Are there any effective, organic and/or environmentally friendly ways to kill tomato worms and protect the plants?

-- Elisabeth Kasson (elisabeth_44@hotmail.com), May 29, 2001

Answers

Go get yourself a bottle of "BT" and have at it. Back up and read the army worms thread.

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), May 29, 2001.

I pick them off the plants and feed them to the chickens. That's about organic as it gets for me.

-- Tom S. (trdsshepard@yahoo.com), May 29, 2001.

Sorry for my ignorance here, but what's "BT"?

-- Elisabeth (elisabeth_44@hotmail.com), May 30, 2001.

BT is for 'bacillus thuringiensis" which is a naturally occurring bacterium that makes worms and other bugs sick. It is organic and there are a few different varieties that can be specific to the kind of plant affectede(such as the San Diego strain against potato bugs) It is safe for pets and humans and other wildlife.

You can find it under the names Dipel and Thuricide and others. comes in powders and spray and is safe to use even the same day you harvest.

Hope that helps :)

Sara

-- Sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), May 30, 2001.

Make sure when you spray with the BT that you get the undersides of the leaves. Hornworms like to hide there and are very hard to see.

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), May 30, 2001.

Some people have economised on this (once they've got the BT infection going) by gathering the corpses of infected caterpillers (often dried out, but not always), mixing/blending them with water, and using that mixture for the next dose. Should work, but I don't know from personal experience.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), May 31, 2001.

I handpicked 14 tiny hornworms from my tomatoes a few weeks ago over the course of 2 days. After that I got careless- there were apparently 2 that either I missed, or they hatched after my initial harvest. The 2 got to be almost 4 inches long before I found them. Fed them to the chickens and have not seen any since. I make sure to check the plants every few days. I look for leaves with little holes in them. The worms are usually on the underside of the leaves. I then remove the leaf from the plant so I will know that any holes I see after that are new. No chemicals required so far.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), May 31, 2001.

If during your "pickin" youi come across any worms with fifty to a hundred little white eggs growing on them, LEAVE THEM ALONE, they are the eggs of the parasitic wasp which only uses the tomato, tobacco, horn worm for an incubator. After laying their eggs the worm is DEAD, and only a host. Hope this helps some folks. Wayne at R-WAY

-- Wayne & (Lyn) Roach (R-WAY@;msn.com), June 01, 2001.

Be aware that there are slightly different strains of BT. I believe that the strain for hornworms, and other "caterpillars" is v. Kuristaki, and v.San Diego is for potato beetle larvae. However, I could have that backwards, since I'm not in the barn. Read the label. Also, a neighbor says that hornworms are the absolute best bass bait available. Maybe you have a cottage industry going here! GL.

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), June 02, 2001.

I checked with the local Nursery and they have a organic powder that will work only on worms.Its called Dipel Dust.The good thing is when the worm eats it, the worm turns into this stuff.The bad thing is it has to be replace about every 2 weeks or after a rain.It cost about $3.00 a can.

-- don (dnorris@tigernet.missouri.org), June 21, 2001.

I forgot to mention Dipel Dust works for Cabbage,Broc. tomatoes, or any worm. Just No Bugs.

-- don (dnorris@tigernet.missouri.org), June 21, 2001.

I just found tomato hook worms on my tomato plants. While picking them off I found a praying mantis having dinner.He was really enjoying eating atomato hook worm.I plan on ordering some egg cases from a nursery.

-- Ada Luciani (adaluc2000@yahoo.com), August 17, 2001.