How to Use Lime to Control Tomato Hornworms
Tomato hornworms are one of those insects that create a lot of damage in your vegetable garden. Along with tomatoes, hornworms affect potatoes, peppers and eggplants. One of the signs that you have hornworms is that there are eggs stuck to the underside of the leaves. There are several ways in which you can help rid your garden of tomato hornworms. One of those ways is to use lime. Lime is a necessary nutrient for your garden and can play double duty by doing both. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Look for signs of tomato hornworms on your vegetables. Signs include the eggs on the underside of the leaves that are green or yellow in color and chewed up leaves. Tomato hornworms are about 2 to 4 inches long when full grown and are green with white stripes.
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Spread lime dust around the base of the plants before you even notice hornworms on your plants, to help prevent them from destroying your vegetable crops. Spread about 30 lbs. dust per acre of garden soil. Add the lime to the soil before planting and till it in if desired.
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Purchase hydrated lime to use as a spray. Fill a spray bottle with ¼ cup lime dust and warm water. Add two to three drops of dish soap to prevent the lime from clumping.
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Stir the mixture well to dissolve the lime.
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Spray the plants about every week to 10 days or after a heavy rain. Continue spraying until the vegetables are developed about halfway.
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Wash any vegetables on which you have used lime to remove any traces of it before eating the vegetables.
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Tips & Warnings
Use less lime dust in your homemade spray if you want. Cut back from 1/4 cup to 1/8 cup.
Do not overuse the lime on your vegetables as it could cause more damage to your plants. You may even want to test out using the lime on one of your plants before using it on your entire crop of vegetables.
