Sunday, October 5, 2014

Playing "I Spy" in the garden

There were tell-tale signs in the garden this morning..


    I learned last year when I saw my tomato plants, 
                   minus their leaves like this, 
                what I needed to be looking for ...

They are sneeky little things - 
well, actually not SO little, but 
you have to really look to see them!
They are good at camouflage.
I read that if you go out at night with a florescent light,
you can spot them more easily. According to Wikipedia,
 "Using an ultraviolet light source of 375 nm and viewed behind a blue-blocking 
filter (yellow or amber filter), a tomato hornworm fluoresces in bright green 
while a tomato leaf appears deep red/amber.

When you see the leaves like this, you need to go on the hunt for these caterpillars.
They are voracious eaters and they'll strip your stalks clean! 
Ask me how I know! (see post from last year!)
Now that the weather has gotten cooler, I'm hoping to get a new crop
of tomatoes before the 1st frost in Central Texas.

I SPY! 
Yes, that's YOU I'm looking at!



In my opinion, 
the only good tomato hornworm 
is DEAD ONE!
(no, I didn't take a picture of the smushed ones!)