When Madie took Tater out this morning to do his business, she came back in and gathered up the other two kids to show them what she had found! She found the tops of our tomato plants were eaten off. I looked at them and thought that deer had come by and eaten them until Noah saw the REAL culprit! A catapillar! A tomato hornworm to be exact. Now, I thought it would be fun to find a hornworm, knowing how much the kids would like to see one. I did NOT, however, want to find over 20 of them!!!
We are under an invasion of the most distressing kind. Tomato hornworms are destroying my glorious tomato plants. People have been speaking about the beauty of our tomato plants all season. I planted two Big Boys and they had literally grown taller than Livie! They were amazing! Now, at the moment they have fallen over, because of the weight of them, but that was nothing compared to its current affliction.
The kids went out with gardening gloves and began to take them off the branches and throw in a bowl. They were giving up the fight easily. Sometimes we just had to pull off the leaf or branch they were on, because they were holding on so tightly.
This bowl ended up with 12 of them in it, before we called it a morning. There were at least 4 more that we couldn't reach before being attacked by the catapillars' friends, the ants. The BITING ants, to be exact. They fight dirty.
We are under an invasion of the most distressing kind. Tomato hornworms are destroying my glorious tomato plants. People have been speaking about the beauty of our tomato plants all season. I planted two Big Boys and they had literally grown taller than Livie! They were amazing! Now, at the moment they have fallen over, because of the weight of them, but that was nothing compared to its current affliction.
The kids went out with gardening gloves and began to take them off the branches and throw in a bowl. They were giving up the fight easily. Sometimes we just had to pull off the leaf or branch they were on, because they were holding on so tightly.
This bowl ended up with 12 of them in it, before we called it a morning. There were at least 4 more that we couldn't reach before being attacked by the catapillars' friends, the ants. The BITING ants, to be exact. They fight dirty.
That mass of plants is our tomato plants, even leaning over, you can tell that those two plants grew to massive proportions. Now? The tops of them are nearly completely stripped.
See that little guy in there? Yeah. They're everywhere. And, did I mention they poop? A lot?! Yeah. I think they're gross. The kids? They think they're amazing! Giant, pooping catapillars by the dozen. They're in heaven. We were driven off by a wasp, but we'll be tackling those things again soon. With as thick as the plants are, I can't even imagine how many are hiding on the inside of the plants, considering how many we see just on the outside. It's a sad day to know that my once glorious, beautiful garden tomatoes are looking at total demise by pooping hornworms. :-(
See that little guy in there? Yeah. They're everywhere. And, did I mention they poop? A lot?! Yeah. I think they're gross. The kids? They think they're amazing! Giant, pooping catapillars by the dozen. They're in heaven. We were driven off by a wasp, but we'll be tackling those things again soon. With as thick as the plants are, I can't even imagine how many are hiding on the inside of the plants, considering how many we see just on the outside. It's a sad day to know that my once glorious, beautiful garden tomatoes are looking at total demise by pooping hornworms. :-(
2 comments:
I think wasps eat the 'pillars. And they do look just like the worms in brocolli. The Amish have a remedy for the 'pillars: A couple of squirts of diswashing soap, 1 cup of vinegar, and 2 cups of water. Spray this on your plants.
I read that wasps will lay eggs on the catapillars and kill them, but we haven't seen any egg sacks on them yet. Pete picked off another 10-11 last night and I saw one this morning yet. We're up to 25 now. Craziness!!
Post a Comment