first tomato worm
 

of the season. yesterday. Ma had already
gone out and looked, but since i was working
in the fenced gardens getting the garlic out
i was right there. so i took a few moments
to scan.

only saw signs on one plant, took me another
three attempts to find the worm itself as it
was getting later and it had already retreated
down the stem.

quite a large bugger.

which makes me wonder, because i usually
don't find them until they are large enough
to show up by eating the tops and ends, but
surely they've done a lot of damage by then
to get so big. why am i not seeing them
sooner?

probably because i rarely look under the
plants. if i did i'd probably catch them
sooner by seeing piles of droppings...

ah, well, ... :)


songbird

first tomato worm
 

On 07/24/2016 03:23 AM, songbird wrote:
of the season. yesterday. Ma had already
gone out and looked, but since i was working
in the fenced gardens getting the garlic out
i was right there. so i took a few moments
to scan.

only saw signs on one plant, took me another
three attempts to find the worm itself as it
was getting later and it had already retreated
down the stem.

quite a large bugger.

which makes me wonder, because i usually
don't find them until they are large enough
to show up by eating the tops and ends, but
surely they've done a lot of damage by then
to get so big. why am i not seeing them
sooner?

probably because i rarely look under the
plants. if i did i'd probably catch them
sooner by seeing piles of droppings...

ah, well, ... :)


songbird


Death to Tomato Worms ???

:-)

first tomato worm
 

T wrote:
....
Death to Tomato Worms ???

:-)

dunno about this one, tossed it in the
front yard. usually i drown them or cut
them in half.


songbird

first tomato worm
 

On 7/24/2016 8:35 AM, songbird wrote:
T wrote:
...
Death to Tomato Worms ???

:-)

dunno about this one, tossed it in the
front yard. usually i drown them or cut
them in half.


songbird

I spray with stuff that says you do not have to not wait for a while to
harvest. You see one and know others are there. Hard to see because of
their color.

first tomato worm
 

On 7/24/2016 10:19 AM, Frank wrote:
On 7/24/2016 8:35 AM, songbird wrote:
T wrote:
...
Death to Tomato Worms ???

:-)

dunno about this one, tossed it in the
front yard. usually i drown them or cut
them in half.


songbird

I spray with stuff that says you do not have to not wait for a while to
harvest. You see one and know others are there. Hard to see because of
their color.
I just squash them on the ground, probably make some decent fertilizer.
They're the young of a moth that is very attractive. Haven't seen any
here. I expect it is because there are hundreds of birds here year
around and they eat a lot of flying insects. We see many birds along the
fence line and others on the power wires nearby plus lots of nesting
areas for the birds.

We seldom get bit by a mosquito, lots of purple martins and barn
swallows around in the day and then the night shift comes in of night
fling birds and bats, so far I've seen two species of bats. This winter
I think I shall make a couple of martin houses and possibly a few bat
houses. Designs are available on line for free.

first tomato worm
 

George Shirley wrote:
....
I just squash them on the ground, probably make some decent fertilizer.

yuck... :)


They're the young of a moth that is very attractive. Haven't seen any
here. I expect it is because there are hundreds of birds here year
around and they eat a lot of flying insects. We see many birds along the
fence line and others on the power wires nearby plus lots of nesting
areas for the birds.

we have a ton of birds around here too.
we need some that like grasshoppers. wild turkeys
like grasshoppers, but they don't come that close
to the yard.


We seldom get bit by a mosquito, lots of purple martins and barn
swallows around in the day and then the night shift comes in of night
fling birds and bats, so far I've seen two species of bats. This winter
I think I shall make a couple of martin houses and possibly a few bat
houses. Designs are available on line for free.

been so dry here this season not many mosquitoes
out there at all. always enjoy watching the swallows
and martins fly.

two more worms out there but i can't find them.
they've not done that much damage so perhaps they
are already done and buried themselves by now...
didn't see any fresh droppings.

gotta get out there early today before it gets
too hot again. my quota of weeds for the day is
one bucket, plus i have a small area i need to
weed that is covered by a metal mesh. before
the weeds drop their seeds...

picked an armload of cucumbers again this
morning.


songbird

first tomato worm
 

On 7/27/2016 6:26 AM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
...
I just squash them on the ground, probably make some decent fertilizer.

yuck... :)


They're the young of a moth that is very attractive. Haven't seen any
here. I expect it is because there are hundreds of birds here year
around and they eat a lot of flying insects. We see many birds along the
fence line and others on the power wires nearby plus lots of nesting
areas for the birds.

we have a ton of birds around here too.
we need some that like grasshoppers. wild turkeys
like grasshoppers, but they don't come that close
to the yard.


We seldom get bit by a mosquito, lots of purple martins and barn
swallows around in the day and then the night shift comes in of night
fling birds and bats, so far I've seen two species of bats. This winter
I think I shall make a couple of martin houses and possibly a few bat
houses. Designs are available on line for free.

been so dry here this season not many mosquitoes
out there at all. always enjoy watching the swallows
and martins fly.

two more worms out there but i can't find them.
they've not done that much damage so perhaps they
are already done and buried themselves by now...
didn't see any fresh droppings.

gotta get out there early today before it gets
too hot again. my quota of weeds for the day is
one bucket, plus i have a small area i need to
weed that is covered by a metal mesh. before
the weeds drop their seeds...

picked an armload of cucumbers again this
morning.


songbird

It's 0810, lots of clouds, still hot as a two dollar pistol though. Heat
index for today is around 109F. Picked a few more crowder peas, the new
cucumber vine is full of blossoms, hopefully they will grow well. Pulled
most of the older tomatoes as they had quit producing. Watering the
fruit trees twice a day. Weather folk predicted a nice rain yesterday,
didn't happen, got cloudy, nice cool wind, the ran was wasted on Houston
city, they had floods again, Ma Nature must abhor large, giant, nasty,
cities. We seldom go into Houston proper, no need, lots of malls around
here.

first tomato worm
 

George Shirley wrote:
....
It's 0810, lots of clouds, still hot as a two dollar pistol though. Heat
index for today is around 109F. Picked a few more crowder peas, the new
cucumber vine is full of blossoms, hopefully they will grow well. Pulled
most of the older tomatoes as they had quit producing. Watering the
fruit trees twice a day. Weather folk predicted a nice rain yesterday,
didn't happen, got cloudy, nice cool wind, the ran was wasted on Houston
city, they had floods again, Ma Nature must abhor large, giant, nasty,
cities. We seldom go into Houston proper, no need, lots of malls around
here.

we had a bit of rain yesterday. i watered the veggie
gardens earlier that morning. i still asked Ma to water
the trees we transplanted because it has been so hot.
i don't think the rains are enough. they look good so
far. :)

made another five quarts of dill pickles yesterday
and Ma put some cucumbers and sliced onions and mayo
in the fridge so i can have them.

our local grocery store is fairly high priced so
we don't often go there for anything other than milk
or a few other things. once or twice a month we have
to do bulk purchases for Ma's cooking sprees and we
stock up on our staples when we're out. it is a bit
of a drive, but our favorite Chinese place is over
that ways too.

the storm that went through yesterday was pretty
strong north of us, flash flood warnings in a few
places. we had enough rain to call it rain instead
of a sprinkle, but i was envious of the places up
there that got a good soaking.


songbird

first tomato worm
 

On 7/28/2016 8:14 AM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
...
It's 0810, lots of clouds, still hot as a two dollar pistol though. Heat
index for today is around 109F. Picked a few more crowder peas, the new
cucumber vine is full of blossoms, hopefully they will grow well. Pulled
most of the older tomatoes as they had quit producing. Watering the
fruit trees twice a day. Weather folk predicted a nice rain yesterday,
didn't happen, got cloudy, nice cool wind, the ran was wasted on Houston
city, they had floods again, Ma Nature must abhor large, giant, nasty,
cities. We seldom go into Houston proper, no need, lots of malls around
here.

we had a bit of rain yesterday. i watered the veggie
gardens earlier that morning. i still asked Ma to water
the trees we transplanted because it has been so hot.
i don't think the rains are enough. they look good so
far. :)

made another five quarts of dill pickles yesterday
and Ma put some cucumbers and sliced onions and mayo
in the fridge so i can have them.

our local grocery store is fairly high priced so
we don't often go there for anything other than milk
or a few other things. once or twice a month we have
to do bulk purchases for Ma's cooking sprees and we
stock up on our staples when we're out. it is a bit
of a drive, but our favorite Chinese place is over
that ways too.

the storm that went through yesterday was pretty
strong north of us, flash flood warnings in a few
places. we had enough rain to call it rain instead
of a sprinkle, but i was envious of the places up
there that got a good soaking.


songbird

Well, we're currently getting sporadic sprinkles of rain, lots of
thunder, a little lightning, and damned little rain. I reckon we will
still have to water the gardens and the fruit trees this afternoon if
the rain gods fail us again. At least the temperature dropped a bit.

Miss Tilly Dawg Shirley is doing better, the antibiotics helped and the
other two drugs she's on are helping too. We were really worried about
her until we changed vets, the new one is much better than the old one
so we're happy again.

George

first tomato worm
 

George Shirley wrote:
....
Well, we're currently getting sporadic sprinkles of rain, lots of
thunder, a little lightning, and damned little rain. I reckon we will
still have to water the gardens and the fruit trees this afternoon if
the rain gods fail us again. At least the temperature dropped a bit.

it's moderated for us too the past few days
(from high 80s or mid 90s to mid 80s). for us
the nighttime temp getting low enough to open
the house and cool it off at night is good as
we can then avoid running the AC for most of the
day (other than for a while in the morning when
we close it up again to get the extra humidity
out of the air).


Miss Tilly Dawg Shirley is doing better, the antibiotics helped and the
other two drugs she's on are helping too. We were really worried about
her until we changed vets, the new one is much better than the old one
so we're happy again.

:) yay!


songbird

first tomato worm
 

On 7/30/2016 11:23 AM, Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:

of the season. yesterday.
What are you calling a "tomato worm"?

Hawkmoth caterpillars, here's the URL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manduca_quinquemaculata

The tomato worm can strip a tomato plant in just a short while, the
mother moth is closely related to the tobacco moth, aka tobacco worm,
caused a lot of problems to tobacco growers. Both are big, green
caterpillars that make really good fish bait.

first tomato worm
 

On 7/30/2016 12:49 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 7/30/2016 11:23 AM, Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:

of the season. yesterday.
What are you calling a "tomato worm"?

Hawkmoth caterpillars, here's the URL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manduca_quinquemaculata

The tomato worm can strip a tomato plant in just a short while, the
mother moth is closely related to the tobacco moth, aka tobacco worm,
caused a lot of problems to tobacco growers. Both are big, green
caterpillars that make really good fish bait.

I've heard the moth may resemble a hummingbird in flight. My tomatoes
are in pots on my deck 10 feet off the ground but often get the worms
and they are hard to spot and first sign is stripping of leaves. I
spray as where there is one there are more that are hard to spot.

first tomato worm
 

Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:

of the season. yesterday.
What are you calling a "tomato worm"?

the big green monster i pulled off the plant
the other day. :)

could be the tobacco kind and not the tomato
kind, but i'd have to see it again to know.

haven't found the others yet...


songbird