TOMATO HORNWORM SECRET & OUR GARDEN IS NOW READY TO PLANT 5-4-12
Note: At 4:27 use short roofing nails instead of finish nails. You might have to support the inside of the barrel when you nail, especially on a used barrel. The nail should be touching the metal band when you drive it in. Half of the roofing nail head should cover the metal band. With the garden and all the whiskey barrels finished we can now plant our garden with plants and seeds. We grow cukes, corn, squash, cantaloupe, beans, okra, sunflowers, and watermelons from seed. Since these seeds come up and grow fast when it gets hot and we have a long growing season we do not start them early in our greenhouse. We try to get our first tomato by the 4th of July. The latest we picked our last tomatoes, because of a expected frost was December 8th. Most were green but as the ripened we ate them until the middle of January.
12 Responses to TOMATO HORNWORM SECRET & OUR GARDEN IS NOW READY TO PLANT 5-4-12
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Another tip about hornworms: The small white tic-tac things on the hornworm are the cocoons of the Braconid Wasp (I had to look up the spelling) This tiny wasp injects its eggs in the hornworm and they eat inside the hornworm and when they emerge they spin these cocoons. At this point the worms fate has been decided. A week later the wasps emerge as new wasps. They are about a 1/4 inch long and can not sting you. They like fennel and dill. Plant these to get more wasps in your garden.
navajopa31
August 18, 2012 at 10:00 pm
Thanks for the comment.
navajopa31
August 18, 2012 at 10:23 pm
If you lived close to me I could give you some plants.
navajopa31
August 18, 2012 at 10:59 pm
HackerGuitarist: We just pick them off the plant when we see leaf damage or their waste droppings. They are hard to see and after a while your eyes adjust and you can see them because you know they are on the plant. With 40 stakes we mark and X on the stake with a black Sharpie marker where we removed the pest. That tells us that we have found it, although another could show up later. We check our plants alot. Never kill one that has the little white TicTac type eggs on their backs.
navajopa31
August 18, 2012 at 11:56 pm
Another tip on the tomato hornworm (caterpillar) is: Cardinals love to eat this critter. Cardinals also like solid black sunflower seeds the best. If you draw cardinals near your garden, but not in your garden, you might encourage them to feast on your tomato problem. When they are after a tomato hornworm the whole vine will be shaking and out will come the cardinal with the worm in its beak. Once they get one they will find the others. They can see them better than you can.
navajopa31
August 19, 2012 at 12:25 am
shadowofjuniperhill: I had the rings fall down on one of my barrels years ago and put it back together and used roofing nails to hold the rings in place. I then put roofing nails in the others to keep them from falling apart. After that when ever we bought wooden barrels the first thing I did was put the nails under the rings so that half of the head was on the ring after nailing.
navajopa31
August 19, 2012 at 12:37 am
jbd222: You are just a youngster. I learned this by accident. A neighbor planted his several weeks before I was ready to plant mine. He ask me what was all over his plants and they were tomato hornworms. He had pulled 13 off one and 11 off the other. They were in large containers on his patio. We found several more while I was there. I planted mine weeks later and only had a few tomato horn worms and the lightbulb went off in my head. I think its called correlation of what you see.
navajopa31
August 19, 2012 at 12:37 am
starvingtech: Our garden is in zone 7. Last frost date the end of April. Normal fall frost by the 3rd week of November. Most seeds say the number of days to maturity. A watermelon might say 95 days to harvest and it will be close but could vary be 2 weeks either side depending on the weather. Tomatoes and peppers say about 65 days, but that is from the time you set out your plants, not from when you plant you seeds. The first tomato we get is always a cherry tomato in 4 to 5 weeks.
navajopa31
August 19, 2012 at 12:38 am
This is great news! I lost all my tomato plants this winter due to a heater failure in the greenhouse and had to start all over. I also don’t have the tomato patch quite ready yet. It’s good to know I’ve still got time. Thanks so much!
starvingtech
August 19, 2012 at 1:20 am
Thanks for the tips!
Lost8Wizard
August 19, 2012 at 1:57 am
Great tips. I will be putting a roofing nail on my barrels, thanks!
shadowofjuniperhill
August 19, 2012 at 2:38 am
The sacrificial tomato plant idea is flat brilliant! Wonder why I never thought of it. Maybe because I’m only sixty-five. Surely it would have come to me in another couple years.
Love your vids. Keep ’em coming. I know you’re doing gardening related stuff all year ong and we want to know what it and how you do it.
My best,
JIM in Texas
jbd222
August 19, 2012 at 2:39 am