my parents used to gather the hornworms and when they had a cupfull
they put them in a blender and then sprayed the concoction back over
the infected plants. it seemed to take care of the problem for the
season and no chemicals were used.

On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 09:25:34 -0500, B.Server wrote:

"On Tue, 01 Jul 2003 23:27:13 GMT, "Lisa"
"wrote:
"
"Hey all -- was gone for the weekend and went to take a look at the
garden
"yesterday (which up until this weekend was doing A-OK). Well, my
beautiful
"tomato plants were all branches and limbs. No leaves. No tomatoes.
Got to
"looking closely to see what the heck happened to my plants and there
were
"horrible green horned caterpillars. Looked them up and discovered
they were
"hornworms. Some of the biggest, fattest, ugliest caterpillars I
have ever
"seen. Peeled off and destroyed as many as we could find and then
sprayed
"herbicidal soap on what was left. Are my plants ruined? Am I done
for the
"season? Or will they come back and produce?
"
"
"Hungry little buggers, aren't they? I sure hope that what you
sprayed
"was insecticidal soap (even though it would do no good on a hornworm)
"rather than herbicidal. (both exist) Depending on where you are
"(length of season), the plants will likely come back and bear. You
"must have had them for a while, as it takes a week or more of eating
"for them to get finger sized. Odd that they got the fruit. Mine
"usually eat nothing but leaves and young stems. Of course, the
"missing foliage eventually ruins the fruit, too.
"
"Make sure you check out any other tomato relatives (solanacea) like
"capsicums, tomatillo, and eggplant. They will do a job on these as
"well.

-


To Explain Oneself Is A Sign Of Weakness!