Oh My!

[steelnut]

We've had a garden for years and growing up we always had a garden.

I love it, but last week I saw the most ugly, disgusting thing that really creeped me out, a tomato hornworm!

We've found four so far. We try and check every day, but when it rains a lot it's hard to get in there.

Has anyone else had these things? If so, did you just pick them off or did you use something to get rid of them. I really hate using any kind of chemicals, but these things give me the willies big time. Poor hubby has to pick them off. And I learned that if you look around the bottom of the plant, you can see little black dots - the poop, yuck! 

They've done some damage to two tomato plants so far.

 

Any advice is appreciated, Thanks!

[old3dogg]

At least its a hornworm and not a horndog.

[WMJ77]

blow torch...lol

[steelnut]

At least its a hornworm and not a horndog.

Well, I guess you're right....

[lavender]

Usually handpicking them is sufficient to keep them under control. Look for the white eggs on the leaves and destroy those too. They pupate and spend the winter in the soil so a fall plowing helps. If you have any member of the Solanacae family as weeds, like henbane, get rid of them.  They are susceptible to Bacilliuc thuringiensis if you want a non chemical control. I haven't seen one in years except for the one someone brought me in a jar. Ugly aren't they?

[steelnut]

Usually handpicking them is sufficient to keep them under control. Look for the white eggs on the leaves and destroy those too. They pupate and spend the winter in the soil so a fall plowing helps. If you have any member of the Solanacae family as weeds, like henbane, get rid of them.  They are susceptible to Bacilliuc thuringiensis if you want a non chemical control. I haven't seen one in years except for the one someone brought me in a jar. Ugly aren't they?

Thanks Lavender, and ugly doesn't even begin to describe them, so creepy!

[Bon]

Tomato Hornworm by National Gardening Association Editors

 

Tomato hornworms can grow as large as 5 inches long.

Found throughout the United States, these large, fat caterpillars feed voraciously on the leaves and fruits of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and potatoes. Adults are rather spectacular sphinx moths: grayish-brown with orange spots on the body and a 4- to 5-inch wing span. After overwintering in the soil in 2-inch brown spindle-shaped pupal cases, moths emerge in late spring to early summer to lay greenish-yellow eggs on the undersides of leaves. Caterpillars feed for about a month, then enter the soil to pupate. There is one generation per year in the North; two or more in the South.

Controls

Use Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) when caterpillars are small. Hand-pick and destroy large caterpillars. Don't worry -- caterpillars cannot sting with their ?horn.? If you find a caterpillar with what looks like grains of white rice attached to its body, do not remove it. The ?grains? are the pupae of a parasitic wasp that attacks hornworms. Leave the parasitized caterpillar in the garden so the pupae it carries can turn into more wasps to help control other hornworms.

[WMJ77]

what about hotsauce

[lavender]

They would probably be good with hot sauce if you dipped them in batter and deep fried them. 

[Petee]

Get familiar with your garden by doing a daily walk through.  Once you know how your plants are supposed to look when they're in good shape then you can spy a problem easily.  BT is the best organic way to deal with Tomato Hornworms.  It's a little hard to find locally because it doesn't have a long shelf life, so order a bottle late in the spring.  It'll not only kill the hornworms with a once a week application but lots of other bad bugs that you don't want in your garden. invest in some good bugs like native Lady Bugs or parasitic wasps.  Building a garden is a years long process of soil repair, much of which is caused by tilling and applications of chemicals..