hard on my mater plant!

Plz tell me this is a good friend (cringe)

OooOoo migoodness. Did you post this in the bug ID forum? You might get a quicker response. I don't know what these are, but I don't grow maters!

Those are not your friend! Someone posted a similar thread on the Florida forum. Check it out: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1310668/

Melanie

I been squishin 100's of em dau says...

Ok, only cat I have seen colored this way is one of the sphinx moths. These at present are tiny tho- phone doesnt have great research tools. I have never seen sphinx moths in such huge numbers either... Dale around anywhere?

BT will take care of them. And if you don't do something, there won't be any tomatoes left. They make very quick work of them.

Pretty much squished out. Only went after the maters. We think they are either a southern army worm or even another variety of tomato sphinx moth. thanx guys

I get lots of Sphinx moths but rarely get tomato horn worms. Not sure exactly why but I have theories. I plant petunias and four-O'clocks on the opposite side of the house, which helps keep the moths on the opposite side of the house. Also, I don't plant my tomatoes right next to each other (to keep any disease from running down the row), and one of the things I always plant in between is Basil. I have nasturtiums and Marigolds in there too, this year. Another good plant for beneficial insects is cilantro in the blossom stage - it is fast growing, so it is not too late to put it in.
Your photos don't look like hornworms/sphinx moths that I am familiar with.

We caught them fast, there are several types of different sphinx moths- one has a red mouth and stripes and comes in multiples apparently, but these were the southern army worms(not the fall army worms we had last year) I only have 1 tomato plant and it is stuffed in a raised bed with basils, monarda(said to help the flavor of tomatoes also). The numbers and moths are on the rise and appearimg north into Neb really fast now. My garden on one corner.

Tomato horn worms up here (hawk moth) can strip a plant in no time. A deterrent that I have used and has really worked is to plant some Borage seeds amongst the plants. It really works too. Once when I was a kid, we had an area of tomatoes that did not have the borage. They were munched to bits! The plants that DID have the borage were awesome.

Havent seen the tomato horn worm yet, and other than those first batch of army worms, there hasnt been much more bugs show up. Thumped a spider paralyzing an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail cat and noticed today I did kill it. also killed one stink bug, fleas are awful bad here, skeeters, the voles have burrowed thru plants and I caved holes and soaked plants. Tonite a deer was spotted crossing the road and the 2 cats decided to spook themselves into the house. I will have to see what was nibbled on the deers way across. I think the deer was looking for water, so tomoro I will fill the trough and chunk in a skeeter dunk, and dust for ticks. Hot down here, you take 3 steps and you are as drenched as standing under Niagara Falls. I have Monarda planted nex to the mater plant, the only thing munched was the serrano pepper plant amd the sunflower by the deer.

Mrs. Ed:
Can you plant the Borage seeds the same time as the tomato sets? Or do I have to plan ahead and get the borage in earlier? I assumed if it was warm enough for tomatos, it was getting too hot for Borage to get started.

i usually plant them at the same time, BUT most of the time I have lots of volunteers each spring… so they are up earlier. I think you can plant them any time… however, I assume you want them to be growing about the same size as the tomato plants so that the leaves are intermixed. Oddly,, I did not have any volunteers this year, so I'll be planting some seeds this week and probably looking for plants at the greenhouse too.

I was going to try some cool season stuff for fall in the blank spots in the garden. I'll add borage to the list.
I just finally finished planting my garden last week - way late, even for me. The only thing I got started on time was the tomatoes, and they were outgrowing their third pot when they finally got in the ground. The deer promptly picked the green tomatoes off the plants.
I haven't seen any Sphinx moths so far this year - I think they must be late, too.

borage, will have to see abt adding that one down here.