In My Kitchen Garden: Insect Pests

Another harbinger of summer: insects in the garden.

A few of my tomatoes have been damaged by caterpillars that are either Tomato Fruitworms, also called Corn Earworms, or Beet Armyworms. Holes are chewed in the fruit; they start small and shallow but if you don't catch the worms they can do quite a bit of damage and the fruit starts to rot.

The tomatoes are also hosting some nymphs of the Leaf-footed bug. The damage isn't as dramatic, but they do use their piercing mouthparts to suck the fruits and plants.

For now I'm just diligently checking and handpicking the culprits or knocking them off into soapy water, which is the most simple organic control you can use. Other organic controls include BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) and neem.

You can get some nice documentation on the Alabama Cooperative Extension System web site. There's the Tomato Insect Management Guide for Alabama, and for new gardeners, Backyard Tomato Production.