I know wierd title, but read on and you'll see what I'm talking about. With the heat I haven't spent as much time tending my garden, just running out to get some water on it and picking the items I could see were ripe.
I initially thought the lack of tomatos lately was due to the extreme heat as well. Until today when I ventured into the garden and noticed the tops of the plants were completely defoliated!! Only one culprit I know does that kind of damage, so the inspection began. It took several soakings with water until I began to notice some strange movement on a few branches and there they were - the disgusting tomato horns worms!!
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| Took them off branch and all. |
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| Leaves are completely gone on the tops of my tomato plants |
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| This poor plant looked positively naked, these stems should be full and green with leaves |
I dislodged about 7 that I could find, and each one I took revenge on by delighting my chickens with these treats. It is amazing how much damage these things can do in such a short time. I'll be back out earlier in the morning to inspect from now on so I don't let them return and get this bad. Then maybe my tomatos will start producing again in the amounts they should be.
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| Chicken treats - they loved them |
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| Horm worm about to meet it's end!! |
Maybe the extra protein will help my poor birds get their feathers back sooner. Rooster still remains in isolation for this reason : )
I've only had one out here and I had no idea what it was! Creepy little buggers!
ReplyDeleteThey are!! They look like something from those old 50's space alien movies!! They're mean little things too that's why I took them off on the branches and let the chickens deal with them : )
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