Tomato Horn Worms
Tomato Hornworms are the larva of a huge moth called five-spotted hawkmoth. Approximate size of the moth is around the size of a hummingbird so you can’t miss them. The hawkmoth is gray-brown with yellow spots on the sides of their body.
Tomato Hornworm-(left) Colorado State University, Five-spotted hawkmoth (right)-Floridagardening.com
The hornworm caterpillars are pretty small at first and hard to see because of their pale green color, but they become huge – 3 1/2 to 4 inches (7-10cm) in 3-4 weeks. You can’t miss them then! They are green-brown colour with v-shaped markings on the body and unmistakable ‘horns’. Hornworm eggs are green and are laid on the underside of leaves.
Hornworm Pupa (cocoon), Hornworm Egg (right)-Colorado State University
Hornworm Lifecycle
The five-spotted hawkmoths lay their eggs as soon as they mate after hatching. They appear in late June to August. Full grown larva (3-4 weeks feeding) wander around the garden digging themselves in where they form a pupa (brown and about 3cm long) that overwinters and hatches in the spring.
Hornworm Damage-Floridagardening.com
Hornworm Damage
Tomato Hornworms feed on leaves and stems of tomato plants. Ocassionally they will also eat the fruits later in the summer months. They also feed on peppers, eggplant and potatoes. They can defoliate a plant in just a few days. There can be two generations of tomato hornworms every year. A bunch of them can spell disaster in your garden!
How To Control Tomato Hornworms
- Use a liquid Bt spray like Green Step™ Caterpillar Control
Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) does not harm animals, people or the environment. It paralyzes the horn worms and they die from starvation. Spray the top and bottom of the tomato plant leaves. Repeat every 5 to 7 days until you don’t see anymore worms. Bt is safe to use right up to the time of picking your tomatoes. - Another all-natural environmentally friendly pesticide that is safe for use around kids and pets is Plant Guardian™ Houseplant Insecticidal Soap
Spraying the undersides of the leaves with an insecticidal soap mixture kills the eggs at the first sign of seeing the moths. A hard spray of water will also help if your plants are strong enough. Wiping the eggs off with alcohol on a q-tip is also effective. - Introduce Parasitic Wasps into your garden
Parasitc Wasps (Braconid and Trichogramma) lay their eggs on the larva. If you see little white things on the worm don’t kill the worm, place it in a jar with a fresh leaf and keep feeding it until the wasps do their job. These are the cocoons of the wasp and their larva feed inside the host and will kill it. This guy below has just met his maker!
Hornworm with parasite eggs (left)-Joe Boggs, Braconid Wasp (right)-Perdue University - Hand Pick
Tomato Hornworms are so big you cannot miss these guys. If you don’t want to touch them I recommend cutting them in half with the kitchen scissors. In the fall when you turn your garden pick out any pupae (cocoons) you might find and destroy them. - Companion Planting
Plant marigolds as a deterrent around or between your tomatoes. Marigolds stink to a lot of different bugs and they avoid them.
August 14th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Holy crap! Batman. I just pealed one of these pests, that was the size of a small dog, off my (what use to be a tomato plant)
I did find out that they cannot swim in a coffee can of water. (gasoline works quicker)
This site said there COULD be 2 generations per year, but I think I am working on the 5th generation!
I just gave 2 of them a “viking funeral” BUT I know, I will see lots more before the summer is over!
August 14th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Thirty some years ago I found one of these creatures…didn’t know what it was, but decided to put it in a jar to show my young daughters. I sat it on the fireplace mantel and overnight the thing had spun a cocoon and stuck to the side of the jar. It stayed in that stage for a very long time (I can’t remember exactly how long) but the strange thing was, you could sit across the room and hear it vibrating inside that jar. I couldn’t figure out what I was hearing, but when I put my ear to the jar it was very clear. Then one morning I checked the jar, and it had turned into this huge (what I thought to be a butterfly) moth. It was so big, it’s wings wrapped around the sides of the jar. My daughters and I took it outside and released it. It was quite an interesting experience. I found many, many of these pests on my tomatoe and pepper plants just the other day. Luckily my plants were about done producing anyway, so I thought I would try the experiment again, this time to hopefully show my granddaughter…hope it works! lol
August 13th, 2010 at 11:58 am
I have just found two of these on my tomato plants. I’ve never had them in the eight years I’ve been here, but used to see them all the time as a kid. Fortunately, or unfortunately (not certain how I feel about this yet), nature has already taken care of both of them for me. They cling to the plants still, but their eating days are about over since the parasitic wasp has laid eggs all over them. In fact that’s how I saw them first – the white eggs caught my eye. Nothing left to do but take some good close-ups to show my science class when we cover symbiosis and parasitism!
August 12th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
No, these creatures are not a blessing to many. I agree that people should be able to eat the food they grow without having to deal with these worms. I had five of these in a cage and fed them daily and they still died. I wanted to see the growing process. To get rid of them just try what other people say but don’t torture them.
I grow milkweed to get Monarch butterflies. I have fifty caterpillars in my cages and raise them for release. We all see things differently.
August 11th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
I understand all of the sentiments from the humane nature lovers, but I somehow don’t think these worms were meant to be a blessing. I’m sure farmers who grow our food don’t think so either. One day,I had a perfectly healthy group of four cherry tomato plants, and the next thing I know, this huge invasion of big worms had turn them int tomato whips! My questions is…how do you kill them? I’m ticked off, and I’m not amused.
August 11th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I don’t use store bought items to kill the worms, but just use a little baby oil mixed with water in a spray bottle, shake well, and spray the plants, most under the leaves, it sound crazy but it works
August 10th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
I cannot believe some of the cruelty shown here. You should be ashamed of yourselves…putting them in the sun in a jar??? You are cruel. And the guy who lets his kid torture them…Oh good for you….showing your children how to show mercy. You are a JA!!!!
August 10th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
I have two of these things and they are HUGE! We tried beingg sweet and gently pulling them off the limg but it’s like they have a death grip! WTHeck!!! We clipped the limbs they were on and moved them 30 feet or so away but 2 days later….they were back! Now I’ve cut two more small limbs and had the kids put them around the backside of the house, hopefully they stay away. I wouldnt care if they only ate the leaves but the little boogers are eating my unripe fruit.
August 7th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
i was picking beans and it fell from the plant.
August 7th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
i found one that was 5 inches long! my garden was just begining to suffer- especially since i had peppers right next to my tomatoes. but we also had a “campfire” that night if you know what i mean.
August 4th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
There are many who hate these creatures and there are those of us who are curious to see them turn into a moth and take their first flight. I raise butterflies, feed birds, squirrels, and any creature that comes my way. I have tomato plants and will share them with any animal that needs to eat. I will not ever abuse any creature. So, when you people eliminate these hornworms just don’t torture them like I’ve heard some of you do. Don’t allow your children to torture them either or their next step might be a family pet. Compassion,and empathy, is important to teach children. God created every pest on the earth for a reason. It’s not up to us to just destroy what we find unappealing. End of sermon.
August 4th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
I too have picked so far 14 of these gross tomato worms!
We have taken them to the woods but today I was so angry to see more
that I cut them in half, yuck!
What can you do in the Spring to prevent them from coming back?
July 31st, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Once I was able to spot the first of these eating machines I was able to see 8 more on my 3 containter grown tomato plants. I saw the poop but did not know what I was looking at until two days later when the top half of a 6 foot plant in a container on my porch was competely eaten down to stems.
I picked them off with a pair of kitchen tongs and gave them the royal flush. They made a kind of buzzing sound when I was removing them.
July 31st, 2010 at 4:05 am
Last year we lost “all” our tomato”s and plants to the horned catapillar. With respect to life…we did not kill them but picked them and released them out back to become the lovely Hummingbird Moth that they are. This year we have abundance of tomato’s and not one catapillar!! They did not return this year! This year we have mice eating our beans and destroying our beet crop!! Always something when you garden!!
July 30th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Yesterday I lost two hornworms in my house. One was found later. After reading info about them I placed the runaway in a flowerpot with soil and he immediately dug into the soil and disappeared. The reason they wanted out of the cages was because they were ready to go into the next stage of their life. Now, if I only could find the other one!
July 29th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
I was able to catch 24 of these devils in my 50′ x 20′ tomatoe garden. Some of them were microwaved by my son, they exode at 65 seconds on high ower. The remainder he droed over a huge black any hole and they were taken below by the ants. Both methods worked quite well in doing away with the pests.
July 29th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Hi! I have worms too! On my tomatoes, that is =). I like the tomatoes more than the worms, as I started them from seeds indoors and have nurtured them for months! I had no idea what was stripping the leaves from my plants and who was taking bites out of my unripened fruit… well, now I do! I have only found one of these buggers, but I am going home to look for more now that I know they are hard to spot. The horn wasn’t hard, though. Everyone seems to say theirs had a hard horn. It looks hard but if you push on it, it ism ore like rubber. Like it is supposed to look scary, but totally isn’t. Guess it has kept some of you away haha! This was a great read. keep up the awesome site and hornworm stories!
July 29th, 2010 at 6:47 am
Had two of these large caterpillars and I was feeding them in separate cages. This morning they had escaped and are somewhere in the house. Just did a search and cannot find them so far. How long does it take for them to pupate? Will them just hang somewhere or will them just pupate on any flat surface?
I raise monarchs and wanted to watch them turn just this once to see their life-cycle. Now, …. Any help will be gratefully received. Thanks.
July 29th, 2010 at 1:14 am
Well.. I decided to keep the largest worm I found last week. I have been feeding it my neighbors last tomato plant, when I noticed today that the worm has gotten stiff and has shrunk in size. Does anyone know how to properly tend to this worm? It had 6 babies last week, but it ate them all..Is this worm going into a different stage in its life, or is it just sick of eating tomato plant leaves?
July 28th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
well, i’m now a proud owner of these monsters!!!!! have to say i’m still pretty grossed out!!! where did the come from? and what do i spray with??
July 28th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Isaw a couple of these worms on my tomatoes and picked them off. Today, I found three of them on one plant, all close together, and all covered with the white wasp eggs. THANK YOU wasps, enjoy your meal!
July 28th, 2010 at 7:10 am
Good Morning, Yesterday I found 3 worms on my tomato plant; one very large and two smaller. I did not kill them because I knew about the wasp larvae. This a.m. I went out to take a photo to
show my grandchldren and they are gone. Where the heck did they go? I will check again later when the sun comes out, but in the meantime they have done a vanishing act. Thanks.
July 26th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
We have two of these monsters–one is very big. They came out of our neighbor’s garden and we would like to keep them until they metamorphosize next spring. I know they are destructive but they are very beautiful and these 2 have brought lots of fun to our kids.
July 26th, 2010 at 10:31 am
I find these giant worms totaly disgusting! Just found 13 of them eating away at my wonderful looking tomato plants – which are now not so wonderful. I could not kill them fast enough! They destroy everything! Eat them – OMG! I would rather starve!
July 25th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
I am so pumped I found one of these buggers on a volunteer plant and he is huge! I am so going to watch this critter transform! Beth
July 25th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
I have used in the past to rid of these creatures with a mixture of lemon juice (two to three table spoons) and black pepper in a spray bottle with a cup to two cups of water. My neighber uses white vinegar with a mixture of water
July 22nd, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Any ideas on raising the tomato worm pupa? My daughter has recently “adopted” a tomato worm catapillar & we would like to raise it…
July 21st, 2010 at 4:28 pm
These guys usually lay dormant during the day on an underside of the leaves and start feeding when it cools down, usually at night. You can also locate them by their large droppings that resemble little hand grenades.
And Matt! You’re pullin’ our ‘horns!’
July 19th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
I was just out watering my neighbors tomato plant, and noticed that almost all the leaves had been eaten off.. I found two of these evil looking worms feasting..Just yesterday the plant looked great! These monsters can sure eat!! They met their demise by a stick..RIP little green worms.
July 19th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I accidentially dropped one of these HUGE critters on a charcoal gril after I had grilled spareribs. when I went to put the grill away that night, I saw this golden brown morsel and thought it was a hunk of pork fat and ate it!
I was totally amazed!. It did have a pork fat flavor and crunch, BUT it was also sweet to the pallet and had no offending aftertaste. Now I make it a habit to toss several of these tasty morsels on the grill and enjoy them at least 3 times a week!.
Just be sure to nip off the sharp horn at the behind end, since they could catch in your throat.
Just think, I use to stomp these delicious beauties into the ground because they ate all my tomatoes. I guess I am the bigger villian here since I eat them! HA HA!
July 18th, 2010 at 8:51 am
My husband and I hand picked 6 of these luscious worms off of our tabasco pepper plant. We now have them in a cricket cage. We are feeding them plenty of pepper plant leaves to keep them juicy enough for our bass fishing adventure this afternoon.
July 16th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
They have eaten over 1/2 of the leaves off of two huge, healthy tomato plants in less than a few days while I was out of town. I pulled over 25 worms off in just about an hour. Ugh!
July 15th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
My Chickens just love these. Also the little green worms from the cabbage.
July 13th, 2010 at 8:03 am
We will raise our tomato horn worms: we will await their spring metamorphosis as they are beautiful moths. Please, no chemicals!! We have enough tomato leaves to share with them to raise them off of the plants.
July 10th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Plant any plant that has thorns (not roses) next to the tomato also…I guess worms hate thorns since they get stabbed. I caught one green worm this year..it was big …I killed it..it was on a tomato plant..it crawled up on it..that had no thorny plant next to the right of it..I guess the worm noticed..these thorny plants grew up wild in my tomato garden and have tiny white flowers..hope it helps..seems to keep my tomatoes from being eaten..so far…!! Plus I have been watching out for the big worms..as soon as I’ll see another one..he is gone..!!
July 10th, 2010 at 7:15 am
I just found 3 huge ones on my extra tobacco plants. The plants were on top of a glass table so I didn’t think anything would be able to get to them. Nothing else has. The first thing I noticed was the devoured plants. Then I saw the poop(it’s larger then rabbit poop). Then I looked at a leaf I had already looked at and saw it for what it really was. They’re really hard to detect before the damage is done. I hope they don’t get addicted to tobacco as I’m the only one that grows it around here. I’d hate to kill them because my son has a love for watching catapillars change. These are the biggest he’s seen yet. But I’m horrified at what next year might be like.
July 8th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
I have a lil brown pupa I didn’t want to kill him/her so I stuck him in a butterfly cage with a pepper plant … I was reading the over wintering part … so I should bring him home a find a safe place for him ??? Do you know if I can keep him and see the whole process… Any tips ??? any one
July 2nd, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Two comments…
at night… the moths are mostly nocturnal and come out mostly in the evening and at night – as is the habit of most moths.
Moth vs butterfly… they are moths… see this website for details
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html
check out the photos of the beautiful adults…
in a google search i even found businesses selling “hornworms” as food for lizards and snakes… lol
July 1st, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Does anyone know why the hornworm glows in a black light? I know scorpions glow in blacklight, but they have a hard shell. The worm is soft.
I can’t wait until dark tonight to test this. I hate these worms and have ever since I was a little kid and didn’t even know they ate tomato plants!
July 1st, 2010 at 10:20 am
I have a double blossom angel trumpet plant. as to date I have taken 7 worms off of it, I also hsve tomatos that they do not touch.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
but how will you get those beautiful moths if you kill all those incredible worms. the moths really are worth sacrificing a couple tomatoe plants for… just plant lots next year and leave some for the worms/moths… the moths are nocturnal and do sound like hummingbirds… they are so noisy and neat…
June 30th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Only come out at night? No. They are always out there eating and look like a curled up leaf.
June 29th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
I have the horned tomatoe worms in my tomatoe gardens also, but I do not destroy them because they turn into a beautiful hummingbird sized moth (possibly in the butterfly family also, because they fly during the day as well as the night).
I place them in a aquariam with some tomatoe leaves I harvest from my garden along with some squash leaves, eggplant leaves and the eggplant, grass, potato leaves and cellery with dirt at the bottom.
My children and I watch them and come Fall, they become a pupa for its Spring emerging as a beautiful flying dancer of air.
I am an environment writer and wish to preserve these moths, aka possible large butterfly, wich by the way, helps in keeping the Spring flora pollinated that we have around our yards.
There not all that bad. We just need to understand them and pluck them from our gardens and relocate them.
Love your pictures and like the environmental pesticide angle you put in this blog.
June 28th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
I have been told that tomato worms come out ONLY at night. Could this be true?
June 24th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
I hate these damn worms they eat my tomato plants every year ! Just started showing up this year I like putting them in glass container in the sun GOOD FOR THEM !!!
June 24th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
I use dipple dust on my tomatoes its a natural bacteria that kills worms of all kinds get it at your local ace hardware if they don’t carry it ask if they v=can order some great preventative and cure
June 18th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
My Husband and I were looking at my tomato patch and noticed the top of one of my plant was gone completely. I then found a huge tomato worm i didn’t have a clue what it was till I called my Mother. Since then we have found 5 or 6 more this is my first garden and I refuse to lose it to then nasty things. i am going to try the ivory soap and water spray and I hope it gets rid of them i am trying not to use any chemicals on my plant sif I don’t have to.
June 17th, 2010 at 9:01 am
We picked two off our tomato plants and put them in my little sister’s butterfly cage to metamorphasize. Does anyone know what they eat? Other than tomato plants, that is…
May 8th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Just saw a pupa on the ground and knew it had to be this bugger. Excellent descriptions and photos. Used BP last year for first time and it worked very well.
April 19th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
hornworms can be easily detected at night with a black light,as they glow.hand pick and destroy by foot or chemical bath.