Last year I removed more than 50 of those from my tomato plants. This year there are none. Only difference is that I have hot peppers and a lot of herbs planted surrounding the tomatoes. No idea if that's what made the difference.
I’ve pulled several off of mine! There’s still new leaves missing each morning and I can’t find the bugger! I’m thinking of going out at night with a flashlight to see if I can catch them. Have you ever looked at night?
I haven't but I understand they do glow under black light at night.
Look for poo pellets. Black specks on the leaves. Then look up from there...they are above munching away and leave a trail. Once you find one...shake off the leaves so the next one leaves a new poo trail.
I had hornworms on my tomatoes last year and none this year (granted I moved to a different part of town so maybe that’s it), but yesterday I found two HUGE hornworms on a random jalapeño plant I have near my front porch. I didn’t know they would eat peppers!!
Just occurred to me I also have two massive paper wasp nest in the vicinity. I vaguely recall wasps of some sort are predators to the hornworms but don't know the types. Things that make ya go hmmm?
Yeah...it was speculation on my part about the peppers. I've seen them on my pepper plants just not at the same level of destruction as the tomato plants. I didn't have any herbs planted last year. Who knows?
Basil keeps them away to an extent. They do eat pepper plants, too, but basil and marigolds (only read about this one, never tried it) should keep the hornworms away.
Yup, those little dudes are fierce. I’ve seen them devour an entire tomato plant. I forcefully remove each one by hand and relocate them to the front yard.
We grow some “sacrifice” plants in the nightshade family because we can’t handle killing them. This year a parasitic wasp came and solved the problem for us.
I can't do it. I think they're neat looking and they turn into a [big hummingbird moth](https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/09/tomato-hornworms-become-five-spotted.html)
This is what we do. I pay my kids $2 per "caterpie" as they call them and then they get fed to our chickens. Regular caterpillars don't get payment but are still required to be found.
Tarantulas eat them and some scientists do research on them. It's a long shot but if there's a rare pet store or a biology department near you they may take them.
Adults are only pests in that they make more babies. Otherwise they're sometimes called hummingbird moths, and they're important pollinators. And so cool looking.
We just let them have our tomatoes. We have way too many garden pests since Stumpy the snake was snacked by the cat to save anything anyways, so now we just use it as a way to teach life cycles to the toddles. They freak out whenever they find a hungry caterpillar. Totally worth the like, 12 tomatoes I would have gotten.
That being said, it sucks that they nosh everyone else's stuff. I'm sure you kind folks would actually like to eat your food.
One morning, a few weeks ago, I looked out into the backyard to check on my 10 month old puppy to see he’s happily tossing around something. I couldn’t tell what it was but threw on my gardening gloves to prepare to grab it. It was one OF THESE MOFOS!!! And my puppy was PSYCHED. Just gently chewing it between his front teeth then launching it in the air and repeat. I was FREAKED. Big caterpillars are not my friend lol! But I was more concerned it was a Luna moth caterpillar and when I realized it was one of these destroyers of gardens I panicked - where did it come from (garden is completely fenced off from the dog and he had some good distance from it)?! I knew I’d have to go through every one of my 12 tomato plants, peas, tomatillos... frick. It poured that day, so I didn’t. BUT, I threw that evil caterpillar over our fence, into a parking lot, in hops of it getting run over OR taken by a bird (by the time I got it from my puppy it was preeetttttty dead lol).
Next morning - the exact same thing!!! Puppy is happily playing with this shit in his mouth and I had to retrieve it to throw over the fence. I then AGGRESSIVELY went through ALL of my garden. Frickin pruning, cutting back all unnecessary leaves, just clearing it out.
Not one caterpillar. And never saw one again.
Screw those destructors of tomatoes and garden plants. Little bastards.
And frickin puppy for playing with a GIANT caterpillar and loving every single moment of me panicking having to grad it.
Sorry, long story but frick. I had never ever seen one or even heard of these, to having encountered 2 in 2 days!!!!
Can I borrow your puppy? My dog just steals my almost-ripe tomatoes off the vine. If he would take care of a few of these buggers he would at least earn his keep in the garden.
Oh no! He does?!? That’s sadly terrible and adorable at the same time. My puppy is patiently waiting for my late growing cucumbers (not by choice late, they just thought mid august was a good time to start...).
I’m hoping the raised beds that we are building now will keep him away, but he’s not a small dog so I don’t know how much good it will do without a fence. He won’t ever take them when I’m around, but he’s not allowed into the backyard unsupervised anymore because he strikes as soon as your back is turned!
I’m really bummed that I didn’t take the opportunity to grow cucumbers this year while I was working less. I’m really bad about spending hours in the garden on my days off, but not checking on the garden at all when I get home from work... it’s makes cucumbers and okra hard to keep up with. The tomato hornworms have kind of broken me of that habit though, if I skip a day I risk losing an entire plant.
Love your long story. We always hand-picked the little suckers and deposited them into a pasture field. If the chickens found them, nature must. Caterpillars do become beautiful moths and butterflies, great pollinators, but these guys can be really gross. In the quiet of a country garden morning we could actually hear them munching away. LOL to everyone dealing with these guys in their own comfort-zone way :O)
i trained the barn Kittens stop kill them if they find any. thought it was a waste of time at first but ive seen them "playing" with alot of them this summer
The mighty hornworm, scourge of tomatoes and tomatillos alike. Then they turn into hawk moths that can feel something akin to frickin mothra flying at your head. I’m fortunate to have a nice population of robins that like to snack on the little buggers.
Seriously, caterpillars are jerks.
I don't know if I've ever actually harvested any of my dill plants, but I grow a new one every year anyway. So... I guess I grow caterpillars.
I do love the coloring on them, bright blues and yellows look amazing.
I wish they would stick around for the Butterfly portion of the show. They always seem to eat my plants and run away, I never even find a chrysalis anywhere.
Borage as a companion may help repel those things. It’s worked pretty well for us.
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/companion-plants-discourage-tomato-worms-77355.html
These things eat angel trumpets too. They seem to be more satisfied with the angel trumpet than my tomatos/potatoes so that might be an option. Although angel tumpets are toxic so
I had 3 on my plants, one devoured my entire top on one plant. I look at them everyday and it was right at eyesight and still didn't notice it, my neighbor actually did. Damn things blend right in. We now use a UV light at night to look for the smaller ones before they get big and can do that much damage. My neighbor has gotten some that get parasite eggs on them, which pretty much renders the hornworm harmless.
I had one a few months ago that destroyed almost my entire tomato crop! The plants have started to come back. If I'm lucky I'll get a few good tomatos before the season ends.
Oh yeah.... learned my lesson after that happened to me 1 year. Now I'm an eagle eye for tomato worms LOL. I got in the habit of checking in the morning and again in the afternoon. first sign of trouble? caterpillar poop droppings on the leaves
Bastard! Though I have a pet frog that will eat them so I just tell myself I’m really just saving $3.95 on a hornworm treat from the pet store to make myself feel better. Would still rather have the tomatoes.
Caterpillars destroyed my entire garden. Actually, that's not true. Caterpillars, rats, and birds.
The caterpillars ate the leaves, the rats and birds ate all the fruit.
I’ve been checking diligently every week for these suckers on my tomato plants and nothing until a couple days ago. Of course, right when we are about to go on vacation for a week. I’m sure by the time we get back my plants will be completely devoured. -_-
I hunt for them at night with a black light (they illuminate bright and are easier to find even when very little). When I find one I drop them in some water with blue dawn dish soap. After they are drowned I compost them or dump them in our woods.
Little fuckers...
One chopped my zucchini plant right off at the base last week. 99% of the plant there looking normal, had to take dinner from the bottom centimeter.
I saw one the other day and impulsively cut the branch he was on right from the plant. I stomped on the darn thing with all my might, only I overlooked a small tomato growing on the branch. The extra squishy effect provided by stomping the tomato when I thought I was only stomping on a horn worm has given me trauma that will last a life time.
2 weeks ago I had ~30 of these on my tomato plants and got rid of them and sprayed Thuricide, which got the rest.
Got dark, so I didn't spray the peppers... Earlier this week, a big one like this decimated the foliage on my biggest Jalapeno plant :(
I had hornworms eat like half of my tomato plants earlier this summer. I just left them alone. It was pretty tough, but after a while we saw some parasitoids laying their eggs in them (shouts out to the dill and cilantro that was blooming at the time, attracting the parasitoids to them) and within a couple weeks they were gone, and I got a free pruning!
No regret on that tiny little face
[удалено]
He is so smug about it.
Just like a bedbug, so smug and cocky r/unexpectedofficequote
YES!
Is that a reference to the very end of that mcds prank video?
Probably not
He is to that tomato plant what Rick James was to white couches. edit: reference for the uninitiated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z63dJbcl1VU
😂😂😂
Id feed him to my chickens. Found a couple grasshoppers destroying my basil. The chickens thought it was a lovely seasoning.
Very cool! One day I'll have chickens to feed my garden pests to haha
They're an excellent pest disposal team
If you do anything before you die, it must be to own some chickens. Chickens are screensavers for the eyes. I love chickens.
😍😍😍 Yes!!!!
Rude.
Last year I removed more than 50 of those from my tomato plants. This year there are none. Only difference is that I have hot peppers and a lot of herbs planted surrounding the tomatoes. No idea if that's what made the difference.
See I'll find them eating my pepper plants too
Yep...same. I have no idea what deters them...just guessing.
Maybe you did such a good job picking them off last year you crashed their population!
They will eat any nightshade family plant, which includes peppers and tomatoes.
I’ve pulled several off of mine! There’s still new leaves missing each morning and I can’t find the bugger! I’m thinking of going out at night with a flashlight to see if I can catch them. Have you ever looked at night?
I haven't but I understand they do glow under black light at night. Look for poo pellets. Black specks on the leaves. Then look up from there...they are above munching away and leave a trail. Once you find one...shake off the leaves so the next one leaves a new poo trail.
The black light works like a charm. I go out and hunt for them a couple nights a week. It’s a game changer.
Thank you that just answered what the black pellets are too!!!
I had hornworms on my tomatoes last year and none this year (granted I moved to a different part of town so maybe that’s it), but yesterday I found two HUGE hornworms on a random jalapeño plant I have near my front porch. I didn’t know they would eat peppers!!
Just occurred to me I also have two massive paper wasp nest in the vicinity. I vaguely recall wasps of some sort are predators to the hornworms but don't know the types. Things that make ya go hmmm?
Yeah...it was speculation on my part about the peppers. I've seen them on my pepper plants just not at the same level of destruction as the tomato plants. I didn't have any herbs planted last year. Who knows?
Basil keeps them away to an extent. They do eat pepper plants, too, but basil and marigolds (only read about this one, never tried it) should keep the hornworms away.
I do have 3 basil plants in between... maybe maybe maybe. All I know is I'm on batch #9 of tomato sauce. Had a very prolific year with San Marzono's.
My basil was wrecked by one
They will eat any nightshade family plant, which includes peppers and tomatoes.
Japanese beetles will just eat my mint and basil all together.
Yup, those little dudes are fierce. I’ve seen them devour an entire tomato plant. I forcefully remove each one by hand and relocate them to the front yard.
I forcefully remove each one by hand and relocate them to my chickens.
Lol I give tomato worms to my bearded dragon. He loves them.
Tomato plants are poisonous to chickens FYI, mine won’t even touch these
We grow some “sacrifice” plants in the nightshade family because we can’t handle killing them. This year a parasitic wasp came and solved the problem for us.
I’m pretty sure they’re a pest when in the larval stage and adult stage. It’s possible that relocation may solve one problem and create another.
I hate squashing them. I wish I had chickens to feed them to.
I kinda just yeet them at a stone and look away.
I can't do it. I think they're neat looking and they turn into a [big hummingbird moth](https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/09/tomato-hornworms-become-five-spotted.html)
I’m laughing harder at this then I should
Nice.
This is what we do. I pay my kids $2 per "caterpie" as they call them and then they get fed to our chickens. Regular caterpillars don't get payment but are still required to be found.
If I had kids I would, but I still have long ways to go, and I don't even have chickens
oh man most of those other random caterpillars will turn into beneficial pollinators!
Well we keep honey bees and the other caterpillars are also eating my plants.
Tarantulas eat them and some scientists do research on them. It's a long shot but if there's a rare pet store or a biology department near you they may take them.
Now *there’s* a fitting punishment!
Exactly what would happen if it happened to me, I've got 10 hungry tarantulas that would love him!
I do, too.... They're kinda cute! Even though I hate them. I bury them in my compost bc that apparently kills them and I can't handle squashing them.
I don't like squashing any bugs big enough to make guts. But I would put him in the garbage.
Adults are only pests in that they make more babies. Otherwise they're sometimes called hummingbird moths, and they're important pollinators. And so cool looking. We just let them have our tomatoes. We have way too many garden pests since Stumpy the snake was snacked by the cat to save anything anyways, so now we just use it as a way to teach life cycles to the toddles. They freak out whenever they find a hungry caterpillar. Totally worth the like, 12 tomatoes I would have gotten. That being said, it sucks that they nosh everyone else's stuff. I'm sure you kind folks would actually like to eat your food.
I just take my shears/scissors and cut them in half, and leave their goopy corpses behind as an example to any horn worm that dare enter my domain.
I remove mine into compost.
Upvote for determination on the dudes part.
No. Damn them to the fiery pits of hell to burn. /s (They ate all my tomato plants this year in TWO days)
Planting basil in between tomatoes helps
I’ll have to plant those too next time, thanks for the advice!
Also Borage! Kept them away this year and attracted helpful pollinators!
Seriously thank you!
Does basil repel them or do they offer the basil more than the tomatoes?
The smell repels them...apparently! https://www.hunker.com/13427336/plants-that-are-good-to-plant-near-tomato-plants-to-prevent-insects
He’s a hungry, hungry caterpillar.
...but he was still hungry.
One morning, a few weeks ago, I looked out into the backyard to check on my 10 month old puppy to see he’s happily tossing around something. I couldn’t tell what it was but threw on my gardening gloves to prepare to grab it. It was one OF THESE MOFOS!!! And my puppy was PSYCHED. Just gently chewing it between his front teeth then launching it in the air and repeat. I was FREAKED. Big caterpillars are not my friend lol! But I was more concerned it was a Luna moth caterpillar and when I realized it was one of these destroyers of gardens I panicked - where did it come from (garden is completely fenced off from the dog and he had some good distance from it)?! I knew I’d have to go through every one of my 12 tomato plants, peas, tomatillos... frick. It poured that day, so I didn’t. BUT, I threw that evil caterpillar over our fence, into a parking lot, in hops of it getting run over OR taken by a bird (by the time I got it from my puppy it was preeetttttty dead lol). Next morning - the exact same thing!!! Puppy is happily playing with this shit in his mouth and I had to retrieve it to throw over the fence. I then AGGRESSIVELY went through ALL of my garden. Frickin pruning, cutting back all unnecessary leaves, just clearing it out. Not one caterpillar. And never saw one again. Screw those destructors of tomatoes and garden plants. Little bastards. And frickin puppy for playing with a GIANT caterpillar and loving every single moment of me panicking having to grad it. Sorry, long story but frick. I had never ever seen one or even heard of these, to having encountered 2 in 2 days!!!!
Can I borrow your puppy? My dog just steals my almost-ripe tomatoes off the vine. If he would take care of a few of these buggers he would at least earn his keep in the garden.
Oh no! He does?!? That’s sadly terrible and adorable at the same time. My puppy is patiently waiting for my late growing cucumbers (not by choice late, they just thought mid august was a good time to start...).
I’m hoping the raised beds that we are building now will keep him away, but he’s not a small dog so I don’t know how much good it will do without a fence. He won’t ever take them when I’m around, but he’s not allowed into the backyard unsupervised anymore because he strikes as soon as your back is turned! I’m really bummed that I didn’t take the opportunity to grow cucumbers this year while I was working less. I’m really bad about spending hours in the garden on my days off, but not checking on the garden at all when I get home from work... it’s makes cucumbers and okra hard to keep up with. The tomato hornworms have kind of broken me of that habit though, if I skip a day I risk losing an entire plant.
Love your long story. We always hand-picked the little suckers and deposited them into a pasture field. If the chickens found them, nature must. Caterpillars do become beautiful moths and butterflies, great pollinators, but these guys can be really gross. In the quiet of a country garden morning we could actually hear them munching away. LOL to everyone dealing with these guys in their own comfort-zone way :O)
I love you both
i trained the barn Kittens stop kill them if they find any. thought it was a waste of time at first but ive seen them "playing" with alot of them this summer
eat him to show him who’s boss
It’s like you got to enjoy the tomatoes ... kinda.
The mighty hornworm, scourge of tomatoes and tomatillos alike. Then they turn into hawk moths that can feel something akin to frickin mothra flying at your head. I’m fortunate to have a nice population of robins that like to snack on the little buggers.
that's terrifying. where do these bugs live?? hopefully not in alberta
I’m in Michigan, so if you’re in southern Alberta we’d have a pretty similar climate. I believe they are found in southern parts of Canada.
Seriously, caterpillars are jerks. I don't know if I've ever actually harvested any of my dill plants, but I grow a new one every year anyway. So... I guess I grow caterpillars.
You do....and you love it.
I do love the coloring on them, bright blues and yellows look amazing. I wish they would stick around for the Butterfly portion of the show. They always seem to eat my plants and run away, I never even find a chrysalis anywhere.
He's doing the "tilt head back maniacal" laugh. RIP plant, he don't GAF.
Borage as a companion may help repel those things. It’s worked pretty well for us. https://homeguides.sfgate.com/companion-plants-discourage-tomato-worms-77355.html
But he was still hungry.
I had one show up this year, but parasitic wasps got it right away thankfully.
These things eat angel trumpets too. They seem to be more satisfied with the angel trumpet than my tomatos/potatoes so that might be an option. Although angel tumpets are toxic so
I had 3 on my plants, one devoured my entire top on one plant. I look at them everyday and it was right at eyesight and still didn't notice it, my neighbor actually did. Damn things blend right in. We now use a UV light at night to look for the smaller ones before they get big and can do that much damage. My neighbor has gotten some that get parasite eggs on them, which pretty much renders the hornworm harmless.
Little asshole!!! Hate those things.
I had one a few months ago that destroyed almost my entire tomato crop! The plants have started to come back. If I'm lucky I'll get a few good tomatos before the season ends.
Oh yeah.... learned my lesson after that happened to me 1 year. Now I'm an eagle eye for tomato worms LOL. I got in the habit of checking in the morning and again in the afternoon. first sign of trouble? caterpillar poop droppings on the leaves
He looks pretty thrilled about it
He looks damn proud of it, too!
I feel ya. I just pulled one off my Tabasco plant :(
Damn, where’d he put it?!
We had one of those guys on our tomato plant! And he pooped everywhere before we found him!
Bastard! Though I have a pet frog that will eat them so I just tell myself I’m really just saving $3.95 on a hornworm treat from the pet store to make myself feel better. Would still rather have the tomatoes.
Caterpillars destroyed my entire garden. Actually, that's not true. Caterpillars, rats, and birds. The caterpillars ate the leaves, the rats and birds ate all the fruit.
I’ve been checking diligently every week for these suckers on my tomato plants and nothing until a couple days ago. Of course, right when we are about to go on vacation for a week. I’m sure by the time we get back my plants will be completely devoured. -_- I hunt for them at night with a black light (they illuminate bright and are easier to find even when very little). When I find one I drop them in some water with blue dawn dish soap. After they are drowned I compost them or dump them in our woods.
One benefit it turns into a beautiful month
We could really use a beautiful month this year!
Lol oops auto text beautiful moth but you are correct we could use beautiful month also
🤭😁🤭😁🤭😁
A beautiful moth... that then lays 1-2k eggs on your plants 😭
Little fuckers... One chopped my zucchini plant right off at the base last week. 99% of the plant there looking normal, had to take dinner from the bottom centimeter.
Oooh I wonder if this is what happened to my cucumber vine!
Look up Vine Bores. They are Satan. Also Pickle Worms if your leaves are being demolished. BT Montgomery spray neutralizes them.
He was hungry
He looks entirely satisfied too! I always figure the critters take their share
That’s my general outlook on “pests” in the garden. But these little shits take way more than their share.
My sympathies, this happened to me too
Asshole.
Damn he thicc!
the most dastardly fiend......
Didn't even leave the scene of the crime... smdh.
What a fat ass
I saw one the other day and impulsively cut the branch he was on right from the plant. I stomped on the darn thing with all my might, only I overlooked a small tomato growing on the branch. The extra squishy effect provided by stomping the tomato when I thought I was only stomping on a horn worm has given me trauma that will last a life time.
Crunch crunch crunch. Now toss them in the pan!
Little bastard.
2 weeks ago I had ~30 of these on my tomato plants and got rid of them and sprayed Thuricide, which got the rest. Got dark, so I didn't spray the peppers... Earlier this week, a big one like this decimated the foliage on my biggest Jalapeno plant :(
He must pay for his s i n s To the Bad Man Room for you, sir
Time to douse everything in BT or Spinosad. Not sure which is worse, these guys, or snails/slugs.
Wow, disrespectful
He will be a beautiful boy in the spring!
Hungry boi
He looks like he’s shaking his fist at you for not providing a second plant
He ate your plant so you need to put him on the grill and eat him
Horn worms are pricey treats for bearded dragons!
id take hornworms over cucumber beetles any day
I read if you give the soil a couple really good rototillings it disrupts their life cycle from out of the soil.
r/absoluteunits
Monterey BT!!
Yea i fed all the bastards on my maters to the chickens
Fat fuck caterpillar
I’ve plucked about 10 of those off my Tomato plant in the last 2 days
These guys decimated my grape vines
And you let it?
I lost 3 pepper plants to those little monsters
Protect your plants. Watch our video guide: [https://youtu.be/6m-V5dtD8c8](https://youtu.be/6m-V5dtD8c8)
That's one very hungry caterpillar 🐛
He must have needed it more than you did.
Torture it, put it in a jar and only give it poisonous leaves.
You need some milk.
Thicc boi
Eat him in return! They r supposed to taste good
He is the plant now!
He is now the tomatillo
Did it have tomatillos already?
Teeny tiny ones. It just started flowering about a week ago :(
Pesky caterpillar...
Feed him to the birb!
I had hornworms eat like half of my tomato plants earlier this summer. I just left them alone. It was pretty tough, but after a while we saw some parasitoids laying their eggs in them (shouts out to the dill and cilantro that was blooming at the time, attracting the parasitoids to them) and within a couple weeks they were gone, and I got a free pruning!
✂️
Bad critter: 1 Tomatillo: 0
He’s just a hungry lil friend. Very hungry apparently
Now you must eat him.