The Tomato Hornworm

Meet our giant caterpillar, otherwise known as the tomato hornworm.

I had no idea we had a problem until I was cleaning out the garden and throwing tomato plants away. My sister pulled up while I was working, so I threw my gloves on the ground and didn't come back to them until the next day. Imagine my surprise when I tried to put my glove on and this thing was filling up an entire finger!!! Needless to say, I am pretty sure my neighbors heard my squeal.

I have never seen a tomato hornworm here in UT, but I did have them once in Las Vegas when I tried to grow tomatoes in my backyard. They are hard to see because of their color and they tend to feed on foliage inside the plant, so if your tomatoes are as overgrown as mine were, good luck finding them!

I guess he didn't do enough damage for me to notice, or perhaps again I just had too many tomatoes. I did read that marigolds planted nearby help to deter these monster pests, so my garden will be really colorful next year!

Zucchini Trouble

One day I checked on my garden and the zucchini looked like this. It had been so healthy and productive already, I was shocked. But, I was not surprised to find this:

A squash bug. I am sure they are called that because they like squash plants, but I call them that because I squash them. When you are trying to grow an organic garden, it's the only way to control them. I am hoping that by checking every few days I can keep them from finding my other curcurbits (cucumbers, butternut squash, melons, and pumpkins). They kill plants by sucking the sap from the leaves.

This photo is unclear, but the squash bugs are mating. Arg!

Their eggs look like this, on the underside of leaves. I check every leaf and squash them with rocks or sticks. I'm too chicken to use my fingers.

You would be too if you found this when you turned a leaf over. EWWWW! It gives me the heebie jeebies. These are the newly hatched nymphs. I cut this entire leaf off and threw it away. Hopefully I can persevere and preserve a few plants!

Deer Damage

We have some deer taking up residence.

My neighbor sent us this picture while we were on vacation over New Year's. Another neighbor dropped by one evening before Christmas and said they thought we had some of those deer yard decorations that light up, but then they moved and blinked. We have had to make noise and chase them out of the yard multiple times.

I'm still baffled that deer found us here in the middle of a valley, miles away from the mountains where they typically live. I asked my brother-in-law (an avid deer hunter) about it and he said they love it down here in the valley because the have easy access to food and little competition. I guess it's time to get a yappy dog!

I took some pictures around Thanksgiving of what the deer were eating.  They have broken and stripped some branches of this limber pine.

I left some pumpkins in the garden late into the season, hoping they would turn all the way from green to orange. Learned my lesson there!

I knew deer liked pansies, but now I know deer like pansies.

The most aggravating part is the footprints in the grass. Our turf is still so new and thin that the deer hooves just puncture through it and leave deep holes. That will be fun to fix in the spring!

I've been researching deer repellents and there are some crazy ideas out there! My friend Doris told me to put a bar of soap in some nettting (like my nylon?) and hang it on the deer-desirable tree. We'll see if it's worth anything.

My same neighbor told me she saw a movie where they covered their yard with hair. Gross.

When in doubt, I always trust state Cooperative Extension services more than anyone. I found this helpful fact sheet from Colorado State. It can be saved and printed as a .pdf. Their ideas are weird too (hot sauce, a solution of raw eggs and water!?) but at least they are tried and tested.

Apparently the most effective repellents are a fence (novel idea) and deer resistant plants. Although I wouldn't mind distributing some lavender and Hawthorns around my landscape, I just don't think I can give up my dreams of roses, tulips, apple trees, and grapes! Guess we'll have to go with the fence.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful hanging basket of petunias that looked like this:


Then one day, it started looking very ragged. At first I blamed myself for not watering carefully enough in the heat, or thought it might not be getting enough sun under the eaves...


But within a matter of hours, every last flower had holes in it.


It was time for action. I turned to google and typed in "petunia pests" to find this:

Well really this:
The geranium budworm caterpillar (dun dun dun). It feeds on the buds and flowers of many common plants, including geraniums and petunias. Well I'll say! That also solves the case of the pretty pink geranium that stopped blooming.

I found a very good article on the subject on here. According to them, a biological insecticide called BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) should help, as it's a bacteria specific to caterpillars. I liked that idea because I am kind of against synthetic chemicals. I couldn't find it at Home Depot, but I did find an organic insecticide called Eco Smart made of rosemary, thyme, peppermint, and clove oils. (Click on image for more info.)

I doused the sad hanging basket with Eco Smart, and that evening found two disoriented caterpillars roaming the front porch. Just to make sure they wouldn't find their way back, I squished them. Harsh, I know.

I am happy to say my petunias are making a slow but steady comeback. And I really hope that is THE END.