So for the last couple of weeks I've been hunting and picking those green catapillars off my tomatoes. Fewer and fewer now, maybe one every day or two. But this morning this was on one of the leaves. What in the world! The door was open a lot yesterday and I guess something flew in and did something??? Man, I'm about as green as the tomatoes at gardening.

This much weirdness in a little 6 x 8 greenhouse.

I think you have a tomato hornworm. It's not flying in, but growing and getting fat eating your tomato vines. Google 'tomato hornworm' for some images. By the looks of the droppings, you have a nice sized one at work. In spite of getting large, they can be really difficult to see. Look up and down the stems and under the leaves. Use your hand for touch if you're not squeamish about touching them. They really blend in well.

Thank you NEEDRAIN.

You can spray with BT (Bacillus thuringiensis -- or something like that ), which will only target the caterpillars that are eating your tomatoes... if indeed it IS caterpillars... (I thought I had cabbage worms on my broccoli and it turned out to be slugs...)

It sure looks like the droppings of Tomato Hornworms. You could try the soapy water method to get the worms to show themselves: http://www.veggiegardener.com/... and then you can pick them off and drown or squish them; or you might also want to consider an organic method of eradication like using a mixture of water, insecticidal soap and crushed or powdered hot cayenne pepper.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I did move it out of the GH today and examined it carefully like NEEDRAIN suggested. Found two more of those green catapillars I've had problems with for a few weeks but nothing else. Hosed it off good and put some organic spray on. Will Followup with the soap recipe if that doesn't work. And then move to the stronger stuff Weedwhacker suggested if plantladyln solution doesn't work. I'm squeamish about those critters. Yuk!

Thanks for all the ideas!

I dislike harsh chemicals myself and refrain from using them. I'd try an organic or earth friendly remedy first ... especially for fruits and vegetables.

I'm not a strict "organic gardener" -- but isn't BT acceptable to those who are

WEEDWHACKER I believe you're right! I made an assumption, because I know so little about gardening. And I guess the name sounded like a chemical. I googled it and it's a naturally occurring substance that paralyzes the little green critters and they stop eating. Okay. I'm getting some! The little house of horrors will be no more.

@Weedwhacker Yes indeed, BT is definitely an acceptable pest control! http://www.motherearthnews.com...

This isn't much of a solution, but I had to share....I learned a few days ago that caterpillar poop actually has a TERM....it's called "Frass." Isn't that great? Holy Frass!

Well, that makes it all okay then!

Yikes, Holy Frass indeed! Thanks for the new term @karmatree.

I usually pick the caterpillars off because they are fairly large. The BT I use on the cabbage plants because those caterpillars are sometimes too small for me to see.

Have you ever heard of parasitic wasps? I bought some and released them to help me with hornworms....my son and I discovered that we couldn't find a hornworm that WASN'T paratisized!!! The wasps lay the eggs on the juicy caterpillar, and when they hatch, they devour their caterpillar host....pretty gory. My son insisted on keeping one in a box to watch the process and it was like a horror film.

Yes, if people only knew the "horrors" that are part of everyday mother nature, they wouldn't be so squeamish and judgmental about other things.

Whoohoo -- the tomato problems seem to be solved --- finally. No more catapillars. I used the bacillus stuff and they have disappeared. The leaves are coming back beautifully. The cherry tomatoes are starting to plump up and the small ones are finally starting to grow too. I have this plant in my smaller "patio greenhouse" -- the popup zippered one from Amazon. The plants in there are doing wonderful. I only use two 65 watt bulbs to heat it at night - so its getting more light than I would have thought the plants should have. Perhaps because it's incandescent it's working and not creating other problems. Don't know -- all I know is everything in there is doing great. Couple pics of some of the plants attached.

Way to go Carol!