Want to know the easiest and fastest way to find every Tomato Hornworm in your garden? Read on...
If you have a garden and you grow tomatoes or peppers, chances are, you've encountered the hornworm. You probably also know just how frustrating these guys can be, devouring your whole plant in a matter of what feels like hours (it's probably longer than that, but with a little nibble here and a little nibble there, they will ruin the whole plant fairly quickly).
I refuse to use any sort of pesticide in our garden - to me that defeats the purpose of growing your own. So, aside from the Neem Oil mixture, I'm left hand picking these huge dudes off my tomatoes and peppers. Which would be fine, if I could actually see them. Truly, I don't know if I dislike them because of the damage they do, or because it's almost impossible to find them all. They have achieved an ultimate level of camouflage, that's for sure.
Until now that is.
Chris and I were talking about the garden one night after the kids were in bed and we were having a little pity party over our eaten up plants. I've been nursing these plants for six months now, they're like little babies. It's really hard to watch all your hard work get destroyed in a matter of days and not feel like you can do anything about it. All of a sudden his eyes lit up and he said "I think they glow! Let's buy a black light flashlight and try it out." I looked at him all dumbfounded and said "They make black light flashlights????"
Guess what? They do! They glow and yes, they make black light flashlights. You can buy one here.
Once it's dark out, just walk outside and shine your little flashlight over your plants. The hornworms pop out like neon. Seriously, it's like an 80's flashback garden party.
In the last 5 days, Chris and I have removed 23 hornworms using this method. We are finding them when they are super small right now too, which was impossible before.
Now go buy yourself a flashlight and go Hornworm hunting - you'll thank me later, trust me.
No comments:
Post a Comment