Tomato plant pest

[Eric Krewson]

Lots of us kind of folk grow gardens so I thought I would pass this tip along, I may have posted it previously, I can't remember.

This is to combat tomato horn worms.

The solution is easy, buy a UV black light flashlight (harbor freight sells them), go out after dark and shine this flashlight on your plants, every worm will glow like a green glow stick, you can find and pick them off easily, every one, I found some as small as one inch with my light.

I learned this method last year after having my plants ravaged by these worms for years, they are very hard to find in the daylight. I picked all of them off I could find in the daylight, I only found 5 worms. I went back with my light that night and found 13 more easily. The next night I found 5 or 6 and the next night 2 and none from them on, I got them all before they could do much damage.

I went out one night and actually flushed the moth that lays the eggs for these pests out of one of my tomato plants, that thing was as big as a sparrow, huge.

Harbor Freight was sold out of these lights so I got one from Amazon. These lights are made for people to use in hotels and motels to find "bodily fluids" that would indicate the room wasn't properly cleaned.

[GlisGlis]

I'm fighting right now with much smaller green worms. The biggest little more than an inch long.
I was considering bacillus thuringiensis but I may try the CSI light to see if it works

[Stoker]

Good advice. Thanks Eric.

[White Falcon]

Sprinkle some Baking Soda around the base of the plant. Nothing on the plant it self.

[Deerhunter21]

That's pretty cool Eric! Im actually doing research on that moth you have there. They are called Hawkmoths and are essential pollinators for plants here that require a long proboscis, specifically the Oenothera plants! They can be really annoying pests though as you found out 

[bjrogg]

That’s pretty cool. A glow worm

Bjrogg

[chamookman]

When I was a Kid, My Dad used to pay Me a Quarter for each Tomato Worm I could find. Kinda fun steppin' on them  . Bob
 

[Pappy]

Good idea Eric, had some of them nasty things last year and like you said hard to find. I thought I had got them all and had a buddy walk up and pick 5 more off, guess you just have to have an eye for them. 
 Pappy

[M2A]

Nasty little critters that can really do damage in a hurry if your not paying attention. Good idea.
Mike

[Eric Krewson]

I checked my plants a couple nights ago, no worms so far, it seems like they show up about the time I start picking tomatoes. Because of late cold snaps and excessive rain early I am a month behind on my garden, I won't have ripe tomatoes for at least a couple more weeks.

[PaulN/KS]

Had a friend tell me about this trick last year. It sure does seem to work.

[Eric Krewson]

I hadn't seen any worm damage but decided to check my 9 tomato plants last night with my black light, I found 18 horn worms, all sizes. I found a couple of small stems that had worm damage on one plant, most of the worms were eating leaves lower on the plants when I found them.

I found 15 worms initially, when I got back into the house, I realized I had overlooked a plant in the back corner of the garden that was a leftover I stuck in the ground rather than throw it away. I didn't find any worms on this lone plant but found 3 more worms when I walked through my main tomato patch.

Imagine the damage that 18 horn worms could have done to my plants, I will check the plants again in a couple of days, I am sure I must have missed some worms in the dense foliage.

[Buckskinner]

Those buggers are a PITA, my kids used to have a bearded dragon that loved them though.  As much as I hate them because of the damage they do, it's kinda fun hunting them.  I need to try the black light trick...  Since we don't have a lizard anymore now I bury them at the base of my pepper plants for fertilizer.

[Eric Krewson]

I should have gone back the night following my first search with the black light. I skipped one day of checking and found 3 more worms in the daylight that had done some damage to the tops of a couple of my tomato plants. I checked my plants last night with my black light and didn't find any worms.

[Hawkdancer]

Neat idea!  Off to HF next rip to civilization!
Hawkdacer