Debstr's Blog
Debstr's posts about: tomato hornworm
Mar 12, 2008 | 10:44 AM PST
Tags: herbs , padron pepper , alma paprika pepper , tomato hornworm
Last year was my first year going all out with growing herbs & I want to mention a few tips which may help someone out with their herb gardening. I have found that some herbs like dill, cilantro, chives seems to grow better in a cluster. They get very lanky or leggy and I think the added support from each other makes for a better visual effect & I am sure works more effectively with the Companion Gardening concept (growing flowers & herbs together with vegetables). Cilantro & dill are 2 herbs I have started so far this year.
I did have a lot of the herbs in containers & in the hot weather, they didn’t do very well. Seems most couldn’t take the extreme heat so along with watering daily I ended up bringing them back into the house & after getting socked with the extreme heat they didn’t seem to do as well. So find a spot for them that has some shade or move them out of the sun for part of the day. Once your herbs go to seed, they are done growing for the season but you can prolong the growing by cutting the seeds off when you first spot them. I let some go to seed so I can save the seed for the following year & have had good results so far. Basil is amazing & there are so many different varieties & all work well just tossed with a fresh salad – Large Italian, Cinnamon, Purple Ruffles, Thai, Lemon Sweet Dani to name a few.
Herbs can be dried for later use which is great – no waste & you have herbs all winter. Find a dark, dry area in your home – I used a spare bedroom and laid the herbs out in trays for about 2 weeks and then bagged them up. When cooking use 1 teaspoon of dried herbs or 3 teaspoons of fresh herbs for the same result.
I grew quite a variety of peppers last year also & two I want to make mention of – the Padron Pepper and the Alma Paprika Pepper … both are Hot! I will admit I am a total whimp when it comes to hot stuff, but I do try. I just can’t handle it. Neither pepper description mentioned the heat from these peppers. The Padron was advertised on tv as the new appetizer at one of the chain restaurants so I thought – How cool, I can grow it. The description says one in every 10 or so is Hot, so watch for the surprise…not SO, I had grown men crying after taking a bite out of these. The trick with these is – up to a certain growth size they are mellow (actually, quite small like a quarter). Once they grow past that …POW! The Alma Paprika is unique – it goes through 3 different colors during its growth. First it is a pale yellow, then orange & once red it is Sweeter with a spicy accent. The first 2 color stages it will knock your teeth out …naïve me, got all excited when I saw my “first” Alma ready to pick (or so I thought). I plucked it off the branch & took a huge bite – well, my eyes almost flew out of my head LOL Both peppers can be dried and crushed for use in recipes. I used the red sweeter Alma peppers in tomato pepper soup and froze it – it’s outstanding. The Padrons I actually just froze whole and when I need a kick in a recipe like chili or taco seasoning I cut one or two up – I do discard the seeds since I don’t want it THAT hot.
Lastly, I want to mention the Tomato Hornworm who makes his appearance every year & makes a feast out of your hard grown tomatoes. Be on the lookout for this fella since he is very hard to see with just a casual glance. He blends in very well & I have overlooked him several times UNTIL you finally realize something is going on with your plant – obvious signs are chewed up tomatoes & large hornworm castings on the ground. I spotted the castings easily since the plant was a Green Zebra Tomato in a pot on my deck, otherwise the castings would probably blend into the soil. I first blamed the chipmunks last year for the half eaten tomatoes until I brought the plant inside & did catch sight of the hornworm dining on my plant – My jaw dropped & yours will too when you spot your first one … these guys are big! I did get a good picture of wasp larvae (beneficial parasite) attached to another hornworm in the garden (another jaw dropper). If you see this leave it alone. They will eventually feed off the hornworm and kill it & then fly off to find other hornworms to lay their eggs. I believe at this point the hornworm is no danger to your tomatoes anymore, but they can sure eat a whole lot when they are active!
