Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
sharmar_gw

Tomatoes Suffering - Picture2

sharmar
12 years ago

I'm uploading two pictures. One is of the tomato damage, the other is of the stalks where the leaves were - they are now chewed off. Any ideas?

Image link:

Comments (6)

  • missingtheobvious
    12 years ago

    The photo of the fruit with the hole could be a tomato fruitworm: they eat a hole into the fruit, then clean out the inside. Sometimes you'll find a tomato with an empty hole after the fruitworm has moved on. [In contrast, a hornworm generally just stands on the fruit stem and chews away at the entire fruit.]

    The photo in this thread could be hornworm damage; they tend to eat leaflets and leave the leaf stalks. Hornworms are very difficult to find: you'll look and look, then suddenly there's a 3" monster a few inches from your face! Look where the damage is: not only on the same leafstalks as the other damage, but also on other leafstalks near enough that the hornworm could have crossed to them.

    Of course, the possibility always exists that a bird saw the guy and solved your problem for you. Or the hornworm may have grown large enough that he dropped to the ground and decided it was time to become a moth. But don't count on it. And look for other damage, since they're rarely found singly.

    Hornworms eat a lot, grow a lot, and leave lots of droppings. They look like blackberries: the larger the worm, the larger the droppings. 3/16" would be a good size to look for. Look for the droppings on the tomato leaves directly beneath the missing leaflets, and also on the ground under that area.

    Depending where you live, I suppose it's possible an animal ate those leaflets -- but I doubt it, because it looks like some could only have been reached from within the plant.

  • sharmar
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thank you for your insight. What's unusual is that I can't find any droppings whatsoever. It hasn't rained in a number of days, and I purposely haven't watered for 3 days. It's very frustrating. I've climbed into the garden (it's fenced) and gotten down on my hands and knees looking under the leaves and still haven't seen any worms. I'm worried that I'll lose my entire tomato population.

  • jean001a
    12 years ago

    Droppings are often the same color as the food. Likely you just didn't notice them.
    But look for the culprit if leaves continue to disappear.

  • sharmar
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I was out again this morning looking for critters. I lifted up all the leaves and still can't find the culprits. Any other techniques? Thanks.

  • missingtheobvious
    12 years ago

    Are you seeing additional damage? If so, keep looking. Look from different angles.

    If no additional damage or fresh-looking chewed stems, then maybe he's gone.

  • zzackey
    12 years ago

    A horn worm is actually a light green caterpillar. It is about the same color as the tomato stem. It lays on the tomato stem and is very hard to spot. I have to look twice a day and I still miss some. That is what your damage looks like to me.