STALK BORER in my Tomato , Potato, PEPPER

[applestar]

I came across this evil pest a couple of years ago when three of my tomatoes were attacked.
Subject: Container gallery

Thanks.
Yes, the little pots are just waiting around for their permanent beds to be prepared.even at this size, they are constantly harassed by cabbageworms, and it's easier to pick them up and inspect.

I found a photo I took of the tomato stem borer damage:


This is a Yellow Bell tomato planted in the ground. It's actually still producing fruits in spite of the borer.

I called it "stem borer" but it seems the proper name is "stalk borer"
https://www.vegedge.umn.edu/vegpest/SWTCORN/cstalk.htm
...this link is broken...

Stalk Borer — Department of Entomology — Penn State University
https://extension.psu.edu/stalk-borer


Today, I noticed my Rosella Purple dwarf tomato with a brown mush leading shoot. The next leaf down looked good but it's petiole was turning brown and mushy. It was growing a healthy looking side shoot from a few nodes down, so I thought I'd prune the main stalk down to that node and see if it will recover.

But the stalk was hollow where I cut it. Noticing a black interior streak, I cut a little further down -- still hollow... and down -- still hollow... The stem was hollow all the way down to about 1/2" above the soil level. ...my poor Rosella Purple.

...then I noticed a similar damage on a skinny potato stalk. This time. I was able to track the culprit down.

I exposed it all the way out of the stalk

[Lindsaylew82]

Will the plant continue to grow with this?

[applestar]

Last time one plant completely succumbed and died (I think that was a Black Krim). Another one wasn't growing (can't remember the variety)... but Yellow Bell managed to push through -- but the fruit size went down to 1/2.

[Lindsaylew82]

How large are your plants when you noticed them?

I've never seen anything like that here... And I don't want to either.

I need to look up what mamma looks like.

[applestar]

Today's find were in tomatoes and potatoes about 8-10" tall. Still babies :sniffle:

But the previous discoveries were made in producing plants -- you can see the thick hardened stem in the first photo -- so probably sometime in mid July.

So far signs are -- significant slow down in growth (the ones that you compare with others around them and say "WHY aren't you growing like your peers, hm?" -- diminished new growth size, including fruits -- diminished water uptake noticed in container plants -- wilted, browned, mushy leading shoot with the plant attempting to grow a healthy side shoot (below where the the borer has already destroyed the core) -- leaves look healthy but the leaf stem connecting to the main stem looks browned or odd -- dark streak running inside the main stem that makes you cringe and wonder "Is this is late blight? ...but it's so early!"

[applestar]

Can you see it? I know it's so blurry! I think I was in shock ???
The extremely wilted plant is one of my Maglia Rosa crosses that I showed off earlier, with large elongated green fruits with a point and stripes very reminiscent of Maglia Rosa.

I went out first thing this morning because I had the exciting idea to start a crossbreeding project with this and Vernissage Yellow Clear Flesh.

Until the morning sun clears the neighbor's house and some trees, this area is in shade, so it was very pleasant working here, and I emasculated one very promising almost open bud to which I applied the VY pollen right away, and a second one that was probably not going to be ripe until tonight or tomorrow morning. I also emasculated a Vernissage Yellow Clear Flesh flower bud to make the same cross, was puttering around, and the sun cleared the obstacles. I turned around and the plant had completely wilted!

"NO! Nooo, no, no.... what HAPPENED to you?" I was flabbergasted at first, then close examination revealed this:

• The first photo on the left shows a pile of sawdust frass/pellets at the base of the stem,
• 2nd photo shows the wire
• The bottom photo the nursery pot secured and filled with potting mix to mound around the stem....



-- STALK BORER HAD STRUCK --
I did what I could. I jammed a wire up the borer hole as far as it would go. (It would have been better if I had dipped it in Bt/Dipel first.) I got a large black nursery container and cut off the bottom and up one side, wrapped around the base of the plant and secured closed with duct tape, then filled about half way with potting mix I had available. I will add more as soon as I can. I also put up the pop-up shade over it and thoroughly watered the potting mix and the surrounding soil.

It's a blazing hot day though. So much more chances for recovery if it had been an overcast day. I'll try to keep the area watered and hope the plant can grow some roots up the stem past the borer damage. But if I missed the borer with the wire, it's going to keep burrowing up the stem.

[KitchenGardener]

I'm so sorry that happened. Just an fyi: even after enlarging, I find your photo collages frustrating because most of the time I cannot see what you are showing us - this case is a good example. Perhaps you might want to do a few less photos collages? I'd be more inclined to follow your threads if you did...

[KitchenGardener]

Thank you! Yes, I enlarge them, and then zoom even more, but sometimes its just hard to follow, is all.

I think its disgusting that those creatures can get away with that. One ill placed stupid big caterpillar or whatever and he destroys so much of your hard work. Those and the SVBs seem totally unfair to me!

[rainbowgardener]

I am so glad I have never seen one of those. The SVB's are the bane of my existence as it is. If my tomatoes and potatoes were being attacked the same way, I might just have to give up gardening!

[applestar]

Knock on wood! Only one or two at a time and I blame remnant of tropical storms coming up from the south and west. I FEEL for those of you who get them on regular basis.

There seems to be some improvement. As you can see, I also gave the plant a white veil in hopes of keeping a bit of humidity close. obviously didn't want to use solid material without air circulation that would increase heat too much or chances of fungal infection.

Bottom half of the plant seems to have recovered somewhat and is only semi-wilted even after the sun was on it. Top most leaves are still wilted, but yesterday, the entire plant looked like that. Today was watering day so I gave the whole area a good soak.

[KitchenGardener]

I'm still back at "How Dare They?!!" and "Who the Heck Do They Think They Are?!!" I mean yuck. That is just so wrong. What was Mother Nature thinking when she created something that bores into a perfectly healthy plant at the base?

Sorry, diatribe over. Glad things are recovering!

[applestar]

Looking better today

-- as of this morning --



...and although I didn't go out there, I looked at it in late afternoon via binoculars when the westering hot sun was full on it, and it didn't look wilted at all and today was 90+°F. But I guess I'll keep the shade cover on it for a while -- at least until next week.

I didn't bother to pollinate the 2nd emasculated flower, and I wasn't too hopeful of the nearly mature one especially since I didn't get the chance to apply more pollen, but it seemed like it was still OK today. Maybe it did set fruit?

[ID jit]

So you speared the evil worm with a wire and then basically buried the plant up to where there was solid stalk? The idea being that the buried stem will root?

(Have the same problem with your collages. They are pretty, but kind of confusing. Am an idjit and do better with one thing at a time. A vertical stack of images would be much easier to follow. If I do the figer stretch thing on the images, when I close the image I have H U G E text when I get back to the page.)

[KitchenGardener]

...and although I didn't go out there, I looked at it in late afternoon via binoculars when the westering hot sun was full on it, and it didn't look wilted at all and today was 90+°F.

Love this - only us truly obsessed gardeners would be caught spying on our own gardens with binoculars!

[applestar]

Well, it turns out stalk borers also go after peppers.

I had an extremely busy day today and today was watering day, so I barely had time to water before 8am this morning, quick harvest, and then force myself to go back inside — but as I walked by the Bill’s Striped sweet pepper SIP, I noticed an odd lump of poopy looking thing on one plant. When I rubbed at it, I uncovered the borer hole — belatedly realizing “it” was wet frass.

I just didn’t have time to do anything, so I jammed a wire up the hole as far as it would go to hopefully kill the borer — they typically bore upwards.




I’ll look at it in the morning to see if the plant has started to wilt, and decide what to do....

- It only has the one fruit and there are several leaf nodes lower down the stem from the hole, so I might just harvest the still green pepper and prune the stem to below the borer hole.

- The plant is one of the two interior-positioned, and this fruit isn’t exhibiting particularly exciting stripes, so I might also consider taking this opportunity to cull this plant and give the others little extra space.

[applestar]

Subject: Applestar’s 2019 Garden

I really would have been happy not to see the stalk borer this year — they do seem to somehow target the VIP’s on my grow list every year — lsst year was one of the Bill’s Striped peppers, and the year before that was my Wild Rosa tomato Subject: STALK BORER in my Tomato , Potato, PEPPER

This year, it attacked the only Fish pepper I am growing for comparing with the four Goldfish (Fish sport). I was about to finish up and go inside when I noticed the telltale sawdust/frass on the stem —



- LEFT : took a photo of the entire plant before having to cut it down — superficially, it looks fine
- CENTER-TOP : sawdust/frass and black bore hole
- CENTER-BOTTOM : stem Cut below the bore hole — chewed hollow stem is revealed
- RIGHT-TOP : managed to "find" the borer after two 1/2 inch segments were cut from the stem above the bore hole
- RIGHT-BOTTOM : Cut and split open stem to reveal/extract the borer

...At least I caught it in time— I trimmed the hollow stems down to solid healthy stem and there are several very variegated growths that had already started to grow from the leafnodes lower down the stem, so I think it will grow back, just significantly delayed since the plant was just about to open the first blossom with at least another 1/2 dozen flower buds.

[applestar]

I find it curious that no one else has mentioned this pest. I generally only find it after summer gets really really hot. And usually/often after tropical storm or hurricane remnant has passed, so it would make sense that they may not be a problem further north/in cooler summer areas?

Is it a common pest in the southern states? Maybe I’m the one making a big deal out of it?

Along with svb’s, European corn worms, and my one time experience with pickleworms and onion maggots, or leaf miners, wireworms, carrot flies... burrowing type pests are the worst!

[pepperhead212]

Apple, KOW, but I have never seen these things. I'm wondering if it is something that is primarily attracted to the potatoes, since that is something that I don't grow. I stopped them after one year, when the insects (many kinds, but mostly beetles) that were attracted by the potatoes totally decimated my eggplants and okra, and attacked my tomatoes and peppers, as well. The potatoes were so incredibly bushy with leaves, that they didn't really bother them! Never had the problem before, or since. The potatoes were very good, but not worth that problem. I would have had to spray an inorganic bug spray, to take care of those things!

Or maybe there is a native host plant in your area. That's my problem with the pepper maggot fly. I live about 80 yards from a creek, where horse nettle grows. A friend, who used to live a mile and a half away, never got a single pepper with the maggots.

[applestar]

Your suspicions about alternate hosts — whether potato or others — is a good one @pepperhead212. I’ll start looking closer at other plants in the area in case I’m not spotting them. Maybe it’s precisely because they have been my VIP plants that I HAVE noticed these at all and I have been overlooking them and allowing them to carry on their life cycles to next generation for the following year....

[applestar]

I found a sign of stalk borer again this year.

Ideally I would have injected Thuricide liquid Btk in the hole, but I had limited time and energy this morning, so I puffed Dipel powdered Btk (which was immediately available) into the hole.

Prognosis is NOT very good. The internal dark streak seem to extend most of the way down.

IF I really want to save this plant, best option would be to detach all ties to the support and try to lay the stem down, then bury to ABOVE the hole in hopes of getting the plant to grow roots before systemic failure.

I don’t think I took a picture, but the upper parts of the plant currently “looks” healthy.

This is George’s Greek Red PL F3…..

[imafan26]

Interesting. I have noticed most of my pests this year are caterpillars too.

[applestar]

By the way, keep an eye out for this kind of damage — sudden full wilt, some kind of hole in the stem, and sawdust pellets on the ground — this year, first one to go down was a Cardinal Flower !

I fully expected it to be another kind of borer, but the reveal after following the hollow stalk down looked like the same stalk borer caterpillar.