Tomatoes Have Worms?; Or What I Discovered Was Eating My Tomatoes

Who is that eating MY tomato?

Garden fresh tomatoes, we all wait with great anticipation for these luscious gems of the summer garden. We love them so much that when something spoils them we cry with the heart of a five year old “He stole my candy!”  At least that's what I did last night.

The spot that made me shudder with disgust.

There it was all red and luscious looking just calling my name.  But when I went to pluck it from the vine my finger landed on something that was just not right…a large soft spot.  EEEWWW!  “That’s not supposed to be there!  That was when I went into panic mode  “WHAT?  No, no, no…not my tomato!”  Next came disgust and that sinking disheartening feeling of being stripped of enjoying the fruits of my labor.  “What is it this time? Please God, not another new invader, some strange disease!”  I went into praying it wasn’t true mode.

That explains the soft rotten spot...there is an invader afoot!

I took the fruit inside to do my geek thing, dissecting it to see if I could find was going on.  Investigative research is important in fighting battles in the garden as we cannot fight our enemy with any hope of winning until we know who or what the enemy is.

Early pupal stage of the tomato fruitworm.

My research unveiled something I had never seen before.  I didn’t even know tomatoes had things like this.  The pest from what I can tell is Tomato Fruitworm, Helicoverpa zea, which by the way is the same pest as the cotton bollworm and corn earworm, an insidious little moth larvae that can be a real troublemaker if left undetected.  I am not looking forward to another battle but here we go again.

At first I was Googling tomatoes that eat worms to get some idea of what I was dealing with but had to stop.  The pictures were really creeped me out.  Maybe it was just too much to see worms eating garden fresh tomatoes but my stomach started feeling all icky.  By the time it got too uncomfortable to continue I had want I needed and knew I had my enemy by the tail.  I could plan my defense and get into the battlefield and hopefully save some of my tomatoes from this pest. And I will be watching and waiting for them next year now too.  The jigs up, these nasty little worms won’t stand a chance in my garden.

YOU WORMS ARE GONNA DIE!

The information here at UCDavis on tomato fruitworm great for starters.  They include life cycle info, a list mechanical ways to control it from physically destroying eggs and monitoring plants, pheromone traps, preditory insects (our garden soldiers), and at the bottom of the page is a list of pesticides that may be used to control this pest..  If you should choose to use pesticides please contact your County Extension Office, Master Gardeners for what is listed for use in your area just to be safe and within the laws of your state.

I hope this helps if you have found a little worm ruining your garden plans.  Here's to winning the battle and future successes in your garden!


Copyright © 2012 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

Seperating Seedlings safely

Have you ever bought a container just because it had extra seedlings in it only to have trouble getting them apart?  Yesterday I was out looking for, oh anything that struck my fancy in the way of plants and guess what I found?  Tomatoes starts...three in a pot!  My brain immediately went into thrifty shopper mode and all I saw were two pots with six plants in them!

Oh, a bonus buy, six for the price of two!

So here's the deal.  You have been lied to...well sort of.  You know those pots with more than one seedling in them?  Unless they are squash or cucumbers you don't have to cut the heads off of them.  Yup...that's right!  I had the good fortune of working as a plant propagator for a couple of years and one thing I learned very early on was that plants will take a lot more messing with than we have been taught, at least most plants. 

To get the seedlings apart safely you need to take some care though as just tearing them apart tears off valuable roots so let me share a secret I learned from my propagator job...use water.  That's right, water.  Here's how it's done.

Roots at the sides of the pot but not matted

Pop the plants out of the container.  The roots should look about like the ones in the photo above.  By the way I always check the roots at the nursery, the plants won't be bothered by you carefully popping them out of the container to look at them unless they were just planted which I see once in a while and honestly, they shouldn't be out for sale until the roots hit the side of the pot.

Water is great for removing soil from roots

Fill a large bowl about half way up with water, enough to cover the roots with room to swish around in it without spilling it everywhere.  Gently swish the root ball around in the water to wash away the soil.

A gentle pressing of the wet root ball helps release more soil

After a little swishing around in the water you may find it helpful to gently press the root ball to get the soil to release from the roots.

Almost clean of soil particles...yippee!

Be sure to get as much of the soil off as possible or those roots will not want to come apart without tearing.

About as good as it gets, time to start unraveling things

 Once the soil is washed off the roots you can begin to untangle them without tearing them.  Be careful not to tug on them too hard or they will break off.  It is a lot like untangling twine or that necklace.

Don't let a minor root mat get you down

Watch for matted roots and be patient working them apart.  They will come apart, just don't rush it.

It's working!

Hey, will you look at that!  It's working, they are coming apart pretty well.  It is literally like trying to untie a knot in string or a chain.  Its best to not yank on them but keep the tension loose and relaxed and it works a whole lot better.

Three now set free

Once they are separated you can pot them up in their own little pots or plant them in the ground if its time to.

Pinching leaves

Pinch off the lower leaves (cotelydon or embryonic first leaves) leaving the top leaves (true leaves).  This will let you plant the tomatoes a little deeper and allow them to form roots all along their stem. 

NOTE: There are very few plants that can do this so don't try it with others unless you know they can form leaves along their stems too.

Just enough soil to cover the bottom

Place a layer of potting soil in the bottom of each pot and set the plants in them with the roots spread out a bit.

Spread roots a bit

Fill the containers with soil and water in well.  Set them in a warm sunny location and when the roots can be seen kind of like the top photo of them go ahead and plant them into even larger pots or in the garden.  Six tomato starts for the price of two for a buck and a half...not a bad deal at all I'd say.

A little extra effort will reap a greater harvest of tomatoes

Happy Gardening!


Copyright © 2012 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

Attached Raised Bed Trellis

Beans on the pipe trellis

If you grow veggies in raised beds and need a trellis idea here is one my hubby came up with.  The pipe is from a chain-link fence we tore down a few years ago so the only thing we had to purchase were the 4 pipe brackets, 2 elbow connectors and 2 eye-bolts so we could tighten the wire which the hubs found in the garage.

Here is how we attached things at the base

Elbow connectors come in so handy at times like these.

I cut several pieces of bailing twine, 2 times the height of the trellis plus 12" or so, tying one end of each piece to the wire at the bottom.  My boxes are sturdy enough to climb on so I hope up on one corner with the lose ends in my hand and wrap each piece of twine around the top bar once (see image above), spacing them evenly as I go.  Once that is done I secured the other end to the wire also.

Tie string to the wire to secure.

I have found that if you don't wrap them all the way around the top pipe they will shift more as the wind blows.  You may find you have to adjust the tension at the top some so they are tight when you are done tying them.  You could also use netting instead of twine but the twine is inexpensive so that is what I use.

The only thing that would make this trellis even better is to have the hubs construct a frame that I could just hang on this structure so I don't have to do so much hopping up and down.  Maybe I'll get him on that this spring.  Oh and by the way, this trellis is easily moved or removed and breaks down nicely if we need to store it.  And since the pipe was reclaimed from our fence the cost was minimal to us.

Happy Gardening!


Copyright © 2012 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

Kale; A Repeat Performance Vegetable

Laciniato AKA Dinosaur Kale

Kale has become the darling of many gardeners and with good reason. It is an amazingly hardy, productive and nutritious vegetable and very easy to grow.  If you have never grown it you should give it a try.   The thing I love about kale it takes winter in stride, I get to harvest from it for months and the leaves actually get sweeter tasting after a good frost.

Red Russian Kale has gorgeous leaves

Last year I sowed seed in late February in a sheltered area outside and planted out the starts as soon as they had sprouted two true leaves above their heart shaped seedling leaves.  Believe it or not, two of those seedlings are still thriving in my garden from last year...a whole year from when they were first planted.

Signs of future possibilities

From spring into early summer I harvested leaves from my plants until the flower stems formed and the leaf production slowed down.  Kale are mostly grown for their leaves but don't overlook those delicious tender flower stems.  Not a one ever goes to waste here in my garden.  They are succulent and sweet and great in salads or stir fries.  Honestly, they are so good I usually eat most of them before they make it to the kitchen.

When the flower production slowed down I noticed the plants were not ready to give up; there were leaves poking out of their once naked stalks.  It was early September which meant there was still enough time to push some growth on those babies so I gave the plants another shot of fertilizer and my effort garnered a few more meals of leaves before the cold weather stopped their growth.

The cut and this year's growth

After all these plants had given me and seeing their will to live I just couldn't bring myself to send them all to the compost heap so I saved two of hardiest looking Russian Kale plants, cut them off just below the last of their leaves. sat back all winter and waited to see what would happen.

Just look at my babies now!

Boy am I glad I did, just look at my babies now!  This year's seedlings are still too small to harvest but I am able to harvest leaves off last year's plant right now.  I'll give them a spring dose of fertilizer after I get my first little harvest so they will put on more leaves before they flower.  About the time these will be flowering their heads off I will be picking leaves from this year's seedlings. I like the timing don't you? So I wonder how long I can keep this little kale factory of mine going?

Ground Cherries; Kid Food In The Garden

Meet the Ground Cherry - Physalis pruinosa

Have you ever eaten a ground cherry before?  I recommend you try them if you haven't. They are becoming more popular again and are in my opinion one of the more delightful kid-friendly veggies we can grow in our gardens.

Sweet fruit with a complex flavor

These interesting plants have been grown in American gardens for nearly two centuries and were first documented in 1837 in Pennsylvania.  However it is only recently they have been rediscovered and have again found favor with gardeners.  Native Americans and the settlers loved them and they were important enough for settlers to bring seeds with them across the Oregon Trail.  Actually, until I became interested in plants the pioneers brought across the Oregon Trail I hadn't heard of them before.

Ground Cherry is closely related to tomatoes and has just a hint of that relationship in its flavor which is a complex mixture of sweet pineapple, vanilla, ripe plum and tomato, (hard to describe but so good).  The plants produce an abundance of small fruit that look like miniature tomatillo, another close cousin.

Ready for little hands to gather up.

When the fruit is ready to be harvested the husk turns a ripe wheat color, the little stems let go of the branch and the ripe fruit falls to the ground in its little protective husk...thus the name ground cherry.   There is no question as to when the fruit is ripe that way and that papery husk protects the fruit from the soil like a candy wrapper making it perfect kid food!

Look Ma!  No dirt!

Husks make little handles.
What fun!

Ground cherries can be used in pies, preserves, salsas or chutney and best of all eaten fresh and warm from the summer garden.

Seeds for next year?  Sure why not!

If you want to save seed for next year here's a little photo tutorial to help you along.

Smash fruit in water in a dish

Seeds are sticky, water is a must.

After a few rinses just seeds and water left.

Pour onto a couple of coffee filters to dry.

Coffee filters work best to wick away the water from the seeds so they dry quickly.  Be sure the seeds are kept in the shade while drying.  I put mine on my kitchen counter near the window but not in sunlight to dry.

When the seeds are dry you can package them up in little seed envelopes you can create yourself or use #1 coin envelopes like I do.  Store them in a dark, dry, cool place until time to sow for next year.

Speaking of sowing...these plants will self sow in moderate to warm climates if fruit is left on the ground, just like cherry tomatoes.  The seedlings transplant easily so either way, whether you collect and save seed or just leave the fruit on the ground, you can have more plants for next year and probably some to share with your garden pals.

Happy Gardening!


Copyright © 2011 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

Eggplant Anxieties

Do you ever have anxiety over not being able to find out why something isn't working or looking the way its supposed to in your garden?  It seems every year there is something in my garden that does it for me.  This year it is the eggplant.  They are actually growing fine but when I went to harvest the ripe ones the other day here is what I discovered on one of them.  It had me stumped.

Cracked netted skin...what???  How did this happen?

If you find these kinds of things going on the smartest thing to do is to find out why.  There is always a reason why.  Sometimes its important, sometimes it's not a big deal.  This I found out was because of watering issues.  I'm not very good sometimes at being as disciplined as I need to.

I looked all the places I thought would have the answers...Master Gardener sites...University pages...etc and with no luck.   Finally I asked my good pals at the Gardenaholics Anonymous group on Facebook and of course they new exactly what it was explained what happened.  Honestly, it is a little frustrating for me when I can't find my answers on line when I do a search on my own...but that is why I keep my gardening pals close at hand...they are such a wealth of information.  (Thanks everybody!...You know who you are!)

It doesn't help that I have two plants in a container that I KNEW was going to be a challenge to keep watered.  I made my own grief on this one.  Well...as my momma always said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."  So now I am going to have to stay on top of the watering or figure out a way to get it planted in the ground without setting it back.  I think I'll cut my losses and just keep the hose primed.  Now if I can just remember to use it.

I Still Can't Grow Dill

A few months ago I wrote a blog post on Birds and Blooms Blog about how I just can't seem to grow dill.  Honestly I have done everything I know how and this is what the results end up being...and this was a good year.

Well when I fail at least I'm consistent.

It seems some things will never change...at least not this year.

Tomatoes In Milk Jugs April Update

I wanted to catch you all up on how those tomato plants I sowed in milk jugs are doing.

It has been at least 10 degrees cooler than normal for the past 2 months which is bad enough, but add to that record rain falls and record cloudy days for both months and that adds up to some slow growing when it comes to my tomatoes.  They are still alive and growing slowly and once the weather perks up (hope hope) they will take off like rockets.

Cold nights, chilly days, hail and a lot of rain and still growing.

You can see the hail damage on the leaves from those times I wasn't able to get them covered in time.  I sort of have this "either you will live or die" thing going on in order to relieve a lot of anxiety that I used to have about growing vegetables.  Besides, I get tired of running outside to pop the covers back on them and honestly...I'm not one for plants that need babying.

True leaves still look okay so I think we're in the clear

There is some better looking growth coming on which is encouraging and relieves any anxiety I may have when I remember that I spent more on seeds this year.  I guess I have been just a little worried they would die from our wintery spring weather.

With better weather today and this weekend I will be transplanting them into their own little pots before their roots become a tangled mess and plan on keeping them under our front porch with its sunny southeast exposure and warmer cement and brick heat sink action and hope it will help them grow better.  I hear tomatoes don't grow unless its 57 degrees but these have been growing in spite of the low temps all be it very slowly.  Well, I'll let you know how it goes.

By the way, before I forget, I wanted to let you know I plan on am setting up plastic covers to help warm the soil where they will be planted so I can get them in the ground before the Fourth of July.  Wish me luck and stay tuned.

Here's the link to how to do yourself.

Spuds Stories from Portland

Getting back into posting has been a little difficult after all that has happened in Japan.  It reminds me a lot of how I felt after my father passed away...like slogging through mud, my arms and legs heavy with grief.  I'm too empathetic for my own good sometimes.  In an effort to counter all the grief I was experiencing I turned off the television, shut down the laptop and decided to go to the nursery and get potatoes for our garden; after all, life goes on.

It felt good to be stepping away from the reports for a while and even driving to the nursery was cathartic.  As I pulled into the nursery I could feel my spirits lift like I had just come out of a dark tunnel.  When I got out of the car I took a deep breath of air, the fragrance filled my head and it was so refreshing.  The day was cool and a little wet but not bad.  Perfect for shopping.  I headed back to the building where the spuds are kept.

Good ol' grocery store Russets spuds (bored)

As I looked at the varieties I was amazed at how every year there seems to be more and more types of potatoes.  How are we ever supposed to know what will grow best in our area if they keep giving us new choices.  This isn't like buy clothes...well maybe it is because it seems whenever I find a style and brand of jeans that fits they stop making them and have a new style that doesn't.  I think its fine to do the fashion thing with perennials and annuals but not with my food please!  I want to know that those words on the signs and in catalogs are true and time tested so I can be assured me they will do as promised. 

People are always asking me why I even grow pototoes since they are not expensive to buy in the store.  I have two reasons, first I get bored easily with my food so I'm always being enticed by gourmet potatoes.  The second reason I grow them is I'm too frugal to spend the money they want for gourmet spuds no matter how bored I am!  Why spend outrageous amounts of money on potatoes when I can grow piles of gourmet tubers at home and save a bundle!  At least that's what I've tried to do.  Not that the past years growing gourmet potatoes have been awful or anything...OK I'm lying; two years ago it was awful.

Two years ago the slugs or whatever it was decided the "Buffet Open" sign was out in my gourmet potato patch.  The Swedish Fingerling potatoes that I had planted came with high hopes from those high recommendations I had heard everywhere.  Well, in my garden they didn't do well at all and then with the critters helping themselves to MY gourmet potatoes it almost made me wanna cry.  "Hey those are mine!" I remember shouting down at the sorry harvest of half eaten bits of spuds I had just dug.  It was pitiful and I felt pitiful.  Where were the loads of spuds the nursery signs said they were going to produce or everyone else had said there would be for that matter?  They sure weren't where showing up in my garden.  I did more muttering and sputter over spuds that year, I almost hated the idea of even spading up one more hill...it was really painful.  Oh, by the way there were no tunnels so I knew it wasn't the rodents.  Eventually I had to dig the rest and the row gave us only 3 or 4 meals of those dreamed about fingerlings...what a disappointment.  Unfortunately that wasn't to be the only potato disappointment that year though.

German Butterball potatoes, usually a stellar performer in our area only provided moderate yields but their flavor was fabulous and left me wanting more.  Then there was the red potato I can't remember the name of.  It was so watery and nondescript in flavor that even my starch addicted hubby refused to eat it!  It was just bleh...no character and all water.  It was a little better raw than cooked and even at that it left you not not wanting another bite.  Why do they even sell such a variety of potato? As luck would have it this was the potato that did really well and the darn critters didn't nibble on it once.  Seems they somehow knew better...ah swell!

This year I am working on being more practical and not going too gourmet after trying too many new fanciful veggies and being somewhat disappointed by their produce.  I want see if I can improve my luck.  So today while its raining outside I'm counting out my newly purchased potato seed and find myself recounting fond...er...funny memories as I go about figuring how much room my spuds will take up.  My method this year is a bit backwards but I just wasn't at my best this week and who could blame me with world being turned upside down.  But the boxes on my floor in front of me with Norkota Russets, Yukon Gold and Romanze potatoes with eyes beginning to sprout all promise a new season in the garden and I have hope.  I'm hoping there will be some room left for some German Butterballs too.