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more-tomato-problems

Last year I lost my whole greenhouse tomato crop to late blight. This year we are doing great until............little holes, about 1mm Dia are being bored into the unripened tomatos.

I can't catch or trace a culprit.  Any ideas on what it could be please.

Posts

  • DaintinessDaintiness Posts: 988

    It sounds like it could be tomato moth - though the holes are very small. The caterpillars (green or brown) tunnel into the fruit - open a fruit and see if you can see one.

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731

    Sounds right. The evidence will be inside the tom if so.

  • Colin7Colin7 Posts: 39

    Yes  Daintiness. You were right. I didn't know such things existed. On examination I found a number of caterpillers on the lower leaves. They match those described on the internet. Now, what the devil do I do about them. Are you getting bored with my constant problems Italophile..LOL

  • WelshonionWelshonion Posts: 3,114

    I have always found them outside the fruit.  Examine the plants carefully and you will see evidence of their droppings.  You may only find one caterpillar; it will be very well camoflaged and quite large.

    Squidge it/them or throw it out for the birds.

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731

    Colin, you can hunt them down, checking carefully on both sides of the leaves and all around the stems and branches. At night, with a torch, is best.

    Or, if you want to, you can spray against them with any of the Bacillus thuringiensis-based products. DiPel is probably the best known. It's organic, a bacteria extracted from soil, and harmless to everything except caterpillars. It's not a contact spray so you don't need to hit the critters to wipe them out.

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