A while back, I caught a caterpillar on a huge Better Boy tomato. I ended up pruning the caterpillar in half as he was eating a hole in the tomato. That tomato finally ripened and I picked it today. There were some black oblong pellets near the stem (where it attached to the plant) about 2x2x4 mm. Am I correct in assuming that these little raisins were deposited by our departed friend?
-- Salty
Yep, sounds like caterpillar doo doo to me!
Cheers, Sue snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net Zone 6, Southcentral PA
Absolutely correct. I just responded to another post asking what was eating her tomatoes. It's the dreaded hornworm caterpillar. They are easy to find because they do leave little green/brown droppings after eating. Usually there are more of them though. You can search the ends of all the branches for a puffy, green caterpillar with a red horn on the end or use Bt (Dipel Dust) to kill them. It's an organic bacteria that targets just caterpillars or chewing larvae.
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