User avatar
TomatoGirl
Senior Member
Posts: 114
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 4:34 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

What's eating my leaves?

I've had some black fly and aphids. But there's hardly any now. I just go through the plants and pick them off.
I've seen no caterpillars, slugs or snails. So I can't work out what's doing it.
Any ideas?
Attachments
IMG_3029.JPG
IMG_3028.JPG

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Hmmm ..... Interesting. Doesn't look like slug or snail or caterpillar damage. Could be bird pecks, except birds would have no reason to peck tomato leaves. Has it been very windy where you are? Sometimes wind whipping them can rip leaves like that.

User avatar
TomatoGirl
Senior Member
Posts: 114
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 4:34 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

I keep seeing leaves like this on my tomato plants.
I haven't seen any slugs or caterpillars and they are in containers.
Any idea what could be doing this?
Attachments
IMG_3029.JPG
IMG_3028.JPG

User avatar
digitS'
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3925
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 1:10 pm
Location: ID/WA! border

rainbowgardener wrote: ...... Could be bird pecks, except birds would have no reason to peck tomato leaves...
I'm not sure about that.

My garden once had major damage from deer. There was plenty of tracks to identity them.

What did they want? Tomato foliage. The ripe fruit had just been picked. Some green fruit was pulled off the plants. It looked like the deer just crushed the green tomatoes and dropped the, all of them.

At another time, deer ate potato foliage. I know that these leaves of nightshade have toxins but they were eaten while other plants were not. The deer didn't get the message. The leaf damage shown in the pictures also looks to me to be what birds cause, especially with TomatoGirl's report over several days of not being able to find other pests. Unless it's extensive damage somewhere else on the plants, I don't think it has done much harm to them.

Steve

Ksk
Cool Member
Posts: 89
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:57 am

I get this damage as well.
Turn over the leaves in the morning and look for small light green pearly balls. At night moths put these on tomotoe leaves and they hatch into tiny horn worms that munch holes in the leaves as soon as they are born. By getting rid of these eggs you will save trouble later. If they hatch the tiny worm leaves holes as shown in your picture. Pick them off by hand or they grow into massive horned worms. The hatchlings are about 1/2 inch long. Left to grow they can get as big as two or three inches and can descimate a tomatoe plant very quickly. The mortality rate is high but a few of these worms that get to adulthood do some serious damage. Good luck.



Return to “TOMATO FORUM”