My one lone tomato plant, natural and give to me –not planted by me, given to me by natural however it was it happened … 🙂 The one I’ve written about before, I found it growing up where the hens had been stationed in earlier weeks, and I had caged it and it was growing nicely, flowering and setting fruit.
So I keep my eye on it. Today I brought some bread out to the hens and decided to stop by Lone Tomato and see how she was doing. I looked and admired the nice big tomatoes, three of them are big, two more a few steps smaller. I then went to count the next size, and saw that one of the smaller ones had a big line eaten out of it’s skin. Damage known as HORNWORM! I looked and looked and saw nothing. I looked over and under and upsidedown, and then suddenly, there it was. Yup, Hornworm. Young. Ugh. In October? I have had tomato plants last this long, I think, in past years, but never recall Hornworms in October. In any case, whether that’s actual or not, here it is, the first week of October and there was a Hornworm on my Lone Tomato plant.
I called Frank out and he got the worm, then he saw another one. Hmm. I looked and looked more, and then we saw another. Three of them. Hmph. So I went in to get some BT mixed up (Biological Insectiside for WORMS like the Hornworm). When I came with the BT in a spray bottle, Frank said he had found two more, total of FIVE disgusting green hornworms. I can’t stand them. They are the worst buggy thing, to me, that I can imagine. Ugh. Frank killed them all. The BT will kill whatever ones we may have missed. It’s amazing how well they blend into a tomato plant. It’s not THAT big either, the plant that is.
So there are two really nice tomatoes looking like they’ll be ripening soon, and another close behind, then at least 7 more in various stages of delopment. It’s Oct 8, so we have at least, given normal temperatures, at least 5 more weeks until First Frost, and hopefully I can keep it alive until it gives me enough tomatoes to satisfy my desire for FRESH HOMEGROWN TOMATO! I haven’t had any edible this year. The few I got were take before ripening to get them away from the StinkBugs and weeds that kept me from being able to take care of them. Most of them smooshed to yuck after ripening on the windowsill, me forgetting them until too late. I did make sauce for dinner with some of them once, but no fresh ones to eat came of the many we planted. We bought some big tomato plant last Spring, as well as the usual smaller ones we mostly have bought in the past. Well, those usual ones didn’t fruit at all. Withered to nothing in the Summer heat, just sitting there growing worthlessly the weeks before since planting. The BIG plants, they took off, but didn’t last either. It was a very frustrating garden this year. I had such high hopes for it too! 🙁
It’ll be nice if I can get a big red juicy tomato and slice it up, salt it with sea salt, then a big glob of mayo on it, yum!
Mystery tomatoes they will be, and are now. I have no idea of the variety. I figure it comes from whatever I gave the hens this Summer. What that may have been, my tomatoes I didn’t keep track of what they were. Well these are nice and big and round. I may have given the hens store tomatoes too, if I had some that went beyond my desired usage. Bumbling around with words since I have no real idea of [tomato] parentage. They just look like nice tomatoes.
Today’s worm attack was the first pest aimed at this Lone Tomato. I hope nothing else turn foe on it!