Damage to my tomatoes (continued)...

I just came back to whinge, really; well, not quite, perhaps. We've had a wonderful crop of tomatoes, but we've also lost almost as many as we've picked. It's something I've never come across before so am wondering why this year and what I can do to prevent it next year.

At first I thought it was the tomato hornworm (1), and there's no doubt that they were at least partly responsible because I found one early on, but it appears that they feed on green rather than ripe fruit and all the damage latterly has been on ripe fruit. I must say there have been a lot slugs and snails about, but there have, too, in previous years, so it's quite a mystery as to why so much damage this year; and I must admit to using pellets around the plants. They're in containers of one sort and another, by the way.

Has anyone else experienced this, this year?

1)
http://organicgardening.about.com/od/pestcontrol/p/tomatohornworm.htm
http://www.almanac.com/content/tomato-hornworms
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/natural-ways-kill-tomato-worms-27632.html

 

Don't think we've got Hornworms in the UK. Got a pic of the damage?

 

Not at this moment, but can arrange. Interesting comment about hornworms in, or not, the UK. I definitely found a caterpillar with a 'spike', or 'horn', at its end at the beginning of the season, but looking at the Wiki entry it does only refer to the States. Interesting. Will take some pics.

 

Some pics attached. My camera is playing up a bit, but hope they will do. My wife has just told me that she found a couple of green caterpillars in or near freshly picked fruit, but couldn't remember if they had 'horns' or not; presumably, though, they were the same as the one I found, which definitely did have a 'horn'... Many thanks!

 

I haven't seen any squirrels or mice, or signs of any (would I see signs of mice?), so am inclined to think it's caterpillars of some kind. There are slugs and snails about, of course, but have never seen any up the plant, so to speak. Whatever it is, it's a bloomin' nuisance and odd in that it has never happened in previous years.

 

The leaf damage certainly looks like caterpillars. We've had loads more than we usually have this year.

 

Do you have any idea which kind?

 

Best to go out after dark and have a look with a torch.

 

Many Hawk Moth caterpillars have a horn or spike at the end. They are usually quite large and may not be what you have but check pics of them on google and see if it was one of them.

 

My friend caught this Elephant Hawk Moth eating her fuchsias

 

I have similar damage to quite a few of my plants including my Toms and I have picked countless green caterpillars which I think are Cabbage White. I wouldn't mind if they eat the odd tomato, if the eat the whole thing but the just nibble holes in as many as they can !

 

Is that a cabbage white caterpillar, Yvonne? Suppose I could Google to see if it is!

Actually, it doesn't look like it (see below), but, I must admit have seen a lot more CW butterflies this year than previously (even commented about it the other day) so perhaps they are the culprits. I agree, wouldn't mind the odd one, but to just have a go at so many is a real so-and-s0. Wonder if there's a way to prevent it next year. Inspect much more closely, perhaps.

 

And, by the way, neither of those caterpillars is like the one I found at the beginning of the season.

Have just checked Hawkmoth, Strong, as you suggested and, yes, looked a bit like this:

 

I could be wrong, I assumed it was as my greenhouse had regular visits but it could have been a moth I suppose. I haven't used any pesticides this year, hoping nature's balance will control the levels of each nibbly creature but my peppers, toms and rhubarb have all been hammered :-(