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Found This MONSTER Munching on one of My Peppers...
- Thread starter PeteyPepper
- Start date
Ciao Petey-
Did you get that laser bean from the guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans?
We usually get 1 or 2 of those each season on the tomatoes. Our 10 year old likes to raise them in plastic cages and then release them after they emerge from their crysalis. They will bury themselves into the soil to make the crysalis and then emerge as a gorgeous sphinx moth after about 2 weeks. It's a good science project for kids and kills the inevitable "I'm bored". I've never seen them on peppers before though. By raising them, we get to feed them the lower leaves that would get pruned off or fall off anyway. They don't get the really tender stuff at the top of the plant, their favourite. That's really how they can destroy plants, by eating the growing tips right off. Personally, I have much bigger issues with slugs and earwigs than I do with hornworm caterpillars.
Did you get that laser bean from the guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans?
We usually get 1 or 2 of those each season on the tomatoes. Our 10 year old likes to raise them in plastic cages and then release them after they emerge from their crysalis. They will bury themselves into the soil to make the crysalis and then emerge as a gorgeous sphinx moth after about 2 weeks. It's a good science project for kids and kills the inevitable "I'm bored". I've never seen them on peppers before though. By raising them, we get to feed them the lower leaves that would get pruned off or fall off anyway. They don't get the really tender stuff at the top of the plant, their favourite. That's really how they can destroy plants, by eating the growing tips right off. Personally, I have much bigger issues with slugs and earwigs than I do with hornworm caterpillars.
AlabamaJack
Extreme Member
here ya go Nova
Step 1
Look for tomato hornworms on the foliage of tomato plants. They are very difficult to spot. One way to find them is to look for the black excrement on the tops of the leaves, then look at the set of leaves above. Usually the caterpillars are right in view, but their effective camouflage makes them very hard to see.
Step 2
Pick the caterpillars by hand and squash underfoot if you have the stomach for this kind of grisly work.
Step 3
Spray Bacillus thuringiensis (or Bt) while the problem is still in the caterpillar state. Bt is a bacteria that is safe to use on food crops and very effective in the control of caterpillars.
Step 4
Purchase parasitic wasps, which will lay eggs on the tomato hornworm caterpillar. The wasp eggs hatch and the young feed on the caterpillar. (Parasitic wasps are not harmful to humans.)
Step 1
Look for tomato hornworms on the foliage of tomato plants. They are very difficult to spot. One way to find them is to look for the black excrement on the tops of the leaves, then look at the set of leaves above. Usually the caterpillars are right in view, but their effective camouflage makes them very hard to see.
Step 2
Pick the caterpillars by hand and squash underfoot if you have the stomach for this kind of grisly work.
Step 3
Spray Bacillus thuringiensis (or Bt) while the problem is still in the caterpillar state. Bt is a bacteria that is safe to use on food crops and very effective in the control of caterpillars.
Step 4
Purchase parasitic wasps, which will lay eggs on the tomato hornworm caterpillar. The wasp eggs hatch and the young feed on the caterpillar. (Parasitic wasps are not harmful to humans.)
get some Salticids aka jumping spiders. release the onto your plants and there you go. the little ones actually eat aphids, while some of the larger ones like P.audax are big enough to eat that caterpillar. that would be my approach but then again i have a room full of tarantulas....just be carefull killing this caterpillar http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/IMAGES/Minnesota/monarchCaterpillarWeb.jpg[/URL.
which is the monarch butterfly caterpillar. some states actually protect these and the adult counterparts with laws. like California.
which is the monarch butterfly caterpillar. some states actually protect these and the adult counterparts with laws. like California.
i used this when i had caterpillars on my basil / tomato plants. worked really really well.
not sure what the USA product would be called though, but its active ingredient is Spinosad
http://www.yates.com.au/products/pe...ates/yates-success-naturalyte-insect-control/
not sure what the USA product would be called though, but its active ingredient is Spinosad
http://www.yates.com.au/products/pe...ates/yates-success-naturalyte-insect-control/
Had a couple of these on tomatoes last year. I have seen them in years past but never more than 2 or 3. Last year the parasitic wasps' showed up on their own and drained them of fluid at birth.
http://doorgarden.com/07/tobacco-horn-worm
Cheers Mike
They can eat your foliage quick though.
http://doorgarden.com/07/tobacco-horn-worm
Cheers Mike
They can eat your foliage quick though.