We grow tomatoes in a container on our deck. We found hornworms tonite. The have eaten a lot of leaves. Can we still try to cultivate tomatoes and eat them? Should we trim back the damaged parts of the plants?
2006-07-27 11:54:07 · 8 answers · asked by nancysparkle 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Garden & Landscape
Just leave the plants alone, and they will most likely send out some new leaves. As for the suggestions to spray your plants, why make the tomatoes all covered in poison? Sevin is not a product I want to eat! I currently have one tomato plant that was pretty much defoliated by hornworms. I kept looking and looking but never finding the worms, and the plant is very sad looking. It still has a few tomatoes which are ripening. Yes, you can eat tomatoes from such plants.
To control your big, fat green tomato eating worms, try going outside in the early evening or early in the morning, and squat by the bushes and look very carefully. They are easier to find at those times. I hate the things and wear gloves to pull them off. My ducks love to eat the hornworms.
tomatoes will readily root all over again, so you might try burying a portion of the leafless plant and it will send out roots from there. The new roots might stimulate the plant to leaf out sooner. If your plant is tall, you could take one of the long, leafless stems and bury it in a new pot, next to the existing one. You can also take cuttings, stick those in water, and put it on the kitchen counter. In a month, you'll see new roots and you can plant the clone in it's own pot.
2006-07-28 14:45:33 · answer #1 · answered by mw 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes any tomatoes your plant has produced will be OK to eat. Of course I would not eat ones the horn worms have tunneled into. It would not hurt the plant to trim off parts the worms have eaten either. I would get some sevin dust from my local garden center and dust the plants. If you prefer not to use insecticides you can dust them with some agricultural lime. The worms don't like to bite into the stuff. And it will make your soil alkaline which tomatoes love and will make the fruit even taste sweeter instead of bitey and acidy. Happy growing.
2006-07-27 12:01:46 · answer #2 · answered by ksr_2857 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't use any poison in my gardens. sevin is very toxic! make sure you don't breath it in! 2 of my friends have become very sick with using it.
the organic way to go is marigolds. next year plant 1 tomato plant 1 marigold plant so on. been doing this for 6 years and have never had a horn worm. marigolds produce a smell that the horn worm hates.
Debi G member of NHGC
2006-07-27 14:34:27 · answer #3 · answered by debi g 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Tomato Eating Worms
2017-03-02 13:24:09 · answer #4 · answered by dorvillier 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. The bile and different acid on your abdomen ought to digest it. If it were conceivable to augment a trojan horse by ingesting one then by a similar theory, you would possibly want to be able to augment an apple tree by swallowing seeds
2016-10-15 06:55:39 · answer #5 · answered by Erika 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
kill 'em, remove 'em....do what you need to do to them. ....then eat 'em (the tomatoes.) You could use liquid seven to kill them if you don't mind the chemicals..We just removed some from our tomato plants....good luck!
2006-07-27 12:01:21 · answer #6 · answered by louwho 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely, wash them and eat away!
2006-07-27 12:17:44 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes.
you can trim if you like. use some sevendust to kill'em!
2006-07-27 11:57:20 · answer #8 · answered by stratos201_2000 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋