ferociousgardener:

Tomatillos under attack!!

Last night I found these tiny, larval-looking worms all over my tomatillo plant. They tended to cluster around the fruits and on the underside of leaves. Some of them appeared to be excreting a dark brown goo on the leaf. The third photo is of cobwebs found under the plant, which could be completely unrelated.

In general, I have nothing against bugs in the garden… until they start consuming the stuff I’m trying to grow. I hit the worms with Spinosad (an organic pesticide), and while it’s too soon to say for sure, there does appear to be far fewer of them this morning.

I don’t generally like to spray a pest I can’t identify, but didn’t want these to get out of control. Spinosad is fairly broad, so I suspect it will do the trick - but I’d like to know for sure what I’m dealing with. Can anyone ID this pest?

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  1. nomorepinkowls answered: beetle larva! likely potato beetle larva, but the ones i know are redder. you sort of have to smush ‘em if you want to keep your plants.
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