"Trish Brown" wrote in message
...
David Hare-Scott wrote:

"Trish Brown" wrote in message
...
We've been eagerly watching our first-ever tomato crop for weeks! Just
today, we went out to check them and about half the fruit has great big
black holes in it. The tomatoes appear to have been hollowed out by some
creature, but I can't see anything suspicious on the vines. Not only
that, but the vines themselves seem to be unwell. They're sort of
darkened and wizened and greasy-looking. What on earth could it be?

Snif! :-(

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Trish Brown {|:-}

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Helothis (tomato worm)?

David


Hnnnnnhhhh! If it *is* werms (Heliothis, I mean), then what do I do? I
can't exactly suck 'em all out of the rotten tomatoes, can I? (Be nice,
now...) Do I spray? Get a biological agent? WMDs? Help! The kids and I
have been hanging out to eat our first home-grown tomatoes and it looks
like it might not happen!

Snif! :-(

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Trish Brown {|:-}

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

If it is them you are too late for those fruit. Once the grubs are in the
fruit it is ruined and killing them does nothing. Well you can cut the bad
bits out but it may not be worth it. You have to either keep the moths away
(mossie net) that lay the eggs or spray with an insecticide before the grubs
start to burrow. This is required the whole season, spraying just once will
make little difference if the moths are around. You will find plenty of info
and pictures on the web to help you decide if it is heliothis and what you
want to do.

David