Tomato Plants

120 tomato plants will be used in the study. 100 of the plants will receive a form of damage to their leaves by caterpillars eating bits of leaves off of each plant, the remaining 20 will serve as a baseline. The caterpillars will be left on the plants for enough time to do a measurable/visible amount of damage to the plant. 75 tomato plants will receive JA, there will be three groups receiving treatment and one group will receive no treatment (this will be our control). 25 will receive five sprays of JA, 25 will receive three sprays of JA, 25 will receive one spray of JA, and 25 will receive no treatment of JA (this way, we can see if too much JA hurts the plants, if any amount of JA hurts the plants, or if more JA applied to plants then the plants will repair themselves faster or better than they would have without the extra spray). The responses could be measured by weighing the plants before and after to see if there is a change in biomass. They could also be measured visually by analyzing the plants to see which ones look healthier or if their leaves grew back entirely and then some.