Hornworms and vine borers destroyed by garden (flowers, growing, bugs)

[Sal_M]

This is the second year that I have attempted a vegetable garden (zone 7b). The soil is clay so we tilled it and amended the soil. For the second year in a row my tomatoes have been decimated by hornworms and my zucchini has been destroyed by vine borers. Is there any solution other than switching to container gardening?

[OwlKaMyst]

Putting tomatoes into containers is not going to keep the hornworms (caterpillars) away. Ours got chomped this year as well. You have to keep an eye on the plants every day to see if there are any chance asking around and remove them. I found two big ones and fed them to my chickens.

[NickMan7]

Bt is an organic pesticide that is extremely effective at managing the tomato hornworm and other types of destructive worms and caterpillars. At the very first sight of a hornworm, I follow the instructions on the bottle (I believe it's one teaspoon per gallon) using a pump sprayer and apply generously to both the tops and bottoms of the plant's leaves. Almost immediately the caterpillars will stop eating your plants and within a day or two, they'll be dead. Bt works by shutting down the insect's digestive system. It is not harmful to the plant or any other types of insects.

Inspecting all of your plants thoroughly on a daily basis will allow you plenty of time to see damage before it's too late. Apply in the evening out of direct sunlight or on a very cloudy day, as sunlight breaks down the effective ingredients in Bt. It should also be applied after a heavy rain, though I tend to only spray when I see damage. So far this year, I've only found evidence on one plant, so I only sprayed the one plant. The damage ceased immediately and I found the dead worm the next day when I was pruning. Some people like to spray all of their plants proactively, but I always see evidence (black poops on lower leaves) before I have any appreciable damage, so I tend to spray reactively as needed.

Here is a link to what I use and I am very happy with it: Caterpillar Killer with Bt

Regarding the borers, I have never had a problem, but I know several people who sprinkle cinnamon liberally on the leaves of their plants, and the ground around them, and the bugs (and eggs) are gone the next day. I would imagine you would need to reapply after rains.

[wit-nit]

Yes, agree, the only 2 safe methods to use are BT, bacillus thurengensis, or hand picking those hornworms.

[North Beach Person]

If you see a hornworm that looks like this:
can't get the picture to print so here's a link

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...K122e5No#imgrc=_
leave it alone. Those white things are egg sacs of a parasitic wasp that will kill the worm and then they'll fly off to kill other ones.

[PeachSalsa]

Based on the title, I was expecting to read about vigilante tomato plants rising up and crushing worms!



Check your garden daily and hand pick. Gardening is a very hands on job!

[gunslinger256]

I don't think there's much you can do about the squash borers. They adapt quickly to insecticides. I had a fewe plants growing nicely in a bed covered with black plastic mulch and they all got killed along with most of my watermelon plants in the same bed. The squash borer flies, so putting in a container will do nothing.

My plan for next year is not to plant yellow squash or zuchini until late June when their growth cycle is pretty much over. The other alternative is to remove all the yellow flowers and hand pollinate but there's still no gaurantee that the borers will not be attracted to your plants anyway.

[Sal_M]

I have been picking off the hornworms. These plants were on the scrawny side to begin with so it did not take long for the hornworms to do some significant damage.

The vine borers are really aggravating, they got to my entire crop last year but I was able to get some zucchini out of them before they all were damaged. Gunslinger256, thank you for the suggestion to plant later. I might put a couple of seeds in now and see if I have any luck.