I live in Northern California. This year for the first time, shortly after
transplanting tomato plants they began to wilt. I pulled them up and found
a reddish colored worm inside the main stem. What are these and how do I
control them?

On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 07:37:24 -0700, "MEL" wrote:

I live in Northern California. This year for the first time, shortly after
transplanting tomato plants they began to wilt. I pulled them up and found
a reddish colored worm inside the main stem. What are these and how do I
control them?

Could be army worms:

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/armyworm.html

Or wire worms:

http://cropwatch.unl.edu/photos/insectpho.htm

MEL said:

I live in Northern California. This year for the first time, shortly after
transplanting tomato plants they began to wilt. I pulled them up and found
a reddish colored worm inside the main stem. What are these and how do I
control them?

Could be European corn borers. Not much you can do once they are inside
the plant stems.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)