# Good tips for controling tomato worms????



## tikiman

With the weather here in north cal. being difficult, we noticed a increase of worms on the tomatos. Not wanting to go with store bought stuff, Anybody have a sure fire way of dealing with them before they get going? I'm tired of playing the hunt and peck game already I've heard of corn starch, using garlic oil, and several others but so far nothing works great.


Any ideas????


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## bjason79

*Natural defense against tomato worms*

Two of the things i do to control tomato worms is one plant dill, they love dill and move to them and then i just pick them off the dill plant and dispose of them, the other thing i do is spray soapy water on the tomato plants to act as a safe pesticide, the worms hate soapy water and are easier to spot and kill. Also next year you might want to look for the pupea when you are tilling/cultivating your plot, they are brown cigar shaped eggs(i think they look like dog turds). Thats all i know hopefully this helps.


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## partdeux

shallow cheap pie tin, sunk into the ground, so it's at ground level... fill it with the cheapest beer you can buy.


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## Emerald

partdeux said:


> shallow cheap pie tin, sunk into the ground, so it's at ground level... fill it with the cheapest beer you can buy.


That only works for slugs and be aware that it will bring raccoons into your garden cuz apparently they love beer-get drunk and proceed to destroy things in their drunken frenzy... hahaha ask me how I know.:gaah:


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## tikiman

I have heard of the dill before but they didn't say why to plant it. I always change up my grow boxs every year so that it helps to avoid any eggs of the same type in a area, but they are still pretty close together. Also last year I didn't mulch the leftovers so to trying some winter/fall greens. will have to look for pupea when I get ready to till it this year. I've always wonder if some come in on the compost I get for extra. (only started composting here) The local compost avail. although natural, may have the basics already there. I know the neighbor says she hasn't seen any yet. Hmmm.


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## Meerkat

So far this year no worms.We try to keep the good bugs so never used much to kill the bad ones.We pick them off .But if we could'nt control this way than I'd use soapy water.
Sometimes our compost has grubs in it,but they don't seem to hurt anything'yet'.
Try to make your own compost,no telling what they put in the store brands.Some comes from dairy farms,chicken houses ,etc,and full of chemicles.
I've even bought shavings to add to mine to keep from using store bought.Usually we rake up leaves or pine straw.No bug problems .


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## Davarm

tikiman said:


> With the weather here in north cal. being difficult, we noticed a increase of worms on the tomatos. Not wanting to go with store bought stuff, Anybody have a sure fire way of dealing with them before they get going? I'm tired of playing the hunt and peck game already I've heard of corn starch, using garlic oil, and several others but so far nothing works great.
> 
> Any ideas????


If you want a sure fire remedy, try using BT, it is an organic insecicide that is completely harmless to anything other than catapiller type worms. It will kill em dead in only a day or two and will persist on the plant until washed off by water, rain or dew. It is available from pretty much any organic garden supplier.

If the S does HTF, it may become hard to find, but what the heck, use it while you can get it.

It also works great for cabbage lopers, and those stinky butterfly cattapiler that will destroy a stand of dill or fennel overnight.


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## FunnyFarm

I'd pass on the chemicals. I use a little soapy water... Mostly we use shaklee basic h, you can drink the stuff. It works quite well for insects in the garden some use it for animal de-wormer too. A little dish soap mixed with water in a garden sprayer does the trick too though.


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## Jimmy24

Been using soapy water and cheyenne pepper powder mixed for years on most things in the garden. Won't bother birds, but bugs and critters seem to shy away from it everytime. Cheap too.....

Jimmy


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