Insecticide For Tomato Fruitworm

The tomato fruitworm is actually the tomato leafminer larva. It can be a destructive pest of various plants in the tomato family including tomato, eggplant, and pepper. The adult has a mottled brown forewing with greenish-yellow markings. These adults are not capable of flight; they emerge in the late spring or early summer depending on the climate they live in. They breed and lay their eggs on host plants, which are usually tomato species. The larvae hatch at some point and begin to feed on the stems or leaves of the plant. This can lead to large areas of abrupt wilting that result in many damaged plants. The insecticide for this pest is commercially available as an organic option (Bt) as well as a non-organic option (Gardener’s Choice).

Insecticide For Tomato Fruitworm

The fruitworm (in its larva form) attacks a tomato by tunneling.

It consumes the tomato’s interior and leaves a cavity filled with fluid and droppings. (Can you say nasty?)

The tomato quickly decays and rots.

Once tomatoes have been attacked by fruitworms, the fruit is no longer usable. Pick and discard them.

The best way to deal with tomato fruitworms is to go on the offensive.

Watch plants closely to keep an eye out for eggs and then larvae, which look like worms. (See image below.)

What do they do to plants?

They eat. Tomato fruitworms feed on leaves, stems, and fruit.

They make holes. Worms (larvae) enter fruit, usually at the stem end, and can work their way through the entire tomato. The entry hole can be up to the size of a pea.

They start green. Worms prefer green fruit.

They leave a mess. Worms leave an interior hollow space filled with water, frass, decay, and rot. Fruit is inedible after a fruitworm infestation.

What does the tomato fruitworm look like?

Shape: caterpillar (in larvae stage)

Color: cream, yellow, green, reddish, or brown

Markings: pale stripes and/or black spots; hairy

Size: about 1 ½ – 2 inches long

What is the tomato fruitworm’s life cycle?

Adult: a tan to brown-colored moth with a single dark spot in the center of each wing. Wingspan is 1 -1 ¼ inches. Adults emerge in the spring and lay eggs on tomato leaves.

Egg: white or cream-colored, slightly flat, spherical-shaped, about the size of a pinhead. Eggs develop a brown or reddish stripe right before they hatch.

Larva: light-colored caterpillars with a brown or dark-colored head and dark hairs. Worms can turn green, yellow, brown, red, or black. Stripes can run lengthwise on the worm’s back. Larvae feed on leaves, then fruit. Up to four generations can reproduce in a given season.

Pupa: brown. They overwinter in the soil, generally in the top 2-3 inches.

Insecticide For Tomato Fruitworm

Tomato fruitworm is a serious pest of tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. The larva are green to light brown, about 1/4 inch long and have a white or yellowish-orange stripe down each side of the body. The adult moth is gray with dark lines on the wings.

The Tomato Fruitworm can cause severe damage to tomato plants and other vegetable crops by feeding on leaves, flowers, stems and fruits. It also transmits viruses that cause plant diseases such as Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Potato Leaf Roll Virus and Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus.

The insecticide for tomato fruitworm includes Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies aizawai (Bt). This insecticide is a naturally occurring soil bacterium that produces a toxin against certain insects when ingested.

List Of Insecticide For Tomato Fruitworm