Growing Organic Tomatillos
I've never seen organic tomatillos for sale in any market so I'm wondering if this is the reason, every time I have tried to grow them, at harvest time each one has a tiny hole near the stem and a worm inside. This year I planted 6 green and 6 purple plants which are loaded with fruit all with worms in them. I'm very disappointed. I really am an organic gardener and never use anything on my crops. I make my own compost and don't use any purchased fertilizer. I have just bought a remineralizing soil booster since I had a little trouble with blossom end rot on the early tomatoes and some summer squash and I understand this can be a calcium deficiency. I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to stop the worms.
Yes, DE and BT are organic treatments. So are chickens, who may (I stress *may* since I don't have chickens) eat the worms or the worm cocoons in their foraging. But, to protect your plants, a "chicken tractor" would be recommended; this restrains the territory over which the birds can roam as they overturn the ground, searching for those worm cocoons and other delights.
Soap sprays; garlic sprays; vinegar sprays (but be careful: vinegar is an herbicide!)--all these are organic, too. But without knowing what kind of worms we're talking about here, it's difficult to know what to suggest.
I suggest that, when you harvest the tomatillos, you soak them in a sink of slightly salted water. The salt will "encourage" the critters to flee the vegetables, whereupon you can send them (the critters) down the drain and rinse your now-critter-free veggies. I use this method on difficult-to-wash leafy greens like kale, chard, and broccoli, where aphids like to hide. The slightly salted water (I'm talking about 1 tsp. in a 6-inch-deep sink) simply isn't to their liking, and they emerge from the veggies, looking for anyplace else.
Oh, did I mention warm water? And my sink is maybe half-size of some folks' sinks; it's a divided sink. So if you need to use a dishpan to soak your veggies, that's about the size of my sink.
Give it a try; it can't hurt (you rinse off all the salt) and may help.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
Soap sprays; garlic sprays; vinegar sprays (but be careful: vinegar is an herbicide!)--all these are organic, too. But without knowing what kind of worms we're talking about here, it's difficult to know what to suggest.
I suggest that, when you harvest the tomatillos, you soak them in a sink of slightly salted water. The salt will "encourage" the critters to flee the vegetables, whereupon you can send them (the critters) down the drain and rinse your now-critter-free veggies. I use this method on difficult-to-wash leafy greens like kale, chard, and broccoli, where aphids like to hide. The slightly salted water (I'm talking about 1 tsp. in a 6-inch-deep sink) simply isn't to their liking, and they emerge from the veggies, looking for anyplace else.
Oh, did I mention warm water? And my sink is maybe half-size of some folks' sinks; it's a divided sink. So if you need to use a dishpan to soak your veggies, that's about the size of my sink.
Give it a try; it can't hurt (you rinse off all the salt) and may help.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
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!potatoes!
- Greener Thumb
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DoubleDogFarm
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We don't even Plant tomatillos anymore they plant themselves, and we are far beyond organic. Food forest grown produce is less susceptible to pests and disease. Even though it was a dry year were getting a bumper crop of tomatillos. I have never had a worm problem with the fruit. Or bug problem, hell the deer won't even touch them.