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Post by Compost Pharmer on Jun 18, 2010 19:29:50 GMT -6
Was wondering if I was to mix up a batch of hot pepper tea and spray on my maters, would it possibly keep the horn worms off of them? I picked another 5 off tonight while watering the garden. All together I have counted 17 on my three maters plants, that survived. I am hoping that the tea will not be to hot and kill the mater plants. Also wondering if they are eating my half ripe maters. I had to toss 3 of them in the compost tonight. At this rate I will not have any maters this year.
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Post by Pharmer Phil on Jun 19, 2010 5:32:45 GMT -6
CP, that's a bunch of horn worm action going on there..I have seen 2 in 12 years here..lucky..or?? anyhow..Hot pepper spray may discourage them..it won't repel them tho.. and they will eat the tomato itself, usually the green ones outside of continually hammering them with bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) there's just hand pickin'. Most of Us know that if you find one with lil white cocoons attached to it to NOT KILL that one...just relocate it... cause it's living days are numbered...  the white sacks are the cocoons are the pupae of parasitic wasps that prey on hornworms. From these emerge young Braconid wasps that then hunt down another hornworm... Look for the worms early morning, or just before dark...they don't like the hot sun...so they most likely will be on the underside of the leaves or branches... look for their droppings, they are large and black and will be directly below where they are..or Were located  I have heard of using he plants own defenses to eliminate them.. BUT.. it didn't make alot of sense to me..Why?? well, TRUE..IF you mess with the plants, Or pinch the stem it causes the plant to produce an over abundance of "proteinase inhibitors" and for many would be pests..it does work.. However..it is supposedly lethal to the immature horn worm. I haven't tried this CP, but Bro it seems to me that it would attract em' since it's what they are eatin'...but that's just my logic  |
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Post by mogarden on Jun 19, 2010 6:14:55 GMT -6
BT is great for killing them and it's not what I'd call expensive, but you don't HAVE TO buy it but once if you culture it. It is a living organism after all. Dust some BT on the top of your plants (that's where most of the eggs are laid) then when you see blackened hornworms barely hanging onto a leaf, remove them to a place where you can dry them. Save in a tight jar till next year. Run them in the blender with a little water, strain and spray. Repeat.
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Post by Pharmer Phil on Jun 19, 2010 6:17:01 GMT -6
BT is great for killing them and it's not what I'd call expensive, but you don't HAVE TO buy it but once if you culture it. It is a living organism after all. Dust some BT on the top of your plants (that's where most of the eggs are laid) then when you see blackened hornworms barely hanging onto a leaf, remove them to a place where you can dry them. Save in a tight jar till next year. Run them in the blender with a little water, strain and spray. Repeat. hmm...tell me more Mo...culture the BT...?? |
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Post by Rita on Jun 19, 2010 6:19:25 GMT -6
Good Posting Mo ... Got a Karma for that!!
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Post by mogarden on Jun 19, 2010 7:18:16 GMT -6
Phil, I think the better way to kill hornworms is as you said, the braconid wasps. However BT has other uses or I should say is used to kill other worms like cutworms and cabbage worms. The commercial preparation has the bacteria in spore form in a carrier like talc. If you dry the worms the bacteria will go to spores. Keep out of the sun of course. When you blend the dried worms and water, apply right away, then keep all the dead worms you can find for next year.
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Post by Compost Pharmer on Jun 19, 2010 14:20:52 GMT -6
Thanks for the responses. I have been smashing the big fat worms. Guess I will start keeping them, dry and grind them up. By the time I find the worms, they have probably had a feast all day. I see them in the evening when I am watering the garden. That's when I capture and kill them. I used to just toss them down the stack in the compost pile, but now I will keep them and make a spray able juice out of them.
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Post by Compost Pharmer on Jun 19, 2010 19:45:16 GMT -6
I found another 5 worms tonight. I collected them in a glass jar. How many should I get before pulverize them and make a spray for the maters?
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Post by Laura on Jun 19, 2010 20:50:00 GMT -6
Thanks for the responses. I have been smashing the big fat worms. Guess I will start keeping them, dry and grind them up. By the time I find the worms, they have probably had a feast all day. I see them in the evening when I am watering the garden. That's when I capture and kill them. I used to just toss them down the stack in the compost pile, but now I will keep them and make a spray able juice out of them. I would pick them off & move them to a different location. They are the Sphinx moth when they grow up..  & are a beauty to watch in your garden on the flowers. They are about as big as the humming bird!! |
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Post by mogarden on Jun 20, 2010 5:27:47 GMT -6
Compost Pharmer: Ideally, you would let the Hornworms live until they die of the BT, to let the bacteria multiply as much as possible. Once they're infected good they won't eat and die pretty soon anyway. You have a choice on making the spray; make it from fresh worms to use now, or dry the worms to save for next year. It's hard to say how many worms you need tho, there will be millions of bacteria cells in each one. Use as many as you have.
Laura: It is a shame we can't have both the beauty of the moths and worm-free tomato plants!
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Post by elkwc36 on Jun 20, 2010 14:52:14 GMT -6
Last year was the worst I've ever experienced. And they have started early this year. A horn worm is treated no different than any other critter or human. My mater and pepper patches are sacred and off limits. They can much on anything else including the flowers. But let them munch on either of those two and they will be munching in heaven. I know the moth is pretty. She should show better judgment when picking a host for her offspring. After picking over 80 last year and losing a plant and having a few others set way back I'm going with BT this year. I have picked around 8 already this early. Will be picking up BT tomorrow. Jay
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Post by jerseycub on Jun 26, 2010 21:33:40 GMT -6
Yesterday we found on the seconding planting of tomatoes, it had striped all but one branch of foliage. I picked the big green $#%@ off the plant and squished his *&^ into oblivion. Still striping Colorado potato beetles from the potato plants, but they are less then before.
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Post by Pharmer Phil on Jun 27, 2010 6:12:28 GMT -6
wow, I guess outa all the freakin bugz here...we are still lucky.. Haven't ever seen or had any potato bug damage here in Mn. and like I stated earlier, 2 hornworms in 12 years.. I believe It has nothing to do with luck though... BIRDS..we have a zillion of em' I put their houses are all around the garden perimeter years back...Laura and I since we have been together have added to them.. they are Our allies, entertainment..AND...the hardest workers... We spend alot to keep them fed through the winter (even during the summer but much less offerings)...and are rewarded in the gardening season... Now, those Potato beetles...down In Missouri, I'd get them...and Hand pick em'.. dropping them into a bucket of soapy *water ( *SEE NOTE AT BOTTOM) then, One day I was over-heated...left the 5 gallon bucket sitting in the middle of the tator patch... went in..fell asleep... Next morning...LO and BEHOLD... the bottom of My Bucket was 2 inches deep with drowned beetles.... I reckon that they THOUGHT the bucket to be a BIG OL TATOR FLOWER...landed..and sunk to the bottom... Future crops were protected by buckets of water with a few drops of soap... had zero damage...and No heat fatigue to lil Ol ME (Water is best..in years gone by folks have used fuel oil/kerosene which works too...but I won't let those substances PAST the garden gate).. |
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Post by jerseycub on Jun 27, 2010 8:04:31 GMT -6
It just so happens I remembered you telling us about that in another post, so the other day we set out a few buckets to collect some of those darn pests. We have found a few in there but not many and there is hardly any damage to the plants because I caught them early. I'm not sure if the picking or the spray worked the best but there were only two on all the plants today. As far as the tomato horned worm there was only that one so far, but Ruth and I keep a steady vigil out for any unwanted critters. With better then 15,000 sf of garden to tend it's a full time task keepin it critter free.
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