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Garden Gate:  What creature takes big bites from tomatoes  |
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tribalcime
True Blue Farmgirl
2963 Posts
lisa
lexington
ky
USA
2963 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 12 2008 : 12:20:10 PM
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YOu can keep snails down by not watering at night . They use the water to travel on . Or you can lay a small board down and dampen under it and you should get snails under it at night. I went "snail hunting" and got 16 total of them . They were huge slugs --thick and long as your finger . THey had hidden by my back porch where the hose was kept and would travel about 4 ft at night to the green beans. Once i caught them all the beans grew great.
LIfe is a witch ~~~ and then ya fly !! My blogspot .http://tribalwitch.blogspot.com/ |
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nampafarmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
494 Posts
Kim
Nampa
ID
USA
494 Posts |
Posted - Aug 12 2008 : 2:47:43 PM
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well at least your not dealing with alligators like some of our farm sisters are! I have a simalr problem so no more eating right off the bush for me. i think mine is from Morning Doves. I catch them flying out of the area.
kim |
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SheilaC
True Blue Farmgirl
1948 Posts
Sheila
Vermont
USA
1948 Posts |
Posted - Aug 12 2008 : 7:09:56 PM
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| My vote is three year old girls! That's what happens to veggies in my garden (left on the plant with one or two bites taken out of them. . .tomatoes, peppers, green beans, even a cucumber!) |
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StarMeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
940 Posts
T
MI
940 Posts |
Posted - Aug 12 2008 : 8:09:25 PM
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Here's what was eating mine! BTW, he's 4 inches long!
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Edited by - StarMeadow on Aug 12 2008 8:10:20 PM |
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tribalcime
True Blue Farmgirl
2963 Posts
lisa
lexington
ky
USA
2963 Posts |
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Homespun Livin
True Blue Farmgirl
409 Posts
Brenda
Louisiana
USA
409 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2008 : 07:53:28 AM
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I couldn't make out the picture. What was it?
"Love one another." |
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AuntPammy
True Blue Farmgirl
488 Posts
Pamila
williamstown
wv
USA
488 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2008 : 08:02:32 AM
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Wow. When I was little I use to go out and pick those tomato worms off with my dad. We would put them in a can and then he would take them to a pond down the road a ways and feed the fish. Yuck....my sympathies are with you.
Let's dance in the rain and play in the puddles under the rainbows.
www.auntpsalmostheaven.com |
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StarMeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
940 Posts
T
MI
940 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2008 : 08:22:30 AM
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That my dear ladies is a Tomato Hornworm! See the little "horn" on his tail end? Apparently decorative but very sensitive. These babies burrow into your garden to wait out the winter. When they hatch they are these huge furry moths.
Who, then lay eggs in your tomato leaves and then the larvae hatch and devour your plants! If you see one of these and it appears to have big white "rice-shaped" things sticking to it all over, leave it! Those are a type of small wasp larvae who eat the horn worm after hatching before it can turn into a moth. It's some sore of parasitic relationship... I guess I'm going to have to get crazy with the hoe in the fall when I put this garden plot to "bed" to try and chop up any of the buggers that have already gone to ground! I've never seen anything like this in my life. It was HUGE! (but very cool to watch) We kept him in a jar for a couple of days. He ate and ate and ate... then all of a sudden died. I felt bad but I didn't really know what else to do with it because I didn't want it back out in the yard anywhere to turn into a moth and find NEXT year's tomatoes.... |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2008 : 08:26:28 AM
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Ok, I had to laugh, Linda, about those little turtles with tomato juice all over their heads. I would have left them alone, too, I guess. Without any rain, and the temperatures being so cool in the evenings, we haven't had many red ones this week, so no one is interested!!!
My that tomato worm is interesting--and the moth, actually pretty. I haven't had any issues with those that I know of, but then...there's always a first for everything, right?
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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Homespun Livin
True Blue Farmgirl
409 Posts
Brenda
Louisiana
USA
409 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2008 : 10:32:26 AM
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Okay, the pic of the moth I could see. A tomato hornworm huh? Chickes really like those buggers.
"Love one another." |
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StarMeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
940 Posts
T
MI
940 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2008 : 10:46:08 AM
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| Brenda, horn worm is on page 2. Someone else told me that chickens are quite fond of them too. Wish I had a chicken. |
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Garden Gate: What creature takes big bites from tomatoes |
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What creature takes big bites from tomatoes
