This year I have had problems with huge catipilars eating into my Tomatoes.. I have been told that it was in one of the papers that ???there has been a problem with moths from America causing this. Has anyone heard of it??
Some years I have had problems with the "Tomato Moth" you are on about... but been OK since I resited my greenhouse... think the cold must have got any overwintering ones... :-\
I've had tomato moth just once ... touch wood....haven't done anything different to get rid of it, just not had it again/ shades x
Did it look like this? http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,54600.0.html (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,54600.0.html)
We had those tomato worms last year. the best time to look for them is at night with a flashlight since they hide in the ground or on the lower stems during the day usually and blend right in. They can take off a nice canopy of leaves in 24 hrs it seems. I hope you can get all of them before they lay eggs. There is a parasitic wasp that will lay eggs on the worms' backs, it looks like little white sausages projecting up, and those worms you should let live since the wasps will help kill other worms. Nasty worms!
It did not look like the huge green one in your link. They were smaller and green about an inch long. They burrowed into the tomatoes, sort of eating them from the inside.
I hope I don't get them next year, I lost quite a lot with them. :-[
BT should do the trick.
Quote from: mrestofus on December 16, 2009, 19:31:30
BT should do the trick.
I'd hope so cos that's a pretty big caterpillar..... you'd need a Robin the size of a Golden Eagle to deal with it otherwise....
It dealt with my greater wax moth infestation overnight. Those are massive things three inches long.