Re: [CH] Green Horney Caterpillars

Che Wong (che.wong@tempe.vlsi.com)
Mon, 27 Jul 1998 12:28:05 -0700 

You will need some BT (Bacillus thurgicide). It comes in both powdered and
liquid form. It is marketed under many brand names (Dipel, MVP, Bio-guard,
etc.) It is a naturally occuring virus that infects insects that feed on
plant leaves. It gets into theie digestive tract and eats them from the
inside out. For tomatoe horn worms, they become a blob of mush overnight.
For other pests, it may take a few days. After ingesting the BT, the
insects are supposed have also have their hunger drive suppressed, so the
damage to the plants is minimized, even though they have not subcomed to
the virus. BT has been termed safe for humans and insects that do not feed
on leafy material.

As a side note, if you inspect the tomatoe horn worms and notice little
white granular (almost rice like) pieces on their backs, leave them alone,
the horn worms are already infected with a parasitic wasp and will be
history soon. The white things are the wasp eggs and when they hatch, the
larvae will use the horn worm for food.



ChefChile@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Help!
> 
> I've just adopted (temporarily) about twenty-five chile plants from a friend
> who is in the middle of purchasing a home and being thrown out of the place he
> was living.  I'll be taking care of his chile plants till he moves into the
> new house later this month.
> 
> In the meantime I have a problem.  On his plants I keep finding Green
> Caterpillars with a horn or spike on the rear-end.  I believe these are tomato
> caterpillars(?).
> 
> So far I have found at least one per day on his plants.  I would like to keep
> them from infesting my plants and hopefully eliminate them from his plants
> too.

-- 
Che Wong
che.wong@tempe.vlsi.com
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