Immediate Caterpillar Relief

[b54red]

It usually happens every few years when they are so thick and the BT just won't slow them down enough. Before it can work your plants are naked. This is the first time I have ever had to spray okra and only the second time I've ever had to spray it on bell peppers. Usually when they are this bad it is only tomatoes that get ravaged by them. Last year they nearly denuded my single stem tomatoes leaving them susceptible to sunburn despite applying BT ever few days. I finally went with the Sevin and stopped them within a few hours but by then the plants had far too few leaves left to protect the tomatoes. I certainly wasn't going to wait that long on my peppers which are loaded with fruit because they are much worse to get sun scald than tomatoes.

Bill

[shelleybean]

All I see is chewed up green tomatoes and caterpillar poop! The foliage is so thick, I can't find them. I keep putting out the Dipel dust but then it rains overnight and washes it all off. I need a stretch of dry weather and a tall ladder to reach the tops of the plants.

We were talking in another thread about whether cucumber beetles mess with plants other than the cucurbits. Well, I can tell you that they DO! I pulled out my first plantings of squash and cucumbers because of the squash vine borer but more because of powdery mildew and while I waited for the second round to germinate, all those cucumber beetles went to my okra and ate zillions of holes in the leaves. I've never had anything bother okra like this. They must be really hungry bugs. Not slowing the okra down though. I just picked a bunch.

Lots of squash bugs too. They vacated the squash and cucumber beds and moved to the tomatoes.

I need to stock up on my Dipel and all my other bug defense before I plant my collards and kale. The little white butterflies will be back soon.

[Labradors2]

Yesterday, I visited a friend who offered me some Sungold to try. My Sungold plant was an imposter, but that's another story. When we reached her tomato patch, both our jaws dropped because the top third of the plants had been reduced to sticks. There were only two plants in the one area that had been devastated and we pulled a dozen enormous Hornworm caterpillars off them. We offered them to the chickens, but they turned up their beaks and refused to eat them so they had to be stomped on - yuck!

Of course I raced home to check my tomatoes, but so far, so good.

Linda

[shelleybean]

It seems some prefer the foliage while others like the tomatoes themselves.

[b54red]

Shelley the Dipel won't work on cucumber beetles. The only effective thing I have found for them is Sevin and for squash vine borers dusting the lower stem with a heavy coating of Sevin dust and reapplying after every rain. Vine borers are so bad down here that I would usually start losing the squash plants to vine borers about time they started making. Nothing worked until a guy told me about dusting the lower stalks with Sevin. As to the mildew problems on squash if you spray them with the dilute bleach spray about once a week making sure to get under the leaves it will usually stop it before it can get going. I did that this year and with all the rain I didn't expect the squash to last too long but since I was having to spray my tomatoes with the bleach every week I went ahead and sprayed the squash hoping it would keep the mildew at bay and it did.

Bill

[shelleybean]

I agree, Bill. Today I used 5% Sevin dust on the squash and the cukes. I use the Dipel where I see caterpillars or their damage. I used that on the tomatoes and the lima beans. I am finding loads of long white haired caterpillars in the limas this year. They are quite fancy looking for little worms! Almost Angora! I can't see what's eating the tomatoes but it must be eating a lot because it sure does poop a lot and I have a lot of green fruit eaten. Back to squash--I saw the moth laying the SVB eggs today. I always try to catch her and squish her but she's too quick. Now if we could find a good way to kill the moth so she couldn't lay the eggs we'd be in good shape, huh? Do you know whether the Sevin will affect the moth?? That's what I'd really like to know.

[shelleybean]

And I have used the Sevin on the okra, as well. Seems to be doing much better.

[feldon30]

BT or just dip your plants in Sevin.

Young seedlings have no flowers, and thus bees have no business being near them, so Sevin is ok.

[shelleybean]

This my second planting of squash and cucumbers so they are still pretty young. I put the Sevin just on the stems of the squash, below the flowers. The cucumbers are not blooming yet.

[nolabelle]

This past week my after-dark forays for worms have paid off. When I let the dogs out for their last business meeting, I go out with a high power flash light and inspect all the plants I have on the carport. I've gotten five this week and two tonight. The Bonide isn't working for me. I probably should re-read the application rate.

[b54red]

I had to hit some of my tomatoes with the Sevin also or I wouldn't have had anything left of them within a day or two. Man this constant rain is making it easy for the caterpillars. The Sevin was only on the plants for about two hours before the next heavy rain but it seemed to get rid of most of them. It's not raining right now so I'm going out pruning diseased and dead leaves til the rain starts or it gets hot, whichever comes first. I have so many bad looking leaves and stems now that I fear there won't be much left on many of the plants after I prune them.

Bill

[dustdevil]

I've seen claims on the web that a black light at night(dark) will help find hornworms, so you can pick them off. Maybe worth experimenting with...

[tlintx]

Have started finding one every two or three days again. It's a darn good thing I'm not doing this for a living.

Also lost my zucchini and half of a melon to squash vine borers. Pretty sure, anyway -- slit, with orange sawdust goop leaking out, wilted, dead plant? You'd think planting in containers miles from any other gardens would be relatively safe!

So planting a second crop to avoid them has not worked in my area. Next year I will have to try some of the suggestions above.

[coastal bend]

Don't forget to look in to Spinosad. It will take care of the worms and some other pest. It will go into the leaf(trans liner) and last for 10 to 14 days. It will not wash off like bt. It is a natural product and not synthetic insecticide. It will take care of heavy worm pressure.