Q: I’m struggling to make my tomato plants last, and I have questions about pruning them and this green caterpillar I found on one...

A: Many gardeners have been disappointed about a puny tomato yield this season. This could be in large part due to the prolonged, dry heatwave we experienced back in June. As a result, plants had little to no flower production, flower drop and poor pollination. Pruning could help energize the plant a little bit. Prune limbs that are dead or broken and sucker stems. Suckers are the ‘branches’ or shoots that grow out of the joint where a branch on the tomato plant meets a stem. Many times, they’re growing at a forty five degree angle.

As far as the small, or plump, caterpillar you saw on your plant, run back out there and evict him and his friends from the plant! You need pretty good eyes to spot them. This is tomato hornworm, and they can quickly decimate a tomato plant by chewing the leaves and holes in the fruit! Use garden gloves to pick them off, and either dispose of them, or do what I did. I put three of them in a shallow saucer right by the bird feeder, and I’ll just say that in minutes, I made some birds very happy! If you’re afraid you’ve missed some, apply Bt (Bacillius thuringiensis) to kill them when they’re small.

A little bit of fertilizer could be helpful if the plants no longer look full. And continue keeping them propped or staked up well.

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