How to get rid of tomato worms?

Question

I have these 1-2 inch long, light green worms that blend in perfectly with my tomato plant leaves, and they are destroying my plants, chewing them to shreds. The few I've caught have tiny "hooks" on their end that makes me think they're baby tomato worms. Anyone know of an "organic" way to get rid of them? They're nearly impossible to see, and I don't want to start spraying my plants with chemicals or pesticides? Any ideas, or know of any critters that will eat them?

Answer 1

They appear out of nowhere! They grow twice the speed of weeds! They view your tomato plants as all-they-can-eat buffets! It’s the attack of the killer tomato worms (cue sinister sounding Hitchcock movie music)!

One day my tomatoes looked fine; the next, half the leaves were nibbled to stubs and a monstrous 3-inch green and white worm dangled from a macerated stem, cleaning its teeth with that crimson horn. I swear I heard it belch. Where do they come from? Granted, their camouflage makes them difficult to spot, but for them to appear as if by magic seems highly unlikely. They do say, “know your enemies and your tomato harvest will not be threatened”, so here’s a bit of inside information about these garden interlopers.

There are two common types of horn worms that are the tomato gardener’s nemesis, the Tomato Horn Worm (Manduca quinquemaculata) and the Tobacco Horn Worm (Manduca sexta). One has ‘V’ shaped white markings, the other has white diagonal stripes. Both are ravenous herbivores and will make short work of devouring an entire Lycopersicon esculentum. Turns out these giant caterpillars are the larvae of hawk or sphinx moths, also known as hummingbird moths. The eggs of these nocturnal nectar feeders are deposited on the underside of tomato leaves in the cover of night, where they keep a low profile until the larvae hatch and eat your plants. Evidence of their activity is the sudden disappearance of leaf, stem, flowers and fruit of your beloved love apples, and their tell-tale frass, or dark droppings.

Once they’ve eaten their fill, the worms drop to the ground and burrow down a few inches to form a pupal cell where they wait for nature to do its thing. A moth emerges a little while later, makes its way to the free air and the cycle starts all over again. What is a tomato lover to do?

You can control these pests by hand-picking them off your plants. Birds love them, so encourage more feathered friends to stop by. Another method of control is to till the soil, especially before installing the plants. The pupae lie shallow, so digging them up and exposing them to the elements will control the population, as will luring the adult moths to light traps (which is risky business, considering other beneficial winged insects may also be coaxed to a premature death). Natural predators such as wasp parasitoids will lay their eggs directly on the caterpillars. When these hatch, the wasp larvae will eat the horn worm alive (so if you see a horn worm with several white rice-like bundles on its back, grit your teeth and let it remain). Nature is a bloody battlefield.

Bacillus thuringiensis, also known as Bt, is an insecticidal bacterium effective in controlling caterpillar pests (unfortunately, it’s very effective in controlling the beneficial and beautiful caterpillars as well so if you want butterflies, I wouldn’t recommend it).

Paying attention to what’s going on in your garden is the best line of defense. If nothing else, you can confound your friends and relations when they hear you muttering, “Oh, frass!” in the garden.

Answer 2

Tomato Worms

Answer 3

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/awINX

You never said what kind of tomatoes you're growing, but I had that same problem for years, but after I stopped planting thin skinned tomatoes, like beef steak the problem disappeared. The problem with thin skinned tomatoes is that the skins will split as soon as they start to get ripe. Once they split they'll attract all sorts of critters - especially horn worms. Over the years I've found that the hybrids, although not as big as the beef steak varieties, tend to resist diseases, and taste better than the beef steaks. There are, of course, hybrids that grow almost as large as the beef steaks, but with thicker skins, and as a result resist splitting. But because of the original beef steak tomato in its genes the taste isn't there. Next growing season try a hybrid, and compare it to what ever you're currently growing. Ask your seed guy which tomato he'd recommend for your area. I grow five different types of tomatoes. Four of those types are hybrids, and the other is the San Marzano plum tomato.

Answer 4

Don't spend money on dust!!! Just pick them off the plant and put them somewhere for the birds to eat! The best way to prevent tomato worms is to plant sweet basil in with your tomatoes. The aroma will keep the worms away...guaranteed! I've been doing this for several years and haven't had a nasty tomato since!

Answer 5

Bacillus thuringensis (BT). A bacteria that kills these catepillar worms. Completely safe to humans without any of the toxicity of chemical sprays. I don't know about you but I don't like eating toxic chemicals.
Mixed with water and sprayed on plants freely, BT also kills cabbage worms.
As soon as I find my $0.59 spray bottle I'm going to spray my plants.
Found in better garden centers or online. Very effective. Lasts for years in your fridge.

Answer 6

Tomato Plant Worms

Answer 7

yes the answer is dust with regular garden lime its good for the plants and the dust burns the bugs inside as they eat it or crawl through poke holes in a latge can with a nail and place the lid on the bottom and then when you dust remove the coffee can lid and shake over the plants tomatoes like sandy loose soil and acid and thats it lime sweet powdered lime

Answer 8

First off, try and reason with em. Explain that the lease on this particular plant has expired and that you're willing to work with them in any way possible. If this doesnt work, Im not sure what further steps to take.

Answer 9

Pick them off and dispose of them when you see them, try to attract birds to your garden with a bird bath or some seed, plant begonias in with your plants, they have a natural pest deterent in them.

Answer 10

Sprinkle 7 dust on the ground around all your plants! That will do it.