Tornado and Tobacco Horn Worms, 9b

[littlemary1234]

Hi People. I am in zone 9a/9b in East San Diego County. This past Sunday, my house was involved in a major weather event that resulted in a tornado hitting my house and yard. Insurance is going to fix my waterlogged house. One of my stressors right now, is my garden. I'm not sure what is worse and if this is salvageable or if I should pick my green fruits and try again next season. After the storm, I went around picking up my 6 foot tall cuc and tomatoes that had blown straight down. The main plant stock and root balls seem to be fine. Some branches are bent and broken. When I was resituating the stakes, I noticed massive tobacco horn worms. One tried to bite me and emitted nicotine squirts. Should I just give up?

 

[baymule]

I do hate tomato hornworms! And tried to BITE you? Spray with insectidal soap. On salvaging your garden, is it close to the end of the season? Still have a couple of months to go? It might be worth a shot to try to prop them up. Sure can’t hurt anything.

Sorry about your house. I’m guessing you weren’t hurt, count your blessings. I had a hurricane drop a 100 year old huge oak tree on our house one time, I get it on raining in your house. Don’t let it stress you out. It will be fixed and you will be ok.

 

[seedcorn]

If they are that large, their damage is almost done. I’d pick them off. Throw them in your nearest body of water for fish food. I’d try to salvage the garden. It will make you feel good when you save something.

 

[flowerbug]

tobacco worms squirm around when you pick them off the plant. when i'm picking them off i pinch them from up and behind the head and drop them and step on them - much quicker than cutting them in half or trying to drop them in a container.

it is unfortunate to have bad weather come along and destroy your hard work and perhaps even ruin a harvest, but surprisingly some plants will recover from things like hail, broken stems and still give results. prop back up what you can.

to make chances better i believe in diversity in plantings, diversity in locations and diversity in my own attitudes too. persistence and also being willing to move on from one failed effort and to keep trying and learning other things in the process.

 

[dickiebird]

In your location you should have some more growing weather.
I'd prop everything back up and give it a go.

THANX RICH

 

[littlemary1234]

I do hate tomato hornworms! And tried to BITE you? Spray with insectidal soap. On salvaging your garden, is it close to the end of the season? Still have a couple of months to go? It might be worth a shot to try to prop them up. Sure can’t hurt anything.

Sorry about your house. I’m guessing you weren’t hurt, count your blessings. I had a hurricane drop a 100 year old huge oak tree on our house one time, I get it on raining in your house. Don’t let it stress you out. It will be fixed and you will be ok.

Oh thank you so much! Somehow, I was able to beat off the horn worms. A pack of scrub jays found them, actually. Within a couple days, my plants were totally void of worms! I'm hoping to get some mature fruit here before the cold takes my plants.

 

[littlemary1234]

In your location you should have some more growing weather.
I'd prop everything back up and give it a go.

THANX RICH

I propped everything back up and did end up with more growing time. I lost a few plants, but all in all, i've got several big green tomatoes pending color on my Krim and Tula plants. My cuc ended up with lots of leaves and lots of flowers, but the developing cucs stopped short and the whole plant died. Not sure what happened there.

 

[littlemary1234]

tobacco worms squirm around when you pick them off the plant. when i'm picking them off i pinch them from up and behind the head and drop them and step on them - much quicker than cutting them in half or trying to drop them in a container.

it is unfortunate to have bad weather come along and destroy your hard work and perhaps even ruin a harvest, but surprisingly some plants will recover from things like hail, broken stems and still give results. prop back up what you can.

to make chances better i believe in diversity in plantings, diversity in locations and diversity in my own attitudes too. persistence and also being willing to move on from one failed effort and to keep trying and learning other things in the process.

to make chances better i believe in diversity in plantings, diversity in locations and diversity in my own attitudes too. persistence and also being willing to move on from one failed effort and to keep trying and learning other things in the process.

-Thank you so much! Keeping a good attitude about it does help a lot. I was able to help sustain a small scrub jay population until the worms were gone. I did feel good about that Now, I even have my very own canyon wren that stops by daily.

 

[littlemary1234]

If they are that large, their damage is almost done. I’d pick them off. Throw them in your nearest body of water for fish food. I’d try to salvage the garden. It will make you feel good when you save something.

Thanks! I was able to save a few of my plants. Two of them are still growing fruits. There should still be some warm enough days left for me to harvest something before the cold snap comes.

 

[littlemary1234]

I do hate tomato hornworms! And tried to BITE you? Spray with insectidal soap. On salvaging your garden, is it close to the end of the season? Still have a couple of months to go? It might be worth a shot to try to prop them up. Sure can’t hurt anything.

Sorry about your house. I’m guessing you weren’t hurt, count your blessings. I had a hurricane drop a 100 year old huge oak tree on our house one time, I get it on raining in your house. Don’t let it stress you out. It will be fixed and you will be ok.

And no, thank goodness we weren't hurt. It could have been way worse. Thanks again