Can I overhead- water tomato plants after dusting with Sevin? If so, do I have to wait before watering?
Overhead watering encourages powdery mildew, as well as washing off the Sevin. If at all possible, water at the base of the plant, and water deeply instead of several shallow waterings. What is the problem that you are treating with Sevin? Someone may be able to suggest a different solution that won't wash off!
Last year, I had cutworms that totally disconnected the whole plant from the ground and I lost them all. I just dusted some Sevin around each plant on the soil (I only have 4 plants) and now I am wondering how to water next. The container doesn't say anything about watering. Thanks for your help.
Nasty cutworms! I cut a toilet paper tube in half, then slit the halves and place a circle of the cardboard tube around the stem of the plant (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant all get this treatment. Fortunately, we use a lot of toilet paper . . . .) This prevents cutworm damage and still leaves lots of room for the stem to develop. You wouldn't need the Sevin if you use the tubes.
oooooo good suggestion. I live alone so will have to ask my daughter who lives next door for some help with the toilet paper roll supply! LOL
Jerry is right about the paper towel tube. Also, in a pinch, you can make a circle of three or four layers of newspaper torn to the right height, and use that.
We use dipel dust for the cutworms. It is a natural beneficial bacteria, as soon as the cut worms take one bite they quit eating and starve to death. You can dust it on the ground and on the plants. The dipel can be used for all caterpillar infestation. The cutworms would be considered a caterpillar. The cutworm "collars" are very helpful in the early growth stage. I'm not positive about the later growth stage, due to moisture deteriorating the cardboard. Do try to water your tomato plants from below. Use a soaker or sprinkler hose, if you use the sprinkler hose use very low pressure or turn it so the holes face down. The moisture on the leaves is a invitation to the blight or mildew on your plant
I put the collars on when I set the transplants in the garden. It also helps protect them from our "gentle Texas breezes" since the collar is sometimes about as high as the transplant! By the time the collar falls off or rots away, the plant's stem is too big for a cutworm to manage. That is here in dry Texas, where we don't get much moisture to promote rotting cardboard!
Hey guys. I use plastic straws, cut em into like one and a half inch heights and place them on each side of the mater plant.. They make it so the width of the stem is to wide for the worm to wrap itself around it and begin feeding.. Once the plant stem grows into a nice width on it's own the cutworm cannot wrap around it either.. So the mater plant is only vulnerable when it is in early stages of growth.
My plants ae about 3 feet high now with baby toms and lots of flowers.I go out at dusk now and check for hornworms and I still will use the toilet rolls....and maybe even the straws also. I'm going to try EVERYTHING!
Yea 3 feet high is not so high for maters.. the stem width is the issue.. your problem will be over soon, but you want your maters too... the toilet paper rolls I have never used so I can't say,but the straws I have used and I have never had a problem since.. When I plant them out, I put those in right away and that's that. LOL.. Good Luck it will be fine now.
