Hi
I have these wierd little green caterpillars with distinctive black spots
eating their way INSIDE my tomato plants stalk... and fruits

so they are eating from the inside out...

when this happens the leaves curl around and turn black and droopy...

what can i do??!! preferably organic but I may have to resort to pesticides
if need be

thanks in advance everyone.

--Mitch

thanks ..

are the eggs black and small?

i thought this was their 'doings'
I will get rid of them then

thankyou again
"Tish" wrote in message
...
Where are you in Oz? It sounds as though you might have a population
of tomato hornworms (a kind of hawk moth) - what shape are they? If
they are definitely the larvae/grubs of a moth you can try dipel (an
organic, moth-specific insecticide made from a soil bacterium), but it
might have trouble getting the grubs inside the tomatoes. It is also
possible that your beasties are beetle larvae, which the dipel
probably won't damage. You need to get them properly identified -
your local nursery might help, or if you're near a university then
there's probably an entomologist there who can help. Sometimes the
department of agriculture offices can help too.

Depending on how many tomato plants you have, you could try looking
for the eggs and grubs and picking them off before they get into the
fruit (chances are that the eggs will have been laid on the tomato
leaves).

Hope this helps,
Tish

On Tue, 29 Oct 2002 18:24:43 +1100, "Mitch Kosklin"
wrote:

Hi
I have these wierd little green caterpillars with distinctive black spots
eating their way INSIDE my tomato plants stalk... and fruits

so they are eating from the inside out...

when this happens the leaves curl around and turn black and droopy...

what can i do??!! preferably organic but I may have to resort to
pesticides
if need be

thanks in advance everyone.

--Mitch



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