Found this jerk and 8 more of his friends on my tomatoes this morning....
So disgusting!!!

It's so cute!

Yup, they are tobacco hornworms (closely related to tomato hornworms but they eat both). Good thing you found them, and keep an eye out for any more because they can completely de-foliate a tomato plant in a couple of days. Voracious!

Picking them off by hand is the most effective method. We get them at the school garden each year, and the kids think it is the most fun thing ever to pick those big guys off the plants and let them crawl around on their gloves.

They metamorphose into a really neat looking huge, night-flying moth.

Oh yes, the dreaded tomato hornworm. They can defoliate a plant in no time flat. If you also grow Daturas, keep an eye open for them. They're is also one of their favorite meals.

Cross posted Elaine. The tobacco hornworm? Hadn't heard that name. How can they be told apart?

They're very similar, Tara but the tomato hornworm has a dark brown "horn" when they're mature, and slightly different markings on its body, more like spots than stripes. The ones with the red "horn" and diagonal stripes are tobacco hornworms.

I had to look it up so that I could tell the kids at school the right info. Even Wikipedia's entry for it has the two mixed up, and pictures of both types in there.

Didn't know they were different. I actually found more of the ones with spots on them than the ones with stripes. All I know is, they had better stay off my tomatoes or I will feed them to my chickens!!!!!

Thanks Elaine! Wouldn't have known that. You taught me something new today!

That thing is HUGE. No way could I squish that without horking. Ugh.

Yeah, I thought feeding them to the chickens was a great idea, there. I used to bring them home with me from school after the kids were finished looking at them, and put them on the net under my bird feeders. The blue jays would fight over them.

dyzzypyxxy said:
They metamorphose into a really neat looking huge, night-flying moth.

These caterpillars of the night-flying moths eat the leaves of one of my shade trees. (I have yet to find them on my tomatoes or other plants.) My big pitbull-mastiff dog that isn't afraid of anyone or anything is afraid of those caterpillars when they fall off the tree and unto the ground near his dog house. He barks like mad over that caterpillar.

I try to get a couple of "extra" cherry tomatoes or patch of nicotiana going, so I have a place to put the hornworms if I find them. They blend in pretty well, but the chomped leaves and dark frass (caterpillar poo doo) gives their location away. They do turn into a very cool "hummingbird moth," which you may see hovering and dipping into flowers in the evening.

I really like the Hummingbird Moths so I also keep a sacrifice tomato plant on the other side of the property that I can put them on.

Mizshelli said:Found this jerk and 8 more of his friends on my tomatoes this morning....
So disgusting!!!

LOL -- they seem less disgusting if you picture them as the hummingbird moths buzzing around in the flowers...

It looks disgusting. My cousin used to purchase ladybugs and green lacewings to git rid of these horn worms. They are the natural predators to control these worms. Else you can kill it by handpicking and placing them in a bucket of water..

dyzzypyxxy said:

I had to look it up so that I could tell the kids at school the right info. Even Wikipedia's entry for it has the two mixed up, and pictures of both types in there.

I don't know if you want to go this far to show the kids the differerence, Elaine, but the Entomological Society of America has a video on this page (not for the squeamish )

https://entomologytoday.org/20...

Awesome, fun video!! I think most kids would love it

Ella, I think ladybug larvae would have to catch the hornworms in a very small stage! My tolerance for them is helped along by the fact that I don't see many... I seem to be well supplied with the wasp that parasitizes them. if you see eggs on one, leave it alone. :-)



There are some other very cool photos (that I didn't take) in the article I wrote a while back...

Those little freaks do a number on my peppers and potatoes as well. I love the moths but when I see the catapillars, I raise my fist into the air, yell out " Cry havoc!!! And let slip the bypass pruners of war!"

I love the hawk moths, chuckl, however, I do reduce them... tortoises - the land one not a turtle- eat them like candy and pet stores sometimes will buy them from you if they know they are healthy, so they can feed the tortoise.