How to Control Tomato Fruitworms in the Garden

Tomato fruitworms are also known as corn earworms and cotton bollworms. As the names imply, these worms typically target tomato, corn and cotton plants, although they can also go after soybeans, peppers, tobacco, beans, okra and eggplant. Adult fruitworms are moths, but the larva stage is a green worm that lives inside the fruit of the plant.

Instructions

1. Look for eggs on the leaves of the plant. Eggs are usually laid on both sides of the leaves closest to the flower or blossom on the plant. They are tiny white eggs, around the size of a pinhead.

2. Pick any leaves with eggs on them. Dispose of the leaves away from the plants. It is difficult to kill the larva when it is in age stage so use care in disposal.

3. Purchase a hanging release pack of green lacewing. Hang it in the garden near the plants bothered by tomato fruitworms. Wait for the green lacewing eggs to hatch. The larvae of green lacewing eat caterpillar eggs, so time the hatching of your lacewings to the egg stage of the fruitworms.

4. Bring in parasitic wasps, such as trichogramma or braconid wasps, to parasitize the caterpillars. Tomato fruitworms are one of these wasps' favorite foods. Time your wasps so they are present when the fruitworms hatch from egg to larva so the wasps can get them before they have dug homes in the fruit of the plant.

5. Spray the plants and the fruit with Bacillus thuringiensis, cyfluthrin or carbaryl to control tomato fruitworms. Follow package directions carefully for usage, and wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating.

Resources

• Green lacewing hang and release
• Trichogramma wasp eggs