Should I Start Over

[Chuck]

View attachment 9768 View attachment 9769 Something is chewing on my tomatoes. I opened them hoping to identify the culprit, but nothing was inside.

The first picture is the damage done by the tomato pin worm. It is a very tiny little worm that burrows into the tomato either on the shoulder of the tomato or at the stem. The second picture is hard to make out but it appears to be damage done by the tomato hornworm. Both are easily controlled by spraying with Bt (Bacillus thuringensis)

 

[ferice]

I found some dipel df, but it said to call the poison control if it gets on your skin. I surely don't want to put this on my plants.

 

[Ashanti Duggins]

My mom has Eggplants and she would just strip the damaged leaves off and then prune the plants. Good luck.

 

[headfullofbees]

I found some dipel df, but it said to call the poison control if it gets on your skin. I surely don't want to put this on my plants.

View attachment 9772

Cattle manure is likely to be toxic.
Chuck's a clever, experienced guy. I would trust his advice.

 

[Chuck]

I found some dipel df, but it said to call the poison control if it gets on your skin. I surely don't want to put this on my plants.

View attachment 9772

I don't know what Dipel df is. What you want is a liquid. At Lowes it is sold by Garden Safe and is called Bt Worm and Caterpillar killer. Bt is harmless to invertabrates. It is made from a soil bacteria. You can drink the stuff but don't try it. The taste is disgusting.

 

[Chuck]

I just looked up Dipel DF. It is made with Bt v Kurstaki. It is 100 % safe for humans and is OMRI certified. The reason it said to call poison control was because it also contains DE or diatomaceous earth, another organic pesticide made from the fossilized remains of marine phytoplankton. It is an abrasive and irritates some peoples skin. It is food grade and many people add it to their food for digestive purposes. It is also used in cattle feed. I have never used Btk but from my research it seems as if it might be better than regular Bt

 

[ferice]

They are coming for my plants, and they are coming fast. This morning I noticed some brown spots on them. They were not there in friday morning when I water them. I started looking online, and the beat that I can come up with at this point is tomato spotted wilt. It's spreading quite fast since I noticed it in almost every single plants.

 

[Chuck]

To me that looks like either sooty mold or early stage septeria. Sooty mold is caused by aphid, white fly or other sucking insects. Septeria is a wind blown fungus that happens when it stays very humid or in wet conditions. Use a copper based fungicide on it or spinosad if sooty mold

 

[ferice]

It was raining last Thursday and Friday. It was also very windy that could explain it. I do have the spinosad spray available, so I will spray them later on this evening.

 

[Chuck]

It was raining last Thursday and Friday. It was also very windy that could explain it. I do have the spinosad spray available, so I will spray them later on this evening.

Check your plants very thoroughly especially on the underside of the leaves. You might have to get a magnifying glass to see if insects are the problem. If there are none then spraying with spinosad or any insecticide will not help. Rub those spots in see if they will wipe off or smear. If they do then that is a sure sign of fresh insect damage

 

[ferice]

I inspected the plants thoroughly over the weekend. I found a few tomato hornworms. I sprayed the plants with a Bt solution, and they look ok for now. However, I noticed that the tomatoes don't look right. They all have this black spot at the very top.

 

[Chuck]

I am pretty sure that is old pin worm damage. Keep spraying with Bt about every 10 days. Just cut that damaged area out when you harvest. What variety tomato is that?

 

[ferice]

We've gotten quite a bit of rain over the past two weeks. I noticed my tomatoes are splitting at the top. BTW, they are Cherokee purple and brandywine.

 

[Chuck]

We've gotten quite a bit of rain over the past two weeks. I noticed my tomatoes are splitting at the top. BTW, they are Cherokee purple and brandywine.

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There is nothing you can do about the splitting except do an anti-rain dance. Once they have ripened and are harvested use the Cherokee Purples first. Cracking will lead to fruit deterioration faster on the Cherokees than on the Brandywines. Also Cherokees have an overall shorter shelf life than most tomatoes, but they sure do taste good.

 

[ferice]

I didn't have a chance to check in my tomatoes yesterday. This morning I looked and one of my plants was looking pretty bad this morning. The leaves are curly and droopy. I don't know if the plant will survive.