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Tomato Pests & Diseases

Plant stems hollowed out by caterpillars

18 years ago

Has anyone ever heard of this? Some of my tomato plants have been snapping in half--I thought it was our high winds. Today, I realized that the affected plants are hollow. I finally found a small, black-headed caterpillar in one plant. I thoughtlessly crushed it to jelly, or I'd post a picture of the culprit. Can anyone tell me what this is, and what the remedy is? Would collars around the plants help? I've never had this kind of problem before.

Thanks,

April

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Comments (2)

carolyn137
18 years ago
April,

No one here seems to know and I sure don't.

If I were you I'd contact your local Coop Ext and ask for advice.

Carolyn
azureus
Original Author
18 years ago
Carolyn,

Thanks for your reply. I'm going to talk to the ag office, but I don't know if they can help. I had to leave on a business trip the day after I posted, so I didn't have time to make it to the Extension office. I got home yesterday and was mostly pleased to find that I haven't lost any more plants. But, I am wishing that I could find just *one* more infected plant, so that I could take it in!

April
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