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abondigirl - status 1270204487

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abondigirl

1 year 3 days ago

Any suggestions as to how to organically deter grubs and caterpillars from the tomato plants? It is frustrating when these crawlers bore into the green tomatoes and any advice would be appreciated.

SunnyBlooms

Tue, 05/15/2012 - 10:35

I make a spray of 1 Tbs Tabasco sauce and mix it with 24 ounces of water. Spraying twice a week works pretty well. However, I sprayed yesterday and a morning rain has probably washed it all off by now so I'll be spraying again today!

Jessica Still

Tue, 05/15/2012 - 21:37

Sounds like two pests: Crawling soil grubs can be stopped from boring by wrapping the tomato stem above & below ground with a paper or foil collar. And caterpillars may hatch into butterflies. There are several suggestions in reply to a recent Question about organic deterrents. I posted this one > Another option might be to plant a garden-border plant from the same plant family that is attracting the caterpillars. That may lure some egg-layers & you can deposit caterpillars you pick. One such combination is tomato plants in the food garden & a nightshade vine on the perimeter - beautiful, with small purple flowers & later, red but poisonous berries. With brassicas, you could plant ornamental cabbages on the perimater ...