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To: Paul R.; All
Has anyone here successfully recovered tomato plants eaten down to just a couple leaves by hornworms? My most stricken plant is my last "Heatwave II", which has survived 2 winters in my upstairs. The fruits are bland, but, the plants ARE very good about doing ok and even producing in heat like we have now.*

*Our Monday forecast is " Sunny and hot, with a high near 98. Heat index values as high as 110. Calm wind. "

Fun.

It never occurred to me, but I suppose a well watered "temperate" plant in the heat does better when conditions include a bit of a breeze: Evapo-transpiration should keep the plant cooler. Of course, if it dries up, that's another story...

I do note that keeping my plants' soil (or pots) shaded or very well mulched (if just in the ground) definitely seems to help them out in these conditions. (I don't really have a practical way to shade the upper portion of my tomato plants' foliage when some are over 6 ft. tall / high. But, shading the soil they are rooted in is pretty easy. :-)

551 posted on 08/17/2025 5:42:19 PM PDT by Paul R. (Old Viking saying: "Never be more than 3 steps away from your weapon ... or a Uriah Heep song!" ;-))
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To: Paul R.; All

I had to stay well watered and in shade while working outside this afternoon, too. Daughter-san’s car had the window raise-lower mechanism break this morning. So, the window just sort of slides down, no matter what. She had to head back to school (90 mins away) quickly after picking stuff up here, and I couldn’t reasonably get parts “same day” anyway, so... I had to tape the entire top 1/3 of the window to its frame (from both sides) to stay up and keep any rain out. Luckily I have some HVAC aluminum tape I’d stumbled into on clearance @ Menards a couple years ago. It has a 248 deg. F temperature rating, and VERY aggressive adhesive. Boy, does it look “Beverly Hillbillies” or what, but it’ll get her by until I get the parts. (Eye roll)


552 posted on 08/17/2025 5:43:21 PM PDT by Paul R. (Old Viking saying: "Never be more than 3 steps away from your weapon ... or a Uriah Heep song!" ;-))
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To: Paul R.

I had one that had that kind of damage, but it was no longer producing. (Annannas Noir / Black Pineapple) I had sprayed with BT. The hornworm disappeared so the BT worked or a bird grabbed it. It started to leaf out again but this late in the year I am not certain if will produce again or ripen in time if it does.

You might prune back a lot of the damaged branches and see if they regenerate. I am not doing much fertilization on my tomatoes at this point. Since you will be keeping your tomato “upstairs” and overwinter, you might change change out the old soil, give it a small amount of epsom salts and balanced fertilizer and see how it does. Good luck!


557 posted on 08/17/2025 8:02:09 PM PDT by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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