Tomato Hornworm

[jvs]

I knew I would find one on my tomato plants this year sooner or later.  The one I found had Wasp Eggs hanging from it, so it would not have made it to the adult stage before being devoured from the inside out by the wasp larvae.

I have to admit, tomato hornworms are about the ugliest bug there is, and they sure have a taste for acid foods.   Any bug that can eat leaves on a tomato plant sure has a strong stomach.

Find one with the Wasp Eggs hanging from it and it really looks spooky.

[Ranger J]

I found a large one on one of my plants and in one day it had about reduced the small plant to a bare stalk.  It’s a good thing that tomatoes are tough and bounce back well.  I've always wondered if they would make good catfish bait like a catalpa worm.  How are your tomatoes doing this year?  I have quite a few but the size leaves a lot to be desired  so far.  A lot of them are about the size of a tennis ball.  My green peppers on the other hand are the largest I have ever grown.

RJ

[jvs]

My Tomato plants are doing great with high stalks and broad leaves.  They have outgrown the stakes, now I have to run for higher stakes.  I only put 8 plants in, 4 Juliet Grape Tomato and 4 Big Boys.  Neither have produced any red ones just yet, but they are loaded.  This is the first year I did not pinch off the tomato plant 'suckers', which means alot more stalks and more tomato's.

I usually prepare the garden with some 10/10/10 in the spring, and I spread some Epsom Salts about a month after the plants are in. Then Lime in the fall.  That combination seems to work well for tomato's so far.  Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulfate) turns your tomato plants a healthy green color.  One teaspoon per plant spread around a foot of the tomato stem works wonders.  You can add Epsom Salts anytime of the year to perk your tomato's up.

I don't think those Hornworms would work for Catfish, but you never know until you try.  Birds don't even bother with them.  The juice that would come out of those hornworms would probably be highly acidic. That Wasp might be the only predator that seeks those Hornworms out as a food source for their young.

Anything that can eat and digest leaves from a tomato plant can't taste too good.   

[Ranger J]

In our area I have watched Cardinals light on the top of the fence I have my plants staked to and then intently look at the plants before flying down to pick off a worm.  The only problem is that there just doesn't seem to be enough hungry Cardinals. 
   Something larger than a hornworm is now getting into my tomatoes.  It waits until the tomato is almost ripe and then pulls it off the plant and may eat a part of it but often it looks just like they maybe are just sucking the moisture out of it.  We have been dry for some time but there is a spring fed creek within 50 feet of my garden.  As this happens either very early in the morning or overnight, my two suspects are either squirrels or coons.
   I planted one of my raised beds with lemon and lime basil.  We will be picking these today and making a pesto that is real good on chicken or fish.  Right in the middle of this a lone cantaloupe seed sprouted, probably from some peelings and such that I added to the soil last year.  I now have this plant covering a good part of the bed and it has about eight or ten large melons on it.  So far the critters have left it alone.  At first we were worried that the plant would crowd the basil out but they have risen above the melon leaves and this seems to be a good although accidental example of companion planting.  My problem is that now the melons are of good size and I am not real sure as when to pick them.  Any suggestions?

RJ

[jvs]

Pick those Melons when they look like the picture that was on the envelope of the seeds that you started or find a picture of them on the internet.  There are different shades of green. depending on what type you planted.  Usually, ripe Melons have a hollow sound to them when you thump them with your hand. 

Cantalopes are ripe when the indent on the blossom end gives in a little bit when you push on the indent with your thumb.  Cantalopes also 'smell' ripe.   

[Ranger J]

Or when the raccoons eat them!

I evidently waited one day too long to pick the cantaloupe.  When I got up this morning and walked out to look at the garden I found the two largest melons 'empty' and a small raccoon scratching the last bit of  'good' out of the last one.  I ran it up a small tree and  went into the house for a gun.  The first thing I could lay my hands on was my 45/70 Handi rifle.  The 300 Gr. Remington HP load did not leave much of the small beast.  The bad thing is that I know that one coon did not eat both of those melons by itself.  I let my four dogs, affectionately known as the four idiot sisters or the mongrel hoard, out and they did a survey of the garden without finding any more coons.  Their swarming did only minimal damage to the vegetables.  As I am not going to set up all night guarding the patch my best bet will be a friend of mine who has a Havahart type tram and I will see if I can catch the rest of the gang.

RJ