View the Tomato page

29 Nov 19 Allan Fraser (Australia - temperate climate)

my tomatoes are being bored into with some sort of caterpillars also some with black spots any ideas on how cure this organiclly or failing that anything to stop it ???

Reply

17 Feb 20 Elizabeth (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I found the same thing happening a few months ago with our tomatoes (Black Russian and Moneymaker). I found out it is Cotton bollworm: a nocturnal moth which lays it's eggs on the flowers, which then hatch and enter the baby tomatoes when they are tiny. I have my tomatoes string-trained on a 'cage' structure made from sticks/branches, so I used a Vege Net from Green Harvest over the entire structure, pegging and tucking the edges in (placing plastic flower pots over the tops of the sticks/branches, to prevent holes in the net). There was a period of finding spots developing, and caterpillars inside the tomatoes for a few weeks after, however no fresh infestations. I'll be doing the same this year right from the start.

Reply

02 Dec 19 Another gardener (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Look up natural sprays for caterpillars and Qld fruit fly on the internet. The holes caused by pillars and black dots are probably qld fruit fly. Chemical for QFF is LEPIDEX.

Reply