Tomato-Eating Caterpillar !!!

[Wren]

Caterpillars eating my tomatoes. Grrr

Never come across this before but the tomatoes in my greenhouse have been attacked by caterpillars this year! I have looked them up and it seems they are from the tomato moth. Some are bright green and some are a light brown colour . They are eating both leaves and tomatoes. I hand picked off about 20 today, they are large but hard to spot. I can't spray so late in the season. Is there anything else I can do other than hand pick off twice a day?

wren

[rustylady]

What difference does the lateness of the season make to spraying?

[Wren]

My tomatoes are ripening , some are being picked everyday . I don't fancy spraying them now they are being picked. Can't just pop one in your mouth and washing them will not get off all the chemical .

[taff]

handpicking them off is the way to go.

[Wren]

I thought that might be the case :/

Thanks Taff

[rustylady]

You could try garlic spray.

[jacob]

Maybe also add a little basil and some salt and pepper to your spray as well?

[Wren]

Hahaha...coating of olive oil should finish them off . Dang things...never had caterpillars on tomatoes before , I just see a few tiny green ones at first and thought a ' they won't do any harm' and some are flippin huge now They don't even eat the whole tomato, they just eat half an then randomly move to another. I wouldn't mind if it were the odd cherry size tomato but they are noshing the big ones too and I need them for my freezer tomato stash for my favourite prawn curries.. Grrrr

[Bill HH]

Does anyone know why these nasty bugs prefer GH tomatoes? my outside tomatoes dont seem affected (Yet). I would have expected the opposite, I mean its harder for the moth to get into the GH.

[kazziecon]

Hi! This is my first post on this forum and I am so pleased I came across this topic! I have found loads of green and brown caterpillars on my tomato plants. Have found quite a few half eaten fruits and leaves. It's a brand new greenhouse - the plants were originally in my old one. Have been shaking the plants and the pests have been falling onto the ground. I pick them up (eurgh - hate creepy crawlies!) and put them on the bird table!
Never had this problem before .. mentioned it to an old guy down the road who told me "Never heard of 'em" when I saw him yesterday, he said he had them too ... first time ever!!

K

[peanut]

This is the first year I've had Caterpillars on my Toms too......as if I didn't have enough pests to fight off already!

[SarzWix]

I'm having problems with the horrid things too. Was bound to be a moth, they seem to be prolific this year

[zazen999]

Today I am defoliating my toms, just leaving 3 leaves on them at the top...and each caterpillar I find is being snipped in half. I have a 50ft poly to tackle so its going to get messy. Very messy.

[Bill HH]

Today I am defoliating my toms, just leaving 3 leaves on them at the top...and each caterpillar I find is being snipped in half. I have a 50ft poly to tackle so its going to get messy. Very messy.

Well that should sort the little whippersnappers out! But will you toms survive with only three leaves? or does'nt it matter at this time of year? in fact will it help ripen your remaining tomatoes? I have this mental picture of 500 caterpillars balancing on one leaf.

[snakeshack]

I have them too,never had caterpillars on tomatoes before and didn't spot them until they had almost defoliated my cherry tomato (tiny tim) .I too don't want to spray so it's the chutney for this plant and hand picking for the others.All my tomatoes are outside,the cherry is in a hanging basket.the others in recycled recycling boxes (ironic huh) or in the ground