"cross" wrote in message
...


just saw this little beastie with its head in one of my cherry tomatoes.

I didn't realise that there were UK based caterpillars which fed on
tomatoes
(hardly an outdoor native crop).

Perhaps the Greater Striped Tomato Chutney Moth?

Cheers
Dave R

I think it is a "Bright-line Brown-eye" moth, a recognised pest of
tomatoes.

Horrible things are so well disguised that it is difficult to find them.
They grow quite large before dropping off and pupating under the soil for
the winter, and then hatching out the following spring. So if they are in
the greenhouse, the problem will return next year if you don't catch and
despatch them :-(

I speak from experience........ urgh!!

Marina

Good luck to it if it drops off and pupates on our concrete patio :-)
Disinclined to squash the little beggar because I have only seen one and I
have hundreds (possibly thousands?) of cherry tomatoes in my outdoor tomato
jungle.

[Hmmm...10 tomatoes per truss, would need about 100 trusses for 1000
tomatoes. Yep - reckon so. I have two plants in tubs which haven't been
'stopped' at all plus a couple of 'break-offs' in another tub. Getting hard
to get to all the tomatoes. Picked 800grams this morning and the crop is
only just starting. With luck they will be cropping until November.]

Thanks for the ID though.

Cheers
Dave R