do I Kill It? - Page 2

brownrexx · June 6, 2017

Creepy. They remind me of what we call Tent Caterpillars but they are not a tomato plant pest. If you are really curious, maybe drop the leaf in a jar with a lid with a few SMALL holes for air and feed it a few leaves and see what develops.

I would also suggest Spinosad or bt if you see more since they kill caterpillars.

b54red · June 6, 2017

They are certainly not new to me. I have them every year and have for as far back as I can remember. BT will kill most of them but it does take a bit of time. If you have a lot of clusters of them use some Sevin and they will all be dead in less than an hour. They are voracious feeders and will totally denude a plant if left unchecked. They also don't stay tiny for long. They most commonly attack tomatoes and bell peppers in my garden but this season I have found them on beans, squash, melons and cucumbers. I spray every five days with BT and it has kept them under control for the most part but I did have to use Sevin on my second planting of tomatoes and bell peppers. They can really damage the young plants if too many hatches show up on them at once before the BT can work on them. From one day to the next I had a huge infestation of them on one bed of bells and one of tomatoes. Despite me carefully checking the plants just a day earlier they had already inflicted severe damage on a couple of the plants.

Keep your plants sprayed with BT and make sure you get it on the undersides of the leaves because they can do a lot of damage before ever eating through the leaf and getting the BT into their system. They usually show up as a thin spot on a leaf with no other hint that something is wrong. If the plant is well sprayed with BT then that is all the damage they will usually do but if they are allowed to grow and feed a few days they can ruin the whole plant including fruit.

I never know what they were called but I know what I called them but they won't allow me to say that on this forum.

Bill

ermentrude · June 7, 2017

Thank you guys so much! I did spray with BT. My plants are in Earthboxes on the porch, so although it has been raining a bunch, hopefully the BT is not all just washed off. I found some evidence of the little monsters down on the other end of the porch so this is officially war. I bought a bottle of Sevin today. They think they have found a lovely little summer retreat but they are very wrong. Most of my plants are huge, some are even full of fruit, those little disgusting worms are going down!

b54red · June 8, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by ermentrude

Thank you guys so much! I did spray with BT. My plants are in Earthboxes on the porch, so although it has been raining a bunch, hopefully the BT is not all just washed off. I found some evidence of the little monsters down on the other end of the porch so this is officially war. I bought a bottle of Sevin today. They think they have found a lovely little summer retreat but they are very wrong. Most of my plants are huge, some are even full of fruit, those little disgusting worms are going down!

Smart move. Check the undersides where you saw them a few hours after spraying the Sevin and most of them will be gone or dead. You shouldn't have to spray too high up the plant as they generally hit the lower section up to the middle. I have seen them up near the top of a tall plant a couple of times but it is rare so I don't spray up that high unless I have actually seen them. I just don't want to harm the bees by spraying the flowers any more than I have to.

A week or so after applying the Sevin start keeping the plants sprayed with BT every week and you shouldn't have much more of a problem with them.

Bill

Bill

June 6, 2017	#16
brownrexx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Southeastern PA Posts: 1,420	Creepy. They remind me of what we call Tent Caterpillars but they are not a tomato plant pest. If you are really curious, maybe drop the leaf in a jar with a lid with a few SMALL holes for air and feed it a few leaves and see what develops. I would also suggest Spinosad or bt if you see more since they kill caterpillars.

June 6, 2017	#17
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	They are certainly not new to me. I have them every year and have for as far back as I can remember. BT will kill most of them but it does take a bit of time. If you have a lot of clusters of them use some Sevin and they will all be dead in less than an hour. They are voracious feeders and will totally denude a plant if left unchecked. They also don't stay tiny for long. They most commonly attack tomatoes and bell peppers in my garden but this season I have found them on beans, squash, melons and cucumbers. I spray every five days with BT and it has kept them under control for the most part but I did have to use Sevin on my second planting of tomatoes and bell peppers. They can really damage the young plants if too many hatches show up on them at once before the BT can work on them. From one day to the next I had a huge infestation of them on one bed of bells and one of tomatoes. Despite me carefully checking the plants just a day earlier they had already inflicted severe damage on a couple of the plants. Keep your plants sprayed with BT and make sure you get it on the undersides of the leaves because they can do a lot of damage before ever eating through the leaf and getting the BT into their system. They usually show up as a thin spot on a leaf with no other hint that something is wrong. If the plant is well sprayed with BT then that is all the damage they will usually do but if they are allowed to grow and feed a few days they can ruin the whole plant including fruit. I never know what they were called but I know what I called them but they won't allow me to say that on this forum. Bill

June 7, 2017	#18
ermentrude Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Charleston SC Posts: 34	Thank you guys so much! I did spray with BT. My plants are in Earthboxes on the porch, so although it has been raining a bunch, hopefully the BT is not all just washed off. I found some evidence of the little monsters down on the other end of the porch so this is officially war. I bought a bottle of Sevin today. They think they have found a lovely little summer retreat but they are very wrong. Most of my plants are huge, some are even full of fruit, those little disgusting worms are going down!