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tomato leaves eaten....
Hello All,
I was a little disturbed to find half my tomato plants leaves eaten off this morning. Seems some sort of critter picked all the leaves clean off. He ate all the tomato leaves off the plants that we not in cages, I had intended to stake them. My neighbor had an opossum in their yard last year. Maybe it was another opossum? I've never had anything disturb my tomato plants before. It looks like he might have tried a pepper plant but didn't like them. Garlic, onions, radishes, green beans, and lettuce all we untouched. Any suggestion on how to save my remaining and replacement tomatoes? Thanks in advance, Craig Staten Island, NY |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article t,
"Craig" wrote: Hello All, I was a little disturbed to find half my tomato plants leaves eaten off this morning. Seems some sort of critter picked all the leaves clean off. He ate all the tomato leaves off the plants that we not in cages, I had intended to stake them. My neighbor had an opossum in their yard last year. Maybe it was another opossum? I've never had anything disturb my tomato plants before. It looks like he might have tried a pepper plant but didn't like them. Garlic, onions, radishes, green beans, and lettuce all we untouched. Any suggestion on how to save my remaining and replacement tomatoes? Thanks in advance, Craig Staten Island, NY Probably tomatoe hornworm... They can be VERY rapidly destructive! Find the critter, kill it, then most of the leaves should grow back. You can spray the plant with liquid sevin. It biodegrades. K. -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
Probably tomatoe hornworm... They can be VERY rapidly destructive! Find the critter, kill it, then most of the leaves should grow back. You can spray the plant with liquid sevin. It biodegrades. K. Please read up on Sevin before you use it. It does biodegrade, but it's more complicated than that: http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles...baryl-ext.html http://www.pesticide.org/carbaryl1.pdf http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewSc...eaandmills.htm Sue -- Zone 6, South-central PA |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article
, "SugarChile" wrote: Probably tomatoe hornworm... They can be VERY rapidly destructive! Find the critter, kill it, then most of the leaves should grow back. You can spray the plant with liquid sevin. It biodegrades. K. Please read up on Sevin before you use it. It does biodegrade, but it's more complicated than that: http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles...os/carbaryl-ex t.html http://www.pesticide.org/carbaryl1.pdf http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewSc...yeaandmills.ht m Sue Look, I know that pesticides are bad and work hard to develop my biocontrol. Lizards, snakes, toads, spiders, assasin bugs and ladybird beetles are all welcome in my garden and there are plenty of them. But when it comes to rapid destruction by critters such as hornworms, there is a time and a place for pesticides and sevin is the most benign of them! I try to hand pick them, but the little *******s are hard to spot!!! And they do oh so much damage oh so quickly. :-( Pans of beer work for slugs and snails. Dark Ale seems to attract far more of them than cheap beer but that does not atttract hornworms. ;-) I try, I really do, to stay as organic as possible, but sometimes it's just not practical! K. -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
As mentioned, the dreaded tomato hornworm. They won't kill the plant if
found soon but they sure make it look ugly fast. Look in the area of the damage and it'll be closeby, usually hanging upside down under a leaf or along a stem. Cut off the leaf below where the critter is and dump them both, or pick them off with needle nose pliers. Only problem there is they usually have a good grip on the stem, so best to cut it. I've done this for years and not lost a plant yet. Now for the real question, where oh where do they come from and go to? Craig wrote: Hello All, I was a little disturbed to find half my tomato plants leaves eaten off this morning. Seems some sort of critter picked all the leaves clean off. He ate all the tomato leaves off the plants that we not in cages, I had intended to stake them. My neighbor had an opossum in their yard last year. Maybe it was another opossum? I've never had anything disturb my tomato plants before. It looks like he might have tried a pepper plant but didn't like them. Garlic, onions, radishes, green beans, and lettuce all we untouched. Any suggestion on how to save my remaining and replacement tomatoes? Thanks in advance, Craig Staten Island, NY |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article , Grandpa
jsdebooATcomcast.net says... Now for the real question, where oh where do they come from and go to? I think they're the larva of a large moth sometimes called a "false hummer". If you've ever seen one hover over a blossom, you'll know why. -- Where ARE those Iraqi WMDs? |
tomato leaves eaten....
On Sun, 09 May 2004 23:26:35 -0500, Katra wrote:
In article t, "Craig" wrote: Hello All, I was a little disturbed to find half my tomato plants leaves eaten off this morning. Seems some sort of critter picked all the leaves clean off. He ate all the tomato leaves off the plants that we not in cages, I had intended to stake them. My neighbor had an opossum in their yard last year. Maybe it was another opossum? I've never had anything disturb my tomato plants before. It looks like he might have tried a pepper plant but didn't like them. Garlic, onions, radishes, green beans, and lettuce all we untouched. Any suggestion on how to save my remaining and replacement tomatoes? Thanks in advance, Craig Staten Island, NY Probably tomatoe hornworm... They can be VERY rapidly destructive! Find the critter, kill it, then most of the leaves should grow back. You can spray the plant with liquid sevin. It biodegrades. Alternatively, you could get a couple of ducks. They LOVE tomato hornworms and will fight each other over hornworms. Other birds will sometimes eat the small hornworms, but often turn up their noses(beaks?) at large ones, but ducks will practically kill each other for hornworms, no matter how big the hornworms get. |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article ,
Larry Blanchard wrote: In article KatraMungBean- , says... But when it comes to rapid destruction by critters such as hornworms, there is a time and a place for pesticides and sevin is the most benign of them! I thought malathion was less dangerous than Sevin? Seems to me I remember reading it wasn't harmful to anything with a functioning liver, as the liver converted it to something harmless. But Sevin is the best spray for cornsilks :-). Malathion kills birds. Sevin does not... I lost some baby ducklings because my neighbor used Malathion for fire ants and it washed into my yard during a rain. :-( K. -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
Have you tried Bt for the hornworms?
I wasn't trying to be judgmental, and I'm glad you didn't take it that way. We all have to make decisions about what level of pesticide use we are comfortable with....I was just hoping to encourage people would educate themselves before automatically reaching for the spray. It sounds like you are working to create a balanced ecosystem and I applaud you for it. Personally, I use dormant oil, "Sluggo" for slugs, Bt for serious caterpillar infestations (such as fall webworms), insecticidal soap, and that's it. I handpick some pests, and learn to live with others. I encourage beneficial predators as much as possible, and try to follow good cultural practices to avoid the need for fungicides. I don't grow things, such as roses, that need continual fussing over. Aside from the real and potential harmful effects of pesticides/herbicides, I just hate suiting up to use them....and I'm willing to bet that many homeowners and gardeners skip the warnings about goggles, protective clothing and respirators. Cheers, Sue -- Zone 6, South-central PA "Katra" wrote in message news:KatraMungBean- You Look, I know that pesticides are bad and work hard to develop my biocontrol. Lizards, snakes, toads, spiders, assasin bugs and ladybird beetles are all welcome in my garden and there are plenty of them. But when it comes to rapid destruction by critters such as hornworms, there is a time and a place for pesticides and sevin is the most benign of them! I try to hand pick them, but the little *******s are hard to spot!!! And they do oh so much damage oh so quickly. :-( Pans of beer work for slugs and snails. Dark Ale seems to attract far more of them than cheap beer but that does not atttract hornworms. ;-) I try, I really do, to stay as organic as possible, but sometimes it's just not practical! K. |
tomato leaves eaten....
il Mon, 10 May 2004 09:20:03 -0500, Katra ha scritto:
Look, I know that pesticides are bad and work hard to develop my biocontrol. Lizards, snakes, toads, spiders, assasin bugs and ladybird beetles are all welcome in my garden and there are plenty of them. But when it comes to rapid destruction by critters such as hornworms, there is a time and a place for pesticides and sevin is the most benign of them! I try to hand pick them, but the little *******s are hard to spot!!! And they do oh so much damage oh so quickly. :-( Pans of beer work for slugs and snails. Dark Ale seems to attract far more of them than cheap beer but that does not atttract hornworms. ;-) I try, I really do, to stay as organic as possible, but sometimes it's just not practical! Would putting a cut open container around the plants reduce the chewing? We have no such thing as that hornworm but I do find a little plastic barrier slows some creatures down. Especially the darn birds that like to break the stems. One can then use bait that's out of reach of animals too. -- Cheers, Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ] |
tomato leaves eaten....
il Mon, 10 May 2004 16:10:42 GMT, (The Watcher) ha
scritto: Alternatively, you could get a couple of ducks. They LOVE tomato hornworms and will fight each other over hornworms. Other birds will sometimes eat the small hornworms, but often turn up their noses(beaks?) at large ones, but ducks will practically kill each other for hornworms, no matter how big the hornworms get. Now there's a opportunity for someone. Hiring out gardening ducks for a day and night. :-) -- Cheers, Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ] |
tomato leaves eaten....
Hi Again all,
Hornworms eh..... All the leaves were taken from the stem on every plant except 4 now. Also today 2 Pepper plants were stripped. Do they eat those as well? I'll have to check for the buggers tommorrow morning when there is some light. I guess I'll try the sevin.... Thanks Craig "Katra" wrote in message ... In article , Larry Blanchard wrote: In article KatraMungBean- , says... But when it comes to rapid destruction by critters such as hornworms, there is a time and a place for pesticides and sevin is the most benign of them! I thought malathion was less dangerous than Sevin? Seems to me I remember reading it wasn't harmful to anything with a functioning liver, as the liver converted it to something harmless. But Sevin is the best spray for cornsilks :-). Malathion kills birds. Sevin does not... I lost some baby ducklings because my neighbor used Malathion for fire ants and it washed into my yard during a rain. :-( K. -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
Hi SugarChile,
I don't grow things, such as roses, that need continual fussing over. My family has a rose that came from my grandmother, and never give flower after my grandmother pass aways. My father put a lot of effort on it to just keep it alive, a lot of spry and fertiliser still end up an unhelthy plant. After my father pass away, one day I found that it's dead from the root up, just the top of the plant still remain green. I lay the green part to the ground, and manage to make it come out shoot and root. In my hand, I never give it any fertiliser, and never spray, I even don't care when something eating the leave. The only thing I do are replace the soil yearly when the soil are lacking organic matter, and remove the old branches to force it come out some new one. It now giving flower and sometime will four or five flower at the sametime. I do believe as long as we keep the soil good, and constantly remove old plant/brances, it will stay helthy for most of the time. This included those plant that people believe hard to maintain. Regards, Wong -- Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article , Katra wrote:
Look, I know that pesticides are bad and work hard to develop my biocontrol. Lizards, snakes, toads, spiders, assasin bugs and ladybird beetles are all welcome in my garden and there are plenty of them. Speaking of lizards, couple days ago I saw a type I'd not seen before (SoCal desert) -- it was blue, looked like an iguana (big thick head and body, not a skinny "snake with legs" like most of our little desert lizards) and kinda spiny all over. But when it comes to rapid destruction by critters such as hornworms, there is a time and a place for pesticides and sevin is the most benign of them! Pyrethrins work just as well, break down very fast, and are harmless to warmblooded creatures even if ingested. And try insecticidal soap (essentially a mix of dish soap to choke bugs, and canola oil to make it stick to stuff). Hornworms curl up and die right before your eyes. Only had to spray the tomatos 2x last year, and they responded to the soap by growing into 12 foot long vines with LOTS of fruit. I try to hand pick them, but the little *******s are hard to spot!!! Try listening for them. When they're disturbed, they make this odd mechanical noise. Then you can hone in on the sound and get 'em. And they do oh so much damage oh so quickly. :-( Not much less than a maniac with an axe :( ~REZ~ |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article , "SugarChile" wrote:
cultural practices to avoid the need for fungicides. I don't grow things, such as roses, that need continual fussing over. To listen to the rose nu^H^H enthusiasts, you'd think they were all that way, but plenty of glorious roses do just fine in an atmosphere of malign neglect. We have some that get minimal care (trim off obviously dead/broken stuff, but not pruned beyond that, douse with insecticidal soap as needed and a systemic once a year, and lots of water) and they bloom like crazy. One is presently making clumps of blooms the size of dinner plates. Aside from the real and potential harmful effects of pesticides/herbicides, I just hate suiting up to use them....and I'm willing to bet that many homeowners and gardeners skip the warnings about goggles, protective clothing and respirators. If it requires all that, it's too much work, and I look for something else to use :) ~REZ~ |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article , "nswong" wrote:
Hi SugarChile, I don't grow things, such as roses, that need continual fussing over. My family has a rose that came from my grandmother, and never give flower after my grandmother pass aways. My father put a lot of effort Perhaps it was in mourning for your grandmother. After my father pass away, one day I found that it's dead from the root up, just the top of the plant still remain green. I lay the green part to the ground, and manage to make it come out shoot and root. Excellent! I really like the idea of a plant that comes down through a family for multiple generations. A rose is much nicer than our family plant (an apparently immortal philodendron that goes back at least to the early 1960s). In my hand, I never give it any fertiliser, and never spray, I even don't care when something eating the leave. The only thing I do are replace the soil yearly when the soil are lacking organic matter, and remove the old branches to force it come out some new one. It now giving flower and sometime will four or five flower at the sametime. I do believe as long as we keep the soil good, and constantly remove old plant/brances, it will stay helthy for most of the time. This included those plant that people believe hard to maintain. For many plants, especially trees (and roses really are a sort of small tree) that's true. Sometimes we fuss over them TOO much and perhaps get things out of balance, when leaving well enough alone would be better. ~REZ~ |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article
, "SugarChile" wrote: Have you tried Bt for the hornworms? I wasn't trying to be judgmental, and I'm glad you didn't take it that way. We all have to make decisions about what level of pesticide use we are comfortable with....I was just hoping to encourage people would educate themselves before automatically reaching for the spray. It sounds like you are working to create a balanced ecosystem and I applaud you for it. I'm even putting predators inside my new greenhouse. ;-) Anyone squishes a spider in my yard gets yelled at!!! Gourd birdhouses encourage house wrens and they pretty much clean up the yard of bugs when they have babies, but unfortunately, they also eat spiders. Most of my spiders are nocturnal so they still do ok. Tell me more about Bt for hornworms??? I'm really not well educated on that product. Personally, I use dormant oil, "Sluggo" for slugs, Try the beer. Besides, it's somewhat satisfying to see a pan of drowned slugs. G Bt for serious caterpillar infestations (such as fall webworms), insecticidal soap, and that's it. I handpick some pests, and learn to live with others. I encourage beneficial predators as much as possible, and try to follow good cultural practices to avoid the need for fungicides. I don't grow things, such as roses, that need continual fussing over. I also gave up on roses except for climbing blazes. Those do ok with no fuss. I just had too many roses die. sigh Soap spray is great, but my ladybird beetle population is high enough now to pretty much take care of apids, mealy bugs and scale. You should have seen the larvae in the asparagus bed last year! There were ladybird pupae all over the ferns. It was neat. :-) I've taken care of my dill pests (swallowtail butterfly larvae) by planting extra parsley and fennel to place them on. They can eat all of that that they want. Aside from the real and potential harmful effects of pesticides/herbicides, I just hate suiting up to use them....and I'm willing to bet that many homeowners and gardeners skip the warnings about goggles, protective clothing and respirators. Cheers, Sue Thanks! Kat -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article ,
"Loki" wrote: il Mon, 10 May 2004 09:20:03 -0500, Katra ha scritto: Look, I know that pesticides are bad and work hard to develop my biocontrol. Lizards, snakes, toads, spiders, assasin bugs and ladybird beetles are all welcome in my garden and there are plenty of them. But when it comes to rapid destruction by critters such as hornworms, there is a time and a place for pesticides and sevin is the most benign of them! I try to hand pick them, but the little *******s are hard to spot!!! And they do oh so much damage oh so quickly. :-( Pans of beer work for slugs and snails. Dark Ale seems to attract far more of them than cheap beer but that does not atttract hornworms. ;-) I try, I really do, to stay as organic as possible, but sometimes it's just not practical! Would putting a cut open container around the plants reduce the chewing? We have no such thing as that hornworm but I do find a little plastic barrier slows some creatures down. Especially the darn birds that like to break the stems. One can then use bait that's out of reach of animals too. Hornworm moths lay their eggs on the leaves. :-( They don't eat the stems. I try to hand pick the little buggers when possible, not the least because it's so much fun to watch the ducks fight over them when I toss them in with the poultry! Especially the larger ones. G For birds, try some pinwheels, and those are decorative! Owl decoys are also good and Wal-Mart has a nice supply of them right now. Just move them weekly and make sure they cast a shadow. K. -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
Go out at night with a flashlight.
They are more active then and easier to spot, especially towards the top of the plants! Yeah, they will eat peppers if they are hungry and cannot get tomatoes! Same family of plants. K. In article . net, "Craig" wrote: Hi Again all, Hornworms eh..... All the leaves were taken from the stem on every plant except 4 now. Also today 2 Pepper plants were stripped. Do they eat those as well? I'll have to check for the buggers tommorrow morning when there is some light. I guess I'll try the sevin.... Thanks Craig "Katra" wrote in message ... In article , Larry Blanchard wrote: In article KatraMungBean- , says... But when it comes to rapid destruction by critters such as hornworms, there is a time and a place for pesticides and sevin is the most benign of them! I thought malathion was less dangerous than Sevin? Seems to me I remember reading it wasn't harmful to anything with a functioning liver, as the liver converted it to something harmless. But Sevin is the best spray for cornsilks :-). Malathion kills birds. Sevin does not... I lost some baby ducklings because my neighbor used Malathion for fire ants and it washed into my yard during a rain. :-( K. -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...e=0&user id=k atra -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article .net,
(Rez) wrote: In article , Katra wrote: Look, I know that pesticides are bad and work hard to develop my biocontrol. Lizards, snakes, toads, spiders, assasin bugs and ladybird beetles are all welcome in my garden and there are plenty of them. Speaking of lizards, couple days ago I saw a type I'd not seen before (SoCal desert) -- it was blue, looked like an iguana (big thick head and body, not a skinny "snake with legs" like most of our little desert lizards) and kinda spiny all over. Probably a western fence lizard??? But when it comes to rapid destruction by critters such as hornworms, there is a time and a place for pesticides and sevin is the most benign of them! Pyrethrins work just as well, break down very fast, and are harmless to warmblooded creatures even if ingested. And try insecticidal soap (essentially a mix of dish soap to choke bugs, and canola oil to make it stick to stuff). Hornworms curl up and die right before your eyes. Only had to spray the tomatos 2x last year, and they responded to the soap by growing into 12 foot long vines with LOTS of fruit. Hmmmmm... I did used to use Pyrethrin in the henyard for flies but now that I have my duck flock back, I no longer have a fly control problem. ;-) Never tried them much on the food plants. I worry about killing my spiders tho'. :-( I try to hand pick them, but the little *******s are hard to spot!!! Try listening for them. When they're disturbed, they make this odd mechanical noise. Then you can hone in on the sound and get 'em. And they do oh so much damage oh so quickly. :-( Not much less than a maniac with an axe :( snicker Sounds like a story there? ~REZ~ Can anyone tell me how to control rats without poisoning? Traps dont' work. Rats are too smart. K. -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article , Katra wrote:
In article .net, Speaking of lizards, couple days ago I saw a type I'd not seen before (SoCal desert) -- it was blue, looked like an iguana (big thick head and body, not a skinny "snake with legs" like most of our little desert lizards) and kinda spiny all over. Probably a western fence lizard??? goes googling Nope, tho that looks like the little "snake with legs" type we have tons of. This one was distinctly BLUE and I've never seen one like it before. It had the bulky head of an iguana, and a thick body to match, but had little lumpy spines kindof all over rather than just one down the back like an iguana does. Very quick and agile, went up the cinder block wall in a flash. Pyrethrins work just as well, break down very fast, and are harmless to warmblooded creatures even if ingested. And try insecticidal soap (essentially a mix of dish soap to choke bugs, and canola oil to make it stick to stuff). Hornworms curl up and die right before your eyes. Only had to spray the tomatos 2x last year, and they responded to the soap by growing into 12 foot long vines with LOTS of fruit. Hmmmmm... I did used to use Pyrethrin in the henyard for flies but now that I have my duck flock back, I no longer have a fly control problem. Whereas here flies pretty much starve unless you provide something that likes to make a mess in water, like ducks. g ;-) Never tried them much on the food plants. I worry about killing my spiders tho'. :-( Here the main spiders are black widow (both the passive and the leggy aggressive types) and brown recluse. Our big worry is whether we can get them all killed off before they take over, or eat us alive. My tenant got bit by one in her bed yesterday. One reason I keep atropine on hand is for spider bites. And if you're gone for 3 days, when you come back the house will be chock full of black widow webs, to the point that it looks like a movie spook house (no kidding). Hanging dichlorvos no-pest strips helps esp. with the black widows. Doesn't seem to bother the wolf spiders, either, tho we don't see many of those anyway. I've noticed a few golden garden spiders among the roses lately, but they're not typically a desert spider. Probably only surviving here because my place is sortof a little oasis :) I try to hand pick them, but the little *******s are hard to spot!!! Try listening for them. When they're disturbed, they make this odd mechanical noise. Then you can hone in on the sound and get 'em. And they do oh so much damage oh so quickly. :-( Not much less than a maniac with an axe :( snicker Sounds like a story there? Well, I once did chop up a misbehaving typewriter ... tho after fighting with it for several years (couldn't get parts, had to repair it myself, which was always an adventure). Can anyone tell me how to control rats without poisoning? Traps dont' work. Rats are too smart. Where I lived before, we got invaded by roof rats, which are so prolific that traps and poison are a waste of effort. But every morning I'd find 5 or 6 drowned in the dogs' water buckets, and several more killed by one of my dogs (I breed Labradors). If there's no other open water, you can lure 'em into big buckets or small garbage cans with a foot or so of water in the bottom, deep enough that they fall in when they try to drink, and enough water down there that they can't get out so they eventually drown. (And no, I have absolutely no sympathy for suffering rodents. :) Or get a Jack Russell terrier and don't feed it, so it has to hunt. They're good rat dogs and have no qualms about eating rats. :) ~REZ~ |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article , Katra wrote:
For birds, try some pinwheels, and those are decorative! I have a 99 cent pinwheel that's the "Slinky" brand, and it's been sitting out here in the desert sun and high winds for about a year now and still looks like new. It does help with the birds, tho doesn't do anything to discourage kangaroo rats. ~REZ~ |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article KatraMungBean-
, says... I also gave up on roses except for climbing blazes. Those do ok with no fuss. I just had too many roses die. sigh Do a google on "rugosa hybrid roses". They're shrub roses, and you can't kill'em if you try. Look up F.J.Grootendorst, Marie Bugnet (no, not Therese Bugnet), and Hansa. -- Where ARE those Iraqi WMDs? |
tomato leaves eaten....
|
tomato leaves eaten....
Hi Katra,
Can anyone tell me how to control rats without poisoning? Traps dont' work. Rats are too smart. I get rats with rat glue on a piece of plywood very success upto an extent that other wonder how this can be. The area of glue apply are depend on the size of rat. Minimum length should be two and a half of the rat length(not included tail). Minimum width should be two and a half of the rat width. This is due to the observe from me that when rat first step on the glue, it will be able to make a jump. After the jump, if the front claw of rat are out of the glue area, the rat will got chance to escape by crawlling with front claw. Three side of plywood should have minimum one inch of margin clear of glue for our thumb to hold when placing the plywood. The side with glue should touch wall. The plywood should put at rat path(where rat like to run through along a wall). Or the rat jump from a place to reach another place, if the rat jump to your table to eat your food, put the plywood on the table at that spot. Plywood should be lay flat, if it's slanted, the weight of rat will slowly pull rat off the glue area. The glue should chose the less smell type, or else you may need few days to wait for the small disappear before get your first rat. The glue should not be watery. After removed the rat from glue, hold plywood slanted under water tap to wash off rat *output*. g And put it slanted against a wall to let water drip off. Refill the part lack of glue that due to remove with rat together. All this should be quite easy to understand. The tough part are I don't know how to explain the way to apply glue. If the glue does not apply correctly to the plywood, rat will be able to escape quite easily. A piece of plywood can get as much of about ten rat per night, this is assume that you remove the rat when you heard it *sqeet* to free up the space. From my experience, as long as you put it at the right place, you can glue bird, fly, snake, ... Almost anything that does not in the water. Regards, Wong -- Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article ,
Larry Blanchard wrote: In article , says... Would putting a cut open container around the plants reduce the chewing? We have no such thing as that hornworm but I do find a little plastic barrier slows some creatures down. Especially the darn birds that like to break the stems. One can then use bait that's out of reach of animals too. I use coffee cans half buried around my tomatoes. Seems to stop both hornworms and cutworms, and I suspect slugs as well. Also handy for watering - just fill the can :-). Doesn't the can constrain the roots ? They can't expand horizontally until they get below the edge of the can. -- Al Dykes ----------- adykes at p a n i x . c o m |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article .net,
(Rez) wrote: Can anyone tell me how to control rats without poisoning? Traps dont' work. Rats are too smart. Where I lived before, we got invaded by roof rats, which are so prolific that traps and poison are a waste of effort. But every morning I'd find 5 or 6 drowned in the dogs' water buckets, and several more killed by one of my dogs (I breed Labradors). If there's no other open water, you can lure 'em into big buckets or small garbage cans with a foot or so of water in the bottom, deep enough that they fall in when they try to drink, and enough water down there that they can't get out so they eventually drown. (And no, I have absolutely no sympathy for suffering rodents. :) Or get a Jack Russell terrier and don't feed it, so it has to hunt. They're good rat dogs and have no qualms about eating rats. :) ~REZ~ I've considered that... Will they eat chickens? Most of the rats are in the henyard which is why they are here. Plenty of food. :-( That is why a water trap would not work unless I dumped water containers every night. We do find them drowned in the emu's water buckets now and then! Kat -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article ,
"nswong" wrote: Hi Katra, Can anyone tell me how to control rats without poisoning? Traps dont' work. Rats are too smart. I get rats with rat glue on a piece of plywood very success upto an extent that other wonder how this can be. The area of glue apply are depend on the size of rat. Minimum length should be two and a half of the rat length(not included tail). Minimum width should be two and a half of the rat width. This is due to the observe from me that when rat first step on the glue, it will be able to make a jump. After the jump, if the front claw of rat are out of the glue area, the rat will got chance to escape by crawlling with front claw. Three side of plywood should have minimum one inch of margin clear of glue for our thumb to hold when placing the plywood. The side with glue should touch wall. The plywood should put at rat path(where rat like to run through along a wall). Or the rat jump from a place to reach another place, if the rat jump to your table to eat your food, put the plywood on the table at that spot. Plywood should be lay flat, if it's slanted, the weight of rat will slowly pull rat off the glue area. The glue should chose the less smell type, or else you may need few days to wait for the small disappear before get your first rat. The glue should not be watery. After removed the rat from glue, hold plywood slanted under water tap to wash off rat *output*. g And put it slanted against a wall to let water drip off. Refill the part lack of glue that due to remove with rat together. All this should be quite easy to understand. The tough part are I don't know how to explain the way to apply glue. If the glue does not apply correctly to the plywood, rat will be able to escape quite easily. A piece of plywood can get as much of about ten rat per night, this is assume that you remove the rat when you heard it *sqeet* to free up the space. From my experience, as long as you put it at the right place, you can glue bird, fly, snake, ... Almost anything that does not in the water. Regards, Wong Time I think to just use Glue traps. ;-) I normally hate those things, but I'm also not afraid to just kill the rat when I find it in the glue trap so it won't suffer. Trick will be in putting the traps where my pigeons won't get into them. The rats do run up the trees out back! I have some ideas... Thanks! K. -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
"Katra" wrote in message ... In article t, "Craig" wrote: Hello All, I was a little disturbed to find half my tomato plants leaves eaten off this morning. Seems some sort of critter picked all the leaves clean off. He ate all the tomato leaves off the plants that we not in cages, I had intended to stake them. My neighbor had an opossum in their yard last year. Maybe it was another opossum? I've never had anything disturb my tomato plants before. It looks like he might have tried a pepper plant but didn't like them. Garlic, onions, radishes, green beans, and lettuce all we untouched. Any suggestion on how to save my remaining and replacement tomatoes? Thanks in advance, Craig Staten Island, NY Probably tomatoe hornworm... They can be VERY rapidly destructive! Find the critter, kill it, then most of the leaves should grow back. You can spray the plant with liquid sevin. It biodegrades. K. If it's a big critter, sevin will be totally ineffective. On the other hand, an electric fence will work well. Ray |
tomato leaves eaten....
Hornworms are big and easy to control by simply picking them off. Look
for them by noting the damage, and looking in that area. Also, if it's quiet enough, you can shake the plant and listen for the clicking noise. We used to amuse ourselves by plucking them off and feeding them to the chickens. If you see one with little white cocoons on its back, leave it alone. It will do little damage, and the cocoons will hatch little parasitic wasps that will work well at keeping the hornworm population down. Ray "Craig" wrote in message ink.net... Hi Again all, Hornworms eh..... All the leaves were taken from the stem on every plant except 4 now. Also today 2 Pepper plants were stripped. Do they eat those as well? I'll have to check for the buggers tommorrow morning when there is some light. I guess I'll try the sevin.... Thanks Craig "Katra" wrote in message ... In article , Larry Blanchard wrote: In article KatraMungBean- , says... But when it comes to rapid destruction by critters such as hornworms, there is a time and a place for pesticides and sevin is the most benign of them! I thought malathion was less dangerous than Sevin? Seems to me I remember reading it wasn't harmful to anything with a functioning liver, as the liver converted it to something harmless. But Sevin is the best spray for cornsilks :-). Malathion kills birds. Sevin does not... I lost some baby ducklings because my neighbor used Malathion for fire ants and it washed into my yard during a rain. :-( K. -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...s&include=0&us erid=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
One major thing I have against sevin is that it is particularly
effective against bees. Ray "SugarChile" wrote in message ... Have you tried Bt for the hornworms? I wasn't trying to be judgmental, and I'm glad you didn't take it that way. We all have to make decisions about what level of pesticide use we are comfortable with....I was just hoping to encourage people would educate themselves before automatically reaching for the spray. It sounds like you are working to create a balanced ecosystem and I applaud you for it. Personally, I use dormant oil, "Sluggo" for slugs, Bt for serious caterpillar infestations (such as fall webworms), insecticidal soap, and that's it. I handpick some pests, and learn to live with others. I encourage beneficial predators as much as possible, and try to follow good cultural practices to avoid the need for fungicides. I don't grow things, such as roses, that need continual fussing over. Aside from the real and potential harmful effects of pesticides/herbicides, I just hate suiting up to use them....and I'm willing to bet that many homeowners and gardeners skip the warnings about goggles, protective clothing and respirators. Cheers, Sue -- Zone 6, South-central PA "Katra" wrote in message news:KatraMungBean- You Look, I know that pesticides are bad and work hard to develop my biocontrol. Lizards, snakes, toads, spiders, assasin bugs and ladybird beetles are all welcome in my garden and there are plenty of them. But when it comes to rapid destruction by critters such as hornworms, there is a time and a place for pesticides and sevin is the most benign of them! I try to hand pick them, but the little *******s are hard to spot!!! And they do oh so much damage oh so quickly. :-( Pans of beer work for slugs and snails. Dark Ale seems to attract far more of them than cheap beer but that does not atttract hornworms. ;-) I try, I really do, to stay as organic as possible, but sometimes it's just not practical! K. |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article ,
Ray Drouillard wrote: "Katra" wrote in message ... In article t, "Craig" wrote: Hello All, I was a little disturbed to find half my tomato plants leaves eaten off this morning. Seems some sort of critter picked all the leaves clean off. He ate all the tomato leaves off the plants that we not in cages, I had intended to stake them. My neighbor had an opossum in their yard last year. Maybe it was another opossum? I've never had anything disturb my tomato plants before. It looks like he might have tried a pepper plant but didn't like them. Garlic, onions, radishes, green beans, and lettuce all we untouched. Any suggestion on how to save my remaining and replacement tomatoes? We've got opossums around here, and I've never seen any clue that they are the culprits when a tomate plant goes missing. Don't possums go after grubs ? I could see then digging up a plant if they thought there was something good to eat underneath. I have cutworm problems, and this year I cut tin cans in half (4 inches dia by about 4 inches high, and put these around my plants. A few days later I go into the garden and count the plants and one's missing, can and all. That ain't no cutworm. Looking around the area I found a woodland box turtle, but no sign of the tincan. -- Al Dykes ----------- adykes at p a n i x . c o m |
tomato leaves eaten....
il Tue, 11 May 2004 02:40:07 -0500, Katra ha scritto:
Hornworm moths lay their eggs on the leaves. :-( They don't eat the stems. They sound a pain. I try to hand pick the little buggers when possible, not the least because it's so much fun to watch the ducks fight over them when I toss them in with the poultry! Especially the larger ones. G For birds, try some pinwheels, and those are decorative! Owl decoys are also good and Wal-Mart has a nice supply of them right now. Just move them weekly and make sure they cast a shadow. I'm not sure our birds would know what an owl is. As it's drawing to winter here it's more a matter of me getting out and cleaning up the garden. -- Cheers, Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ] |
tomato leaves eaten....
il Tue, 11 May 2004 03:02:35 -0500, Katra ha scritto:
Can anyone tell me how to control rats without poisoning? Traps dont' work. Rats are too smart. I had smart mice who could remove the bait without springing the trap. So for a while I baited it but left it unsprung so they'd get careless. Eventually I set the trap, tied the bait on to make it hard remove, put the trap between two objects making a corridor that just fit the trap width (to cut down the space for manouvering). That seemed to work. Maybe that would work for rats. -- Cheers, Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ] |
tomato leaves eaten....
|
tomato leaves eaten....
In article ,
Loki wrote: il Tue, 11 May 2004 03:02:35 -0500, Katra ha scritto: Can anyone tell me how to control rats without poisoning? Traps dont' work. Rats are too smart. I had smart mice who could remove the bait without springing the trap. So for a while I baited it but left it unsprung so they'd get careless. Eventually I set the trap, tied the bait on to make it hard remove, put the trap between two objects making a corridor that just fit the trap width (to cut down the space for manouvering). That seemed to work. Maybe that would work for rats. My mice like bannanas so well that I haven't tried anything else. i worked out a trap setup that works great; i get a thin board about a foot long and no wider than the traps. In the middle I pound the tips of two nails (maybe 2 inch nails) just deep enough to stay. Then I cut the heads of the nails off with wire cutters. Put Two mouse traps back-to-back on the board seperated by an inch or a little more with the nails in the middle and the trigger ends oriented towards the center. I use a drop of wood glue. Cut a piece of banana and impale it on the nails, The skin keeps it on. Cock the traps and put in along a wall. Put another piece of wood along side to make a runway with no way to avoid the triggers. If a mouse is wiggling it's little butt while it's eating the bait he's going to get caught. -- Al Dykes ----------- adykes at p a n i x . c o m |
tomato leaves eaten....
Hi Katra,
I normally hate those things, but I'm also not afraid to just kill the rat when I find it in the glue trap so it won't suffer. I don't like to kill animal, so I just wrap rat with newspaper and throw it outside our fence to a bush, it will decompose to nothing left within two months. The glue on rat will stick it with the newspaper and make it unescapetable. I know this will make the rat suffer, but as long as I don't see it with my eye, it's OK for me. Think at it, most of my transplant are lost due to those rats, this make me feel less guilty. Rats here like to chew my transplant and even pull the transplant out from soil. Regards, Wong -- Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article ,
"Loki" wrote: il Tue, 11 May 2004 02:40:07 -0500, Katra ha scritto: Hornworm moths lay their eggs on the leaves. :-( They don't eat the stems. They sound a pain. They are. :-( I found a teensy one the other day on one of my tomato plants... It's worm dip now. G I try to hand pick the little buggers when possible, not the least because it's so much fun to watch the ducks fight over them when I toss them in with the poultry! Especially the larger ones. G For birds, try some pinwheels, and those are decorative! Owl decoys are also good and Wal-Mart has a nice supply of them right now. Just move them weekly and make sure they cast a shadow. I'm not sure our birds would know what an owl is. As it's drawing to winter here it's more a matter of me getting out and cleaning up the garden. Might be instinctive. :-) Owl decoys work very well for pest birds, and pigeons! K. -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
tomato leaves eaten....
In article ,
"Loki" wrote: il Tue, 11 May 2004 03:02:35 -0500, Katra ha scritto: Can anyone tell me how to control rats without poisoning? Traps dont' work. Rats are too smart. I had smart mice who could remove the bait without springing the trap. So for a while I baited it but left it unsprung so they'd get careless. Eventually I set the trap, tied the bait on to make it hard remove, put the trap between two objects making a corridor that just fit the trap width (to cut down the space for manouvering). That seemed to work. Maybe that would work for rats. I have to be cautious with snap traps. The rats are mostly in the hen yard and I have pigeons. :-P That is why I have to be SO careful with poison baits. I use the bar bait and put it into suet cages so the rats cannot carry it off, and make sure it stays under cover with crumb control. Still scares me. :-( And I think I lose the occasional bird to it when I do start poisoning even tho' I'm ever so careful! K. -- Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
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