Battle Against Tobacco / Tomato Hornworms

Well-camouflaged tobacco hornworm can be a garden menace!

Time to talk about the nasties. This bugger is a vicious defoliator, mostly attacking plants in the Solanaceae (nightshade) family – tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers, and of course, tobacco. The specimen above was first assumed to be the tomato hornworm, but a master gardener from Colorado State clarified the difference between the two caterpillars. They’re the larval stage of the “hawk”, “sphinx” or hummingbird moth – begrudgingly beautiful – but can wipe out your tomato plantation in no time.

These critters added to our tomato heirloom woes (notably “blossom drop” from the very high temps) just yesterday when Roy discovered them feasting on the leaves. In the evening, he applied Bt, Bacillus thuringiensis – an effective natural pesticide against caterpillars. In less than 48 hrs, we put on our “pattern identification lenses”, and picked about 20 of these nasty buggers. Picking them off the leaves is like pulling velcro apart, and they seem to fight back by bending backwards and grabbing you with their vicious little jaws. (Actually I don’t think they bite and people will handle them with bare hands … but these critters still gross me out!)

The Bt was effective almost overnight, but we still found a half dozen or so lively, fat beasties today.

Bt already took effect in less than 24 hrs. for some caterpillars

The happy ending to this story is that we get a whole lot of entertainment feeding these caterpillars to our chickens. The chooks will come to you eagerly, snatch the beasty from your hand, and fight over the gourmet meal. They were pretty subdued in the video, but you do see the Buff Orpi do an Olympic sprint well away from the competition!

A more informative video on tomato and tobacco hornworms to watch is from GardenForkTV.

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Vegetable Garden Reset – Starting Over

Finally! A long overdue blog post.

For nearly 15 years we had lived in Half Moon Bay, CA (a wonderful, small-town community just south of San Francisco).  The soil was pure clay, the climate cool and often foggy. While we eventually were successful in veggie gardening in raised beds and containers, I look back at our mistakes as we begin planning for our new garden.

From the 'burbs to the country. Starting anew.

We’ve recently moved to Lake County (just north of Napa County, CA) where we have a bit of land and a chance to set up a vegetable garden the right way from the start. And by they ‘right way’ we simply are going to try to minimize the number of mistakes that we make!

How I pledge to do things differently:

1. Learn habitat and climate. Even though I knew Half Moon Bay was different, I tried to apply too many things that I had learned when growing up and gardening in the Midwest. I’ll also take advantage of free advice from master gardener volunteers at the county extension office.
2. Test the soil. Know what’s in it and amend where needed. This will save many seasons of frustration.
3. Prepare and plan. Before I wrote Plangarden software, I would just plant whatever I “thought” might grow, without doing research on specific varieties that thrive better in my climate. Getting too much harvest or seeing crops fail wasn’t fun!

I have already spent time at the local nursery and with my neighbors learning about the climate, soil, and certain varieties of plants that do well out here. I haven’t sent in the soil sample yet, so nothing goes in the soil other than compost until I get the test results. I know I have a loam/red clay soil, and the ratio of calcium to magnesium is not ideal for most plants (too much magnesium).

The charming fauna – deer, jack rabbits, squirrels – are a new pest for us. Fencing will be critical. Also, rocks and boulders seem to “grow” on this property (Sonoma rock – the kind suburbanites pay landscapers to put in their gardens). I will try to create raised beds with these rocks (as my wife rolls her eyes, amused at my youthful enthusiasm).

What else have I left out?

Wishing you an excellent gardening year,

Roy

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Finding & Identifying Pests In Your Veggie Garden

Ahhh, summer!  You’ve probably harvested several lbs. or meals of your favorite tomatoes, lettuces, beans, potatoes, and those lovely cole crops – broccoli, cabbage, radishes, chard!  The garden even looks glorious basking in that August sun.  But wait, there’s warfare going on in this idyllic scene.  WAR, you say?

Oh yes, just because you can’t see it, it doesn’t mean it’s non-existent.  The soil-bearing fungi are whetting their appetite to get those sugars from the leaves or roots and decompose the plant, but even more obvious are those critters you DON’T but CAN see … ONCE YOU TURN OVER THE LEAVES!

Check what's going on under the leaves.

Yes, you’ve worked on the preparation, the maintenance, weeding, etc., but do not rest on your laurels as veg garden work is not complete till it reaches your mouth!  And that is what many new gardeners neglect:  touching the leaves, turning them over, trying to ID what critters are munching on THEIR dinner, and what they’re going to do about them.

Cabbage caterpillars (not loopers) devastating broccoli leaf; aphid on right.

So hear’s an example of Roy looking under the leaves of the Calypso bean plant.  Hm, not snails.  Probably a caterpillar.  He looks for the culprit.  Gets out a book (see below) for ID.  Reads prognosis and treatment.

Moves on to the next plant. Broccoli. Ewww, found the critters. Caterpillar stage chewing up the leaves. A sole aphid in the corner. Roy’s thinking, maybe BT will take care of that, insecticidal soap for aphid or lacewing treatment.

To help you ID and do something about these garden pests, here’s a suggested list of references for the veggie garden:

• Garden Insects of North America by Whitney Cranshaw
• Pests & Diseases: The Complete Guide to Preventing, Identifying, and Treating Plant Problems by DK American Horticultural Society
• Gardens Alive – One of better pest/disease references in their catalog.
• UCDavis Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program – Lists vegetables with common pests.  Includes photos.
• Cornell University Integrated Pest Management Program – Photos and detailed descriptions of pests
• Texas A&M Integrated Pest Management Program – Excellent vegetable insect management information

And if all fails, just send us a tweet with photo on Twitter and we’ll try to help you ID your pest!

P.S.  Roy’s solution to the cabbage caterpillars is smushing them and applying BT tonight before the infestation gets worse.

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