Topic: Tomato plants being eaten - help needed!

[Lindsay]

OK - I give up!  What do I do?  Several of my tomato plants have been eaten.  The first time it happened, I noticed plants that had wilted and fallen over.  So I replaced them - the same thing happened. Then I noticed that there was a small hole in the stem of these plants - and inside a little worm about 2 cm long inside. 

What treatment can I use to stop these worms from getting at the rest of my plants?  I had lovingly cared for them from seeds from a seed swap, and don't want to lose more!   

[djbrenton]

Sounds like it might be cutworm. Try putting collars around the pants pressed into the soil leaving a good 2 or 3 inches above ground. Yoghurt pots or similar with the bottoms cut off would do.

[Lindsay]

Thanks - I'll try this, although I've googled for pictures of cut worm and they don't look the same. These worms are really thin and brown, not fat like caterpillars, although they soon will be if they eat many more!  Three more plants down this morning!

Do they just tunnel into the youngest sweetest plants? The ones that I planted earlier have so far not been hit  (fingers crossed, touch wood)!

[daileg]

if im not mistaken they have little pincers on the top wriggle real fast ? there on my lottie dont know what they are if there the same