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Please Help Identifying This Worm Or Caterpillar Infestation

15 years ago

I'm trying to get get upset and freak out here, staying calm but there all over! :D def laughing about it

About two weeks ago I noticed some of my tomato leaves on two very large better boy tomato plants were curled in, I peeled them open an inside was what looks like a clear Caterpillar with brown dots all over the leaves that were curled. I'd thought at the time these were it's poop. I threw many of them with eggs an big one bug to each with the brown dots into the grass. next to the tomato plants are red bell pepper plants which now have these little green mini versions of this bug on the underside of the leaves, some don't. I've thrown many leaves and branch systems already into the lawn, about 10% of each plant

Here is a gallery of the big ones I found, an the little ones currently over 50% of the area an not even half an inch and what I thought was poop but is eggs I'm assuming

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9334026@N06/sets/72157623966022391/

I checked & noticed they were under the leaves of surrounding plants, basil, many cayenne, jalapeno, juliet tomato, cabernet sauvignon vine. I pulled all the leaves I saw, but I won't pull the Caberenet Sauvignon leaves, there aren't many on there but that needs to be treated too. I stopped looking because I know there are 100's of these little buggers all over my back garden now

I want to get Bacillus Thuringiensis, BT from Lowes tonight an dust everything I'm growing. Though will that kill these, an any left over eggs an is it harmful once washed off of the fruits of vegetables if eaten by children, pregnant women, women recovering from cancer etc? I was going to bring a large amount of what I'm growing to my sister's wedding at the end of the month. now? it doesn't look like these little green bugs have touched the fruit, though the tomatoes aren't Red yet, so I don't want to pick everything before dusting.

will BT effect the lizards I have around, toads, frogs, salamanders?

I've yet to check the front one garden, my lemon and orange trees are uneffected as are all other plants.

Any help would be a god send right now because I don't want these on things people will eat at a wedding an I don't want them killing my garden.

I've looked into alternative controls, such as lizards wasps, bees and birds all of which frequent my gardens so short of using BT which I'm going to go buy I don't know what else to do or if I should worry about people eating things treated with this micro-organism an if it will effect other bugs/lizards/birds that are wanted.

Thanks Very Very Very Much for any Help Possible,

Steve

Comments (5)

  • 15 years ago

    BT would be a good idea. It won't effect anything but what feeds on it within several hours of application and will not hurt humans or the lizards etc. It will need to be reapplied to kill the new larvae after hatching. That is most likely poop from the first hatched larvae. I don't know of any worms that lay eggs besides earth worms and several parasitic worms.

  • 15 years ago

    That's one of the many leaf-roller caterpillars. Messy, aren't they? And yes, the dark pellets are frass (insect poop). The adults will be a rather plain moth...and that's when the egg laying comes in. Those teeny babies nicely pictured in that one image hatched from eggs laid on that leaf. If you learn to look for the small eggs and remove them, you'll not have the caterpillars.

    Bt can be used to control this caterpillar pest, though it is not particularly effective when they are at the large stage. It's most helpful on the little guys. Bt is relatively safe to use (some people have allergic reaction), and is easily washed off.

    These (and other) caterpillars have a very wide array of natural predators and parasites to help you keep them under control.

    Rather than cutting away branches and tons of leaves, just remove the caterpillars. They don't sting or bite. And do an egg search. Attached is a fact sheet about the specific leaf-roller I believe yours to be.

    The squiggly lines pictured in a couple of your images are from leaf miners, very commonly found in tomatoes. Simply remove affected leaves....or just ignore them. They rarely do enough damage to cause problems for the crop.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Click here

  • 15 years ago

    That's one of the many leaf-roller caterpillars. Messy, aren't they? And yes, the dark pellets are frass (insect poop). The adults will be a rather plain moth...and that's when the egg laying comes in. Those teeny babies nicely pictured in that one image hatched from eggs laid on that leaf. If you learn to look for the small eggs and remove them, you'll not have the caterpillars.

    Bt can be used to control this caterpillar pest, though it is not particularly effective when they are at the large stage. It's most helpful on the little guys. Bt is relatively safe to use (some people have allergic reaction), and is easily washed off.

    These (and other) caterpillars have a very wide array of natural predators and parasites to help you keep them under control.

    Rather than cutting away branches and tons of leaves, just remove the caterpillars. They don't sting or bite. And do an egg search. Attached is a fact sheet about the specific leaf-roller I believe yours to be. Florida is one of the many states in which it is found.

    The squiggly lines pictured in a couple of your images are from leaf miners, very commonly found in tomatoes. Simply remove affected leaves....or just ignore them. They rarely do enough damage to cause problems for the crop.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Click here

  • 15 years ago

    I don't think it's the light brown apple moth as in the link Rhizo provided. The markings on the head are different.

    And, as has been said, it's a leafroller. Search-and-destroy or squish them inside the leaf rolled leaf.

  • 14 years ago

    Thanks much for the info everyone, I really appreciate it! I thought this was a gypsy moth invasion and yes it does appear to be leaf rollers, I've since been growing parsley for their predators and all along been attracting birds/salamanders to eat them.

    thanks for the search-and-destroy or squish them idea (: I spend one day killing thousands and saved two juliet plants and a cabernet sauvignon grape vine(amazed some tried to eat the leaves and even tried to eat jalapeno leaves but stopped. Since then two juliets alone from the two big gardens have become re infested and I have had to butcher them because there were just to many. I will continue to battle and wage war against these tiny soldiers! Never give up! Never surrender!!!