Jay: That blows!

BT isn't effective on mature hornworms, so you have to be proactive with it. What I do is(on top of my IPM program) from about May throughout the season, I spray BT in 2-3 week intervals persistently. So, that way I get them when they're young. I hate searching for them on six 8 foot tomato plants so BT is an everflowing thing in my backyard. Looks like you get them a tad sooner than I.

Also, if you find one that looks like the one in the link, leave it alone. Those little eggs are parasitic wasps ready to go and find more hornworms when they hatch

Here is a link that might be useful: parasitized hornworm

Jay, you need to really train your eye and find the very small caterpillars and the eggs. Do a search and destroy mission every few days.

Jay, here in FL the big gnarly wasps love those things. I cut one in half with a pair of scissors, and within minutes the wasps swarmed to my yard to search for any more hornworms, and over the course of 2 days ate every last bit of the carcass of the one I cut. I'm gonna assume the smell of its guts is what attracted them. after I did it the wasps were back every day for 2 weeks, I guess searching for more hornworms.

Woohooman - I had no idea it didn't work on the adults, good info. And I'll be sure to let any with those wasp larvae cling to their last few moments now. Gotta ask, what's IPM? I could use some extra protection ;)

And Judo, I've seen some big ole wasps around the plants every so often... But not too much. I (as well) did not realize they liked to feast on these things. Next hornworm spotted is getting the old fiskar treatment and splayed out in the center of the bucket garden!

I still can't believe how many tomatoes they destroyed - in less than 12 hrs!

Jay

Jay: Integrated Pest Management. Basically, creating an insectary to attract the predators/parasites of the PESTS.

Here's a few links for quick reference---

http://www.organicgardeninfo.com/beneficial-insectary-plants.html

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/quickref/pest%20management/plants_attract_beneficial.html

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/

What you want to try to do is diversify though. As many different types of the "good" plants flowering throughout the year. A few good "starter" plants are alyssum, marigolds, zinnias, cilantro, dill.

I think Judo might be misled about wasps that he can SEE do a number on hornworms. I'm not saying yellow jackets and some other wasps don't scavenge and maybe feast on the CARCASS of a hornworm. But they don't attack them while they live. There are, however, tiny parasitic wasps that will.

Kevin

Went on a night time raid... The problem is far worse than I could have ever imagined. I am open to any and all suggestions!!! I am in the process of the above suggestions, and I'll spare y'all from the battle field scene in the container - which is now hopefully attracting Florida's meanest wasp population to my area...

Jay (hater, slayer, disemboweler, and horn-worm annihilator extraordinaire)

Thanks Kevin, that'll take some time to accomplish... But I can make it happen! And the small wasps are the parasitic ones? I just thought they were baby "regular" wasps. I have seen them from time to time in the garden as well - I hope they come more often now!

Jay

I'm now finding sites to increase the parasitic wasp population... It's on!

Here is a link that might be useful: Parasitic Wasp Larvae

I hate these things. I came out one day and three of these guys were on my New Mexico big jim. There wasn't one leaf left..only the peppers.
They suffered big time. Sentenced to death.

Dave

Yeah.. It's an ongoing thing. But you can probably find some marigolds and alyssum six packs at the nursery. They'll already be flowering and the blooms last a long time. So, get some of them at the minimum.

That's quite a haul.

Good luck.

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: braconid wasp

This post was edited by woohooman on Fri, May 2, 14 at 1:21

Time to pull out the firecrackers and see which catepillar can bounce the highest.

I hate those guys. Pulled a bunch off my tomatos last year.

reading this thread is seriously gonna make me get out the flashlight and go check on my plants. like, right now.

Edited to remove duplicate

This post was edited by rhizo_1 on Fri, May 2, 14 at 6:07

Sorry about your tomatoes, that's so frustrating. I have a love/hate relationship with hornworms, I hate the worms, but I really love the hummingbird moths that they turn into.
Pam

completely off topic, but how did your plants fare in the horrific rain storm we got today? I got well over 3" of rain here today, and as a result slept in til almost 2:00 (being up at 4am looking for hornworms didn't help)

The rain has been crazy here in Orlando! My pots have really good drainage, but the wind has been worrisome. At one point i did have to move them all in the middle of a storm because the ground was flooded about 2in under them! They're all long overdue for a feeding, but it's impossible right now because of how saturated they've gotten over the last 4 days or so. It's also impossible to keep the BT on them now too - the fresh coat I put on yesterday has now been washed off again :/

Jay

Yikes. Is this just a southern pest problem. I haven't seen one around here and I hope not to. I go through a couple boxes of shotgun shells every year the way it is just trying to keep the regular pests at bay. Besides, those things look like they would be hard to hit with a shotgun without damaging the plants. I see these hornworm posts every year and they are always scary.

jutsFL, we could sure use your rain here in So. Cal.
We are in a bad drought but that ain't stopping me from watering my plants really good in our heat.

Stoney

this bucket was empty yesterday. nothing above it to channel water into it. did I seriously get 12" of rain today? if the water level in my back yard got a half inch higher it would have come into my house.

Judo, Been hearing about the massive rains. We have been getting a lot up here too but nothing like you guys.
I hope all those swamps down there are getting filled up. Seems every few years we hear of reports of the OkyFenOkie and Kissemmie and other swamps are dangerously low....
Yah, I know, I am tooo lazy to look up the names for spelling.

I just hope the super high water isn't pushing crocs and alligators out into living areas.
Bruce

Wow :o

Stoney

That is a lot of water judo! It's still raining here in Orlando, and it appears that it's been raining all night (I just got out of work)... Don't know when I'll be able to feed the peppers next with all this ?!

And Bruce, the gators are such a normal part of life around FL... Don't really notice them much. Always around when I'm out fishing and all. Crocs are another story - they have migrated up from the Everglades in recent years. I actually had to call FWP a few years back bc I spotted one only 100 yards from me - while I was in waist deep water wade fishing the Indian river (I was 50yds offshore in low tide at the time) - not a pleasant encounter!

Jay

looks like you got enough to go fishin

Bruce, use a 22 on the hornworms. The shotgun is overkill as they are pretty mushy already. And 22 will require that you spruce up your marksmanship - I bet that shotgun is making you lazy. What do you load? #4?