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 2nd, 2005 at 3:43 pm
I was told to sprinkle flour on the tomato plants when we first see the hornworms, they will ingest and die..is this true and will the flour harm the new flowers on the plant?
Tham\nk you Ida Vacca
August 2nd, 2005 at 5:43 pm
I have heard that this works, however I have never tried it. It can’t hurt to try, but Just dust it lightly so you don’t block the breathing pores of the plant. If it works, let us know
Regards
Cahri
August 18th, 2005 at 8:19 pm
I have a question, Are tomato horn worms poisonous? My son wants to keep one but I know nothing about them.
August 18th, 2005 at 8:51 pm
No, tomato horn worms are not poisonous, if he wants to keep it, that would be fine. Just don’t let him near your precious tomatoes. He can feed them leaves and that will be fine. He has just made himself a science project
Regards
Cahri
August 22nd, 2005 at 9:59 pm
My child just collected six tomato worms and would like to keep them as pets. What can i feed them? I don’t want to keep giving them my tomato plants or leaves.
Thanks,
August 23rd, 2005 at 9:14 am
Tomato leaves would be fine. He could plant his own tomato and keep it in a glass container with a screen lid. That way he could observe the lifecycle of them. It will be interesting for him. Have fun!
Regards
Cahri
August 30th, 2005 at 2:19 pm
Hi!
My daughter wants to keep one and were wondering if it needs water or does it get it’s water from the leaves and stems of the tomato plant?
August 30th, 2005 at 10:23 pm
Good question, however I have no idea. Your daughter could mist the leaves every few days just to make sure. It is quite possible they get their moisture from the leaves. Good science project for her
Regards
Cahri
September 2nd, 2005 at 12:59 pm
I have a tomato worm that has white spots on it. Are they safe? Do I need to take them off?
Thanks,
Connor
September 2nd, 2005 at 3:49 pm
Don’t take them off, they are eggs (see above). They, when hatched, will eat the hornworms so you definately have a friend in your garden. Congratulations!
Regards
Cahri
September 3rd, 2005 at 6:45 am
my kids have caught a tomatoe worm and they want to know if it will turn into a butter fly or something…
September 3rd, 2005 at 8:10 am
No they turn into hawkmoths….pictured above.
Regards
Cahri
September 3rd, 2005 at 12:42 pm
This is probebly a silly question. My son found a tomato worm in our lawn and wants to keep it. Funny thing is we have no tomatos. What can I feed the thing?
September 4th, 2005 at 9:55 am
Melissa, I don’t think that is a hornworm. Sounds more like a caterpiller that will become a butterfly.
Regards
Cahri
September 4th, 2005 at 3:13 pm
My son found a hornworm and there was infested with wasp eggs and he took them all off is there any chance it will survive?
September 4th, 2005 at 4:22 pm
Depends on how far along the larvae were. I’d say probably not.
Regards
Cahri
September 8th, 2005 at 1:54 pm
my kids just tried this year to keep tomato worms as pets but found that they need soil to dig into once they get old enough so please if you keep them as pets or a science project for you kids put them in thier container with a few inches of soil, also for water you can put a large bottle cao with water and a cotton ball in it, like for crickets.
September 12th, 2005 at 12:38 pm
For the first time in the 25 years that I have been gardening I have tomato worms. Your site was so enlightening thank you. We thought the white eggs were babies of the warm and have been killing them. Boy did we do wrong.
Thanks for educating a city girl
September 12th, 2005 at 3:37 pm
You’re very welcome. thank you
Regards
Cahri
September 13th, 2005 at 2:29 pm
Thanks for all the info….we raise tomatoes to sell and are those tomatoeworns doing a job on our plants…..itis frighting to take them off the plants they are so big and wiggle when you pullon them….but they have to go!!!!or the plants will be gone!!! thanks again
September 13th, 2005 at 5:24 pm
No problem.
You could try chop sticks LOL
Regards
Cahri
September 15th, 2005 at 4:23 pm
i just found ten tomato horn worms wat shouls i keep them in and will they only eat tomato’s and tomato leaves. also there is a huge one and a tiny one ……..do u know if the big one will eat the little one. thanks!
September 15th, 2005 at 4:37 pm
i have these green worms in my garden, they are about 1-2 inches long and are as thick as a thumb. but we have found about eight of them, some are dead and others are trying to get into the house, we have found two on the porch.
they have a horn on the back end and the face is white with what look like to clippers or snappers.
what the heck are they and how do we get rid of them. will they hurt the grass.
September 15th, 2005 at 5:23 pm
Keep them if you want, they don’t eat each other but they will eat any and all tomato plants. If you love your tomatoes, get rid of them.
Regards
Cahri
September 15th, 2005 at 5:30 pm
May
I have never seen them try to get into homes, are you sure this is not a butterfly caterpillar?
Regards
Cahri
September 17th, 2005 at 7:30 pm
Reptile owners pay big bucks for these guys to feed to their insect eating herps. Only bad part I understand is that the tomatos are very bad for the reptiles, so the worms must be fed something else before feeding to the reptiles. Offer them to your friends with lizards! You may make a few dollars!
September 17th, 2005 at 8:05 pm
There are also other types of hormworms, like the tobacco hornworm. Each is specific to the type of plant they eat. As far as I know they will eat a multitude of veggie leaves, potatoes I’m not sure of.
Regards
Cahri
September 19th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
I found 6 tomato hornworms on our serrano chili pepper plant! They wouldn’t eat tomato or melon seedlings, but they would eat cilantro (aka, chinese parsley).
These worms are about 2 1/2 inches long. Any idea how long they take to pupate? I’m still searching the web.
September 20th, 2005 at 7:15 pm
This sounds more like a parsleyworm…..they are also big and look sorta like hornworms. If so, it will pupate on the stems and not on the ground like hornworms do.
Regards
Cahri
September 27th, 2005 at 9:21 pm
Thank you for your wonderful advice. We have plier picked 20 worms from 6 tomato plants and one pepper plant. I was surprised to hear of so many cases. Misery loves company!! I am happy to say we are the proud owners of two worms with wasp eggs!! This should be interesting!
May 26th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
Hi Everyone,
Here is it May 26, 2006 and there are alredy signs of the worms (worm droppings) on my plants. I have only found somthing that looks like a small inch worm. Is this a young “tomato worm”? What can I do to prevent them from infesting my plants other than spraying pesticide? I’d rather keep my garden as organic as I can.
Thanks!
June 1st, 2006 at 7:14 pm
okay my daughter is keeping a tomato hornworm and wants to know will it die without any water or is it okay.
June 6th, 2006 at 6:10 am
My granddaughter is fascinated with the tomato worm and plays with them everyday. Is there any danger in playing with the worms. Do they carry any diseases or cause any skin reactions in humans.
June 6th, 2006 at 6:22 am
How long do tomato worms live?
July 4th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
we planted out first garden and it was doing pretty well besides the grass growing up around it . We were gone for a few days and came home to find the leaves off most of our tomato and pepper plants because of these tomatoworms. They were huge. Several of the vegetables were ruined too. We killed a bunch of them but I am wondering if the plants will come back and how to get rid of future worms? I have sprayed with garden bug control substance but is that enough.
July 4th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
I have just sprayed our tomato plants with Dawn dish soap with bleach.
Will that harm my tomato plants? I have been killing many tomato hornworms from my garden of tomato plants. Interestingly, I sprayed the plants this morning and no signs of the worms now in the evening of the day….would like your comments..
br
July 16th, 2006 at 12:18 am
Howdy! I just pulled two 3 inch horn worms off my maters today! Holy moly, they had already eaten an entire branch worth of leaves! I got lucky and started looking right at dusk, and I guess that’s when they come out from inside the plant and are easier to find.
BUT! I did alot of looking on-line and found that a guy tried using a black light to find them at night.
Well dam he’s right! Just like scorpians they glow bright green under ultra-violet light. You want to get all yer worms off yer plants?
I bought an 18 inch neon light style lamp, and a 100 ft extension cord. It used it at 1am, and found that while my other tamotos were horn free, my banana pepper plant had a small one munching on the underside of one leaf.
Thanks for the site, and thanks for the info. I’m going to keep a few worms in an aquarium turned sideways with a screen top, thats now a screen sdie. I’m going to use the cuttings from my plants to feed him. One question:
Should I put the cage out in my car hole during winter so the ground/worm can freeze? Or will it be okay in a cool dark place in my basement?
July 16th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
I found a huge worm on my Virginia Creeper yesterday which looks just like a tomatoe worm, but is brown and it’s diagonal stripes are white…It lacks the “horn”, but has one eye in the middle of it’s head! My Va Creeper is looking sickly, but don’t know if it’s the worm or high heat we’ve had this week. No one I’ve shown it to has ever seen anything like it and I’ve been unable to find a picture on the net. I want to save my creeper! Any ideas?!
July 21st, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Will soap work after worms have hatched to eliminate them? And, do you have a picture of the larve in the soil?
July 23rd, 2006 at 12:39 pm
thank-you for your site.i enjoyed.
July 26th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Hi – I could not see where my comment was accepted so am redoing. Found some tomatoe worms with the white larve which we removed but came in to find out what it might be and found your GREAT site. Because of the damage the tomatoe worm can do in such a short period of time can you tell me how long it takes the wasp larve to kill the tomatoe worm? Thank you.
July 26th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Not very long
July 26th, 2006 at 7:37 pm
Thank you.
July 30th, 2006 at 10:48 am
We just found some tomato worms on our tomato plant that we planted and is hanging on our porch. We destroyed 2 so far. But I have a question. There seems to be like bumps all over the stem of the plant, are these eggs?
How can we get rid of these critters?
August 1st, 2006 at 10:22 am
I have heard that horn worms bite. Is this true? Thanks
August 3rd, 2006 at 6:35 am
I have the same problem as Joanne with the hanging tomato plant. The stem is quite knarled and I have pulled 9 tomato worms off of this one plant, which is on my 2nd floor deck, in the past 2 days. Where do these creatures come from?
Interestingly enough, none of the plants in my garden (new plot this year) have these beasts.
August 3rd, 2006 at 2:43 pm
I just read about cutworms and they suggested putting a plastic tube around the base of the plant after planting to avoid them from crawling up the plant in the early stages… or pouring molasses on the base of the plant so they can’t crawl up (replenishing after the rain). Do you think this would work with the tomato worm?
August 3rd, 2006 at 7:37 pm
I just read about the wasp larvae that adhere to the hornworms. Just this morning our son called to say that his tomato plants are infestsed with them and he found one with small white ‘eggs’ (?) on it. He said they were probably the worm’s eggs. I agreed. Boy, was I wrong. I’ll call him in the morning to let him know he should not kill these that have larvae on them! Thank you so much for a terrific web site.
Donna from Candia, NH
August 6th, 2006 at 11:07 am
Hi can I feed the tomato worms to my chickens? They go nuts for them. Nust be a delicasy for them. Will the worms hurt them or affect the eggs?
August 6th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
Hi Cahri,
We found a few of them on our half-dead tomato plants. One was dead but another, bigger one was thriving so I decided to keep him and watch his growth cycle. My mom is grossed out by him but I think all animals, especially bugs, are fascinating. I’ve hand raised caterpillers, mostly the black fuzzy ones found everywhere, so do enjoy having them around.
I named him Henry and he’s about four inches long. After I made a new home for him out of spacious tupperware and mesh netting, I lined it with fresh tomato plant leaves and spritzed some water on them to add moisture. For the first day, Henry was pretty happy with munching away on the leaves. I later discovered his smaller (only about two centimeteres) cousin living in their by accident. I must have picked him up without knowing it.
Two questions:
1. Huebert (the smaller of the two) is so small that I didn’t think he was the same species. Up close he has the same features as Henry but he’s so small by comparison…Is he some sort of imitation species? Should I separate the two of them?
2. Henry has been fussy the last few hours. I put in fresh leaves and made sure he was comfortable but he’s moving a lot (whereas normally he’s remain comletely still) and acting agitated. I know he’s just a bug but I was wondering if this is a pre metomorphosis type of behaviour.
Thanks for your time…:)
August 9th, 2006 at 6:40 am
what causes these worms to attack your tomato plants? we planted them with soil from our compose could the compose be infected as well.
please reply thank you.
August 11th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
how long do the moths live for and what do they eat?
August 11th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
I found a tamato worm in my tomato garden and kept it in a jar. It turned into a cacun. And now in Augest it is hatching, and has been trying to get out for 4 hours now is that normal?
August 12th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
my tomato worm is turning into a cocoon right now, so I need to know what they eat when they’re moths. unless they don’t eat anything. then I need to know how long they live.
August 15th, 2006 at 3:40 pm
I really liked your web site on the Horn worm, I t was very helpful, thank you very much.
August 19th, 2006 at 7:06 am
I was just watering our tomato plants, we have two on our deck. They haven’t looked very good lately. Now I know why. We picked 8 worms off one of our tomato plants. Will we find more? In other words, maybe some more will appear? I won’t go near them now. My husband has to pick what’s left of our “crop” lol. They just sceeve me out.
The kids were wondering what kind of critter they turn into so I went online and found your site. Thank you. Very helpful. The kids don’t want to kill them. They released them in the woods. I hope some other critter will “pig out” on them. They are quite large.
Sue
August 20th, 2006 at 9:03 am
thank you for your web site.its been very helpful and enjoyful reading.bugs r truely amazing critters.bill
August 21st, 2006 at 6:01 pm
thanks for the great website. My girls have caught one and we have it in a bug aquarium. Word of advice put a few inches of soil in the bottom as when they are ready to pupate they bury themselves deep into the soil to do so and to over winter.
August 22nd, 2006 at 8:55 pm
The black light works beautifully. If you love your tomato plants invest in the light and an extension cord. I have pulled 18 of the horn worms off of my plants this year (one of them four inches long and about as big around as a good Havana cigar). I just go out after dark with the light and they glow a light flourescent green. With the light you can find them when they are an inch, or less, long. It’s a lot easier to squish them at night too. You can’t see what you are doing.
August 24th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
We live in Arizona and found two in our garage this morning! Have no idea how they got there. There’s not a garden in sight, no one in our neighborhood that we know of has a garden. It’s too hot here to grow tomatoes as far as I know. They look just like the pictures on-line, horn and all! Is it common for them to linger in areas there are no tomatoes?
August 27th, 2006 at 7:26 am
My brother caught a tomato worm yesterday. he picked it up and it just sat there.
August 27th, 2006 at 7:34 am
someone on this list said that tomato worms burry themselves in the soil when they turn into a cacoon is this true?
August 27th, 2006 at 7:38 am
what plant did you find it on? that plant is what it eats
August 27th, 2006 at 7:40 am
yes only when the eggs hatch will the worm die. the wasp larva would have eaten the worm alive.
August 29th, 2006 at 9:20 am
just a litle tid bit for those of you out their who have “interesting children”
the juice/guts of Tomato Horn Worms is very hard to get off of clothing (especially white) so if you see your child squishing them with rocks , thier hands , bike tires etc…. let them know that maybe it’s not a good idea or that play clothes would be a more suitable attire
August 29th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
I found a worm/caterpillar thats been eating my pepper plant and looks like the picture on top.. can it happen to be a tomato worm?
August 29th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
what will happen if u get stung by the tomato worm’s horn? are they posionous?
August 29th, 2006 at 5:07 pm
I’v caught one but i dont wanna make my dad mad by picking the tomato or pepper leaves off his garden.. what els should i feed it?
September 4th, 2006 at 3:40 pm
It will turn into a moth like hummingbird they may look like a humming bird but they are not.
September 7th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
We have about a half doz. in a bug container and they have all cocooned and are buried in soil. They are gross. The cocoons wiggle around. We have prob found 30 pon our plants in the last few weeks that we have killed. Am going to try the black light thing tonight.
September 7th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
We have about a half doz. in a bug container and they have all cocooned and are buried in soil. They are gross. The cocoons wiggle around. We have prob found 20-30 on our plants in the last few weeks that we have killed. Am going to try the black light thing tonight.
September 18th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
My 4 year old found a hornworm and it is his new best friend. I am trying to keep this thing alive but am having trouble coming across a small tomato plant we can keep. It is the end of the season and no one has one. Is there anything else I can set up to keep it till it becomes a moth.
September 21st, 2006 at 1:06 am
I was so glad to find this site! Finally, something about these ugly little wormies.
I plucked three out of my garden last, and I’m sure there are more.. I don’t want to kill them, I want to raise them! Is there a way to lure the buggers out?
I’m a reptile owner, and I hear these worms are just as nutritious as silkies (when raised on silkworm chow), but they’re hellova lot easier to care for. I fed them for the week, then today, moved them from the old container to one with 4 inches of soil, and they’ve burrowed under already.
When will they pupate? Should I leave them in the dirt, or can I carefully dig ‘em up and move them into a new container after they’ve completely cocooned? When will they hatch out? I read somewhere that the only way to sex them is by looking at the pupa– Is there an easier way? How many weeks should it take? Should I chill them, or warm them to duplicate seasons? Are all my questions driving you mad yet? Heehee, I think that’s all of them..
September 22nd, 2006 at 10:23 pm
hey i know this is pronlably not a horn worm but my son got bit by this black thing with 2 lobster like claws and a stinger on its tail what should ido ? are they harmfull to my kids
September 23rd, 2006 at 5:52 pm
I want to keep this Tomato Hornworm but it has a wasp egg on it. Can I take it of? or will the horn worm die.
February 7th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Where can i buy one of these hornworms???
March 29th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
A friend of mine was working in his garden when he found over a dozen pupate tomato horn moths. He was kind enough to bring one to me in a jar with a good four inches of dirt as a present.
Just today I noticed that his tail end is now protruding from the earth and I am almost 100% sure the moth did this himself (.01% of me wonders if my little sister some how got a hold of the jar and shock it around)
I am looking up information on the habits of these creatures, and I was wondering if anyone here could confirm this is indeed meaning the moth is ready to emerge
Also, could the warmer climate of the jar in my room trick the creature into thinking it is later in the spring, I would hate for him to come out to early
Thank you so much!
Asrai
April 29th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
go to the following site and see if this the thing that your son got stung by http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=scorpion&gbv=2
April 29th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
This information may be helpful for those who are interested
Utah State University Fact Sheet No. 74 November 1999
TOMATO AND TOBACCO
HORNWORMS
These closely related species are similar in appearance, life cycle, host plants, and damage. The tomato hornworm is widely distributed in Utah while the tobacco hornworm is found in Washington County with a possible distribution in the Salt Lake area. The caterpillars can be quite harmful on cultivated host plants while the adults are harmless or beneficial as pollinators. Both species occur throughout most of the United States, often in the same garden. The adult tomato hornworm is known as the five-spotted hawk moth while the tobacco hornworm is called the Carolina Sphinx.
Description and Habits
The adults are large moths, predominately gray or gray-brown with lighter markings. They are commonly referred to as sphinx, hawk, or hummingbird moths. The wingspread of these impressive insects may reach five inches. They emerge from overwintered pupae in the soil in late spring or early summer. The moths are commonly seen at dusk, hovering hummingbird-like over beds of petunias and other flowers with long corollas. Nectar is extracted through their long, coiled, tube-like mouthparts. The hairy, robust abdomen of the tomato hornworm has five yellow spots on each side of the abdomen while tobacco hornworm moths have six. The tomato hornworm moth has two distinct, narrow, dark, zigzag, diagonal lines running across the center of the hindwings. These fine lines are obscured and fused into a single, dark, indistinct stripe in the tobacco hornworm (Carolina Sphinx).
The spherical greenish-yellow eggs are deposited singly on the undersides of host plant leaves. The eggs hatch in approximately one week and larvae begin feeding on foliage. Larvae feed for 3-4 weeks, molt five times, and may reach four inches in length and 1/2 inch in width when full grown. Both species are green with a distinct “horn” on the top of the tail end. The sides of the tomato hornworm are marked with a series of white marks resembling a “v” laying on it’s side and pointing toward the head. The white marks on the sides of the tobacco hornworm form a series of seven diagonal lines. The tip of the tomato hornworm’s horn is black while that of the tobacco hornworm’s is red. Full grown larvae burrow 3-4 inches into the soil and form dark brown, two inch long pupae. A sheath for the mouthparts projects from the head of the pupa and curves downward, resembling the handle of a pitcher. There is one generation per year in northern areas. Larvae consume large amounts of foliage on peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, and related solanaceous weeds. Loss of foliage decreases production and increases the amount of sunburned fruit.
Control
If only a few plants are involved, larvae can be removed by hand. Often the characteristic droppings or fecal pellets can be seen before the caterpillar is located. Plants can be protected with common garden insecticidal sprays and dusts registered for the host plants. Various formulations of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) kurstaki strain can be used as a safe biological pesticide. Bt is most effective on the smaller (younger) larval stages, the larger the larva the harder it is to kill with Bt or other insecticides.
At times hornworm larvae may be completely covered with small white, elongate, egg shaped objects. These are the cocoons of a small parasitic wasp. Do not destroy or spray these parasitized larvae. The wasps that emerge from the cocoons are harmless to people and may provide some natural control of remaining hornworms.
Jay B Karren Extension Entomologist
April 30th, 2007 at 10:41 am
thank you
May 14th, 2007 at 10:14 am
I just picked six of the green fellows off my sage bush is that normal…
May 15th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Last year was the first year our garden experience tomato hornworms. I just read the sprinkling flour helps eliminate them. Is this true. If the wasps never lay eggs on the worm, then they will eat through the whole tomato crop. Am I correct. Also, do these worms live in the ground or are they larvae from the moth. I don’t want them back this year
Thanks for any info.
Deb
June 15th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
We recently got swarmed by the moths,,,,, which must have laid eggs that hatched and demolished an ornamental potato flower vine. How can you keep the moths away in the first place?
June 20th, 2007 at 9:03 am
I just found hornworms on my tomato plants, They have eaten the whole plant almost.
What is Bt? and what eles can i put on the plants to keep hornworms away?
Thank you.
June 20th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
I have read in a book that if you plant Borage (its and herb) that it will protect your tomato plants. I’ve planted some will lwt you know if it works…
June 25th, 2007 at 10:07 am
I reciently planted four 2.25′ x 8′ and 3′ deep container gardens. I live at the edge of the Southern CA desert and I’m overwhelmed with the Hornworm laying eggs. I didn’t know about this moth until visiting your site. I knew it was some type of moth but didn’t know which one. Your photo’s solved my problem. I have a bright light outside that I turned last night and left on. I collected about 80 moths drowning in the dogs water. (large container) Mostly the white or gray moths. And one of the large hawkmoths like in your picture. He was so pretty, I almost let the culprit go.
I’ve lost so many leaves from this bug. I’ve lost whole plants and branches from the squirls also. My poor garden.
Do the white and gray moths lay eggs on the tomato plants also.
June 25th, 2007 at 10:09 am
I forgot to mention that I have two sweet basil plants next to one tomato plant that has hardly been attached by the hawkmoth. It seems to work.
June 26th, 2007 at 10:07 am
I live on the Mojave Desert in California and this has been a very bad year for tomato hornworms. I’ve seen more than usual starting the first week of June. I pick the eggs and small worms daily. It has been a rare day that I haven’t found one or two on six tomato plants and often more. I’ve done this for over 20 years and usually in June will have two heavy times but almost none in between. The moths are more active during full moon time and usually at new moon time there will be no new eggs. I am an organic gardener so I do not use any sprays but have been able to raise very good crops of tomatoes by handpicking the worms.
July 5th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
When we had a tarantula (Charlotte) we would hunt for the worms on our neighbors plants to feed to her. Of all the things we fed that spider she seemed to eat those worms with gusto!
This year I’m growing my own plants and caught many of those worms in the egg stage. I hope that I won’t get any this year. Best laid plans and all…
Good Luck
July 6th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
[To Morgan]
Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a naturally-occurring microorganism (soil bacterium) that produces proteins that paralyze the bug’s digestive system. Bt is nontoxic to people, pets and the environment. It also doesn’t kill beneficial insects or their natural enemies (predators and parasites), or beneficial pollinators like butterflies or honeybees.
It’s usually found in garden supply stores as a liquid Bt spray
Hope that helps.
July 7th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
My daughter caught some tomato worms and wants to keep them but I do not want to have the worms eat my plants. Will they eat anything else besides my tomato plants?
Thank you.
July 7th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
How many worms are there? Why not plant a separate plant for your daughter in a pot that she waters and tends specifically for her tomato worms? Great project, and even a good science project for next year especially with photos and a journal of what she observes. Have Fun!
July 10th, 2007 at 9:46 am
I have evidence of tomato worms on my tomato plants. I have already found one and destroyed it. Is there a good time of day to search for them? I would rather not spray for them, What is the best time of day to look for them? Do they have certain habits that i can pattern to catch them?
Thanks Tom
July 11th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
We returned from vacation to find large droppings and a half eaten plant. At first I thought that it had fallen victim to the squirrels that come onto my deck (much to my distain). My husband noticed a large green worm, then another, then another. We removed about 6 in all. I should add that this is in a container, on our deck, with marigolds and a pepper plant in the pot as well. None of those were touched. Oddly enough, the plants that we have in containers on the ground level are just fine. Even the two plant that are planted in a bale of hay and another one in a pot filled with shredded newspaper. This is the first time in 20 years that I have been able to grow tomatos (it has always been the family joke) when I bring home new “victims” to plant.
Will plants come back after being eaten by these worms??
July 11th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Wrote too soon. Just went out to water the plants and what do I spy? A worm on one of the lower level plants (found one and a half(?)). The larger one was covered with the white larve that I have seen mentioned here. I broke off the short limb that it was attached to and put it in the yard in a sort of shady place. My hope in doing this is that the wasp larve will kill the host worm and will develop and start killing more of the worms for me.
July 13th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Hi! My daughter collected some tomato hornworms and we were just curious about why some of them have red horns and others have blue or black. And are some all brown instead of green? Thanks! Marie
July 14th, 2007 at 12:20 am
My living room is infested with tiny gray moths…..I had bought some organic vegetables including tomatoes, and I had some tomatoes in my garbage, rotting. It seems the moths appeared after I bought these vegetables. Have these moths come from the rotting tomatoes ? Tnx.
July 16th, 2007 at 9:54 am
I have always had gardens and this is the first year I found one of these nasty things. Where do they come from?
July 17th, 2007 at 10:04 am
We used to freeze the tomato worms and then use them later as bait on our trotlines (for catfish). These worms and the catalpa tree worm make excellent bait for catfish.
July 18th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
How neat to see how this continues to get comments over several years! I just disovered it, in looking up info on a worm my son just found. If you follow my link, there is a picture on my blog. Is this a horn worm also? Any other info? We’d really like to know!
http://joyinthemorning.clubmom.com/joy_in_the_morning/2007/07/what-is-this-be.html
Loni
AKA – Mama of a Dozen
July 19th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Lori,
It’s definitely not a tomato hornworm. I think it looks like the Cecropia Moth Caterpillar. I found this link: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/farmphotoaugust1505.htm
From their site:
“This caterpillar is the larva of the Cecropia moth, also known as the Robin moth. It is one of our largest caterpillars. It feeds on many trees and shrubs including wild cherry, plum, elderberry, maple, willow, boxelder, apple, birch, lilac, walnut, pecan, elm, beech and poplar. In the late summer or early fall, the larva spins an overwintering cocoon attached to a twig on the plant where the larva feed. The large adult moth emerges May-July.”
Cool Bug! GREAT photo!!
July 19th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I found two of the ugly suckers on my tomatoes two days ago, they eat like my relatives. They both had the wasp larva on them and I mistakenly kill everything (small jar with about two ounces of alcohol did the job). I won’t do it again, I’ll save the worm and let the wasp larva feast. Thank you very much for your site, it is absolutely great!
John
July 19th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
In my area, the best time of the day to find eggs is early in the morning. They must be laid either late in the evening or early in the morning because at 6 am I can find eggs that weren’t there the day before. If you are looking for worms, I think that may depend on temperature. I have the most success finding them fairly early in the day, but at my daughter’s place they seemed more active in the afternoon. She lives where it is much cooler than where I am. I think they may prefer the 70-90 degree temperature range and take cover when it gets warmer than that. If you can recognize eggs, you can prevent most of the damage. I do a daily check of plants and rarely have a worm over one half inch long, but I find from 1 to 10 eggs every day on six plants (this year) and miss enough eggs that I find about 5 worms (less than 1/2 inch) each week.
Phyllis
July 19th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
After I pulled off a 3-incher from my mater plant, I decided to be merciful and gave him a heave about 30 ft. from the garden. I found him later — eating my ASIATIC LILY….poor confused hornworm. Anyone else had one munch on their lilies?
July 21st, 2007 at 5:13 pm
i found a horn worm in my grandparents’ backyard, crawling AWAY from their tomato plants. turns out it was ready to dig and pupate. my seven questions are: 1.do they have to be around tomato plants while pupating?
2.how long does it take for them to pupate?
3.is their horn used as a self defense?
4.i found a moth the size of my hand (i am only 13 so my
hand is small)so could it be a hawkmoth?
5.do they have to mate to reproduce?
6.what are there natural enemies?
7.are the ”eye” designs on their sides for making predators
think they can see them or for breathing holes or what?
katie
July 22nd, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Iam a tomato lover and i planted 10 tomato plants. iam just finding these tomato horn worms. i need to know how they start to what happens next year when i plant my tomatos. i need to know how to get rid of these pest once and for all. please give me step by step on how they start there lives and where they go when tomato season is over. thank you .
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:33 am
Hey Randy,
The small inchworm like things are small, baby tamato worms. And to keep them off your plants keep spraying the plants with soap and water.
July 23rd, 2007 at 8:04 pm
do tomato hormworms bite? thanxs Lynn
July 27th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Can i get a picture of the tomato worm eggs?we have 20+ tomato plants this year and have had lots of worms
PS thanks for the info onthe uv light. now where is my dads extention chord???
July 29th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
this sounds dumb, but my labrador just ate a tomato worm (hornworm) and had been having stomach issues for the last few hours. could they be harmful to a dog’s digestive system?
July 29th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
This is my first time planting tomato plants. All of a sudden I got a bunch of tomato horn worms. How did they just show up? Where did they come from? How did they know I have tomato plants?
July 30th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Update to my post from June.
June 29th thru July 6th I went on vacation. Every morning I pulled off horn worms off my plants. When I returned from vacation they demolished all 60 plants. Ate every leaf all that was left were some of the stems. They ate all the plants in the two bins closest to the east. I have one large tomato plant in the fourth bin closest to the west and I only found one huge work 4″ long on it. I left the bare stems in the containers and keep watering them. It’s been three weeks and all the plant leaves came back. They are about a foot tall with some flowers on them. This weekend I went out at midnight and found two hawk moths in the east bin. As I was removing one of the moths from side he turned his rear at me and squrted all over my blouse. They have been a REAL problem. I even have marigolds planted among all the tomato plants and it doesn’t seem to help. I’m going to order some of the Green Step™ Caterpillar Control
from Gardens Alive.
August 1st, 2007 at 6:44 pm
we just found one of these in my moms garden and we decided to keep it as a pet!…and when i found this picture of this hornworm…i saw that its the same kind of tomato plant we have but we dont know what the name of the plant is. they are very small like pee’s but whem thier ripe, they turn dark purple…does antone have the answer to that?
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:49 pm
For the past two years I have not planted marigolds with my tomatoes. I planted basil instead. For the past two years I have been battling tomato worms. You can bet marigolds be with them next year. Thanks for the information.
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:38 pm
I’ve witnessed the eating of the hornworm by the parasitic wasp larvae and found it sad and horrible. Why do I want to feed parasitic wasps anyway?
We have a small garden, but don’t mind sacrificing some leaves and branches to the hungry worms. If they get carried away, we cut the branch off that they’re munching on and take it and them to the landfill or the neighbor’s woods.
My dad used to place them under his car tires and run over them. Why he thought he had to use a huge car to kill them is beyond me.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
my parents found 2 tomato worms and i thought it would be neat to keep one alive and show it to my science teacher…..but unfortunately i don’t know what to keep it in or when it will become a hawkmoth????
when it does turn it into a hawkmoth what do i feed it then???
thanks,
Becca
August 6th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
I’ve nine precious Hovey papayas in Earthboxes. Four got root rot after heavy rain. So while drying out in my brightly lighted garage [and doing well after two weeks]I found mega damage on one plant. I found & terminated two tomato horn worms. Then checked all my other Hoveys & found about ten on one outside . Watch out, check your plants daily. I live in Tampa
August 7th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Is the red anntenna on the tomato worm a stinger?
August 7th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
This year i planted my own tomato plants from seeds and let them grow under a heat lamp and took extreme care of them. my dad and i planted 2 of them upside down (through the bottom a hanging basket).
The baskets are hanging about 2 feet apart on our front porch.
Two weeks ago we got 4 worms off of one, today we found a worm on the other. Every day we search the plants for them and we never found any on the second plant even knowing what we were looking for.
My Question is about how long does it take them to get big and do they just “appear” or are they there all along and we are just missing them?
Thanks Verry Much!!
Allie
August 9th, 2007 at 9:01 am
I had a potted tomato plant on my deck and the leaves sort of disappeared, I thought due to the heat and lack of rain here in CT. On closer view this morning there is this gigantic green catepillar eating one of the green tomatoes! I have never seen anything like this in the 50 years of my life! The tomato plant is about dead, but I don’t want to kill this creature. I think I will take the pot and all and put it in the woods!
August 9th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
I go my kids some tomato worms. What all can they eat and how long do they live for. They would like to know how much they do eat and is the horn poisonous. Also are they mean to eachother.
August 12th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Hi
I couldnt believe it but I found four horn worms on my hot pepper plant ,
I couldnt understand why the leaves were being eaten, all the leaves are almost gone with big peppers on it, so I looked closer and found four of those little suckers… and I have tomato plants they never touched… wierd. Interesting to know a moth lade its eggs….
August 12th, 2007 at 6:09 am
About tomato hornworms: I live in Las Vegas and grew a tomato plant on a bet that it was impossible in dry 110 degree weather. It grew very big and thick and produced fruit very quickly. Then one day I woke up and looked to find sparce stems and 12 tomato hornworms just eating away! My question is: how did the worms get to the desert to find that one random tomato plant? I know where they go when there done feeding, but how did they get there?
August 13th, 2007 at 8:27 am
Hi I just found two tomato worms eating my grandmas tomato plants id like to keep them and hatch there eggs when they arrive but how do i know what gender they are.
August 13th, 2007 at 8:32 am
also what do i feed them and if the eggs come how do i take them off. another thing my tomato worm just laid out a green little ball what is it!
August 13th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
My 4-incher was feasting on my “moon flower” plant. This plant has a spiny pod that holds hallucinogenic seeds and the leaves smell like peanut butter. I’d say it’s a perfect match…brought the fella inside – thanks for the information about them cocooning in dirt. He can keep the three black swallowtail cocoons company over the winter!
August 14th, 2007 at 9:49 am
The worms got there from a large moth that lade eggs….then they turned into hornworms….
August 14th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
We found a single magnificent hornworm on our tomato plant and decided to keep him as a pet. My son named him “couch tomato”.
I fed him tomato leaves and a rotting tomato and he seemed happy for a few days. Then the dreaded wasp larvae parasite emerged on him this morning, and in an effort to try to save him, I removed them with a playing card.
Now lots of clear goo is oozing out of his body from the holes where the parasite was (ewwwww!) and he looks dehydrated. I’m afraid the time has come to return him to the earth. Unless you think there might be a way to save him.
August 14th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Hi, I have tomatoes and moon flowers, once and a while I will find a tomatoe worm on the moon flowers and they are eating them, I did not know they liked moon flowers……
August 14th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Hey i have a question. I’m 12 and my grandmother has a tomato plant and I found a tomato worm. I was wondering if they make cakoons or not because mine was having very weird behavior like rolling a lot and it like shredded its skin or something please tell me what to do.
an interested learner
Brandon
August 14th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Hello My name is makenna I was wondering How long Tomato Horn Worms live and When the Babies are born What happens to their Parents? Do they leave or die?
Makenna
August 15th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
I’ve had a pet hornworm for over a week now and today those wasp things started to come out of his body. I removed over 70 from him and realized there must have been hundreds inside him. I’m so sad. I really grew to love him
August 17th, 2007 at 7:45 am
Can I save my tomato plants after the worm has eaten everything?
August 18th, 2007 at 2:43 am
Hi, I recently found some type of worm in my grandpas garden. I looks kind of like a tomato worm but its not all green, the sides are green but the top is brownish, and it doesn’t have a horn. And seeing as we found it by the grape plants, I’m not to sure if its a tomato worm. I decided to keep him as a pet, but I’d really like to know what kind of worm is it so I know what to feed him and if hes going to turn into a butterfly. Anyone know?
August 18th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
I am enjoying your great coverage of tomato hornworms! After they nearly wiped out my 16 tomato plants in a moments time I have learned some good and not so good ways to eliminate them. They are somewhat scary to pull off, though I have plucked about 50 of the giant pests. When I dropped a concrete block on a pile of them they splattered all over my face! When I took a pile into the house to show my kids some escaped in my house (to my wife’s dismay). So I finally found a satisfying way to dispose of them: I shoot them on the vine with my B.B. gun! It is somewhat satisfying and since I am in the country it is quite safe!
August 21st, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Great and informative site. I figured out a couple of years ago that a wasp parasite uses the horn worms, so I am always anxious to see the little white spots showing up on them. If there aren’t any, though, I pick ‘em off and smash them on the ground. One hard smack usually does them in. As soon as I notice any upper leaves missing, or the telltale droppings I start hunting them down.
They are one ugly worm!
August 24th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Thanks Cahri, I was shocked this morning to find every single leaf on all my habanera pepper plants gone. The ground was covered with black droppings. I discovered these huge, green tomato worms all over. I hate to kill things so I picked them off and put them in the garbage and they went to the dump. I probably should have killed them? These plants are 10 years old and still produce peppers.
August 25th, 2007 at 11:21 am
This web site was teaching me alot thank you
August 27th, 2007 at 9:57 am
I find hornworms on my tomatoes every year. I am used to dealing with them. But this year I found 2 out front on my Butterfly bush. They were eating the leaves!!!! I took them out back to compare to the one I found on my tomatoes this morning and they are indeed the same.
Who would have thought they liked Butterfly bushes??? I am not sure what kind of Butterfly bush it is. We live in Virginia now and the Butterfly bushes down here are different than the ones we had in New Hampshire. So check your Butterfly bushes!!!!
Thanks for the great website! Very informative.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
I have found a worm that is about 4 inches long near my garden. My mom says it is a tomato worm, but it looks nothing like the pictures on any of the sites! It has 4 orange “horns” on the front, yellow spikes down its back, and small blue spikes down its sides. It also has blue “feet”. If you could give me some idea of what it really is, i would be very grateful!
August 28th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Where do hornworms generally live (states)? I never heard of them until I found one in my tomato plants and looked it up online. It is in the later larvae stage. There’s probably more than one. Yuck!!!
August 29th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
I have found that it is easy (and less yucky) to kill them by dropping them into a bucket of soapy water. I hate cutting or squishing them– they are so disgusting.
Thanks for the tip about the blacklight. I’ll have to try that. I just gave away my blacklight to a teenager who thought it was SO cool (I’m a foster mom, but this kid was just in my home for a few days)… so I guess I’ll have to buy a new light now.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Hi! We now just had those giant worms come and eat a whole wall ofour virginia creeper! Have you learned any more about how to eliminate them or keep them from being on the virginia creeper in the first place? Any info is appreciated!!! What product should we use?
We live in Northern Arizona. Thanks!
September 9th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
does the spike on the tomato worm do anything? thanks,gabby.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I have found a ton of these worms on all of my Willow trees. I have Weeping and Globe willows. We have never heard of this, have you? We live South of Tuscon. I have been picking them off and killing them. They are eating all the leaves off.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:43 am
I just picked 12 of those suckers off of my tomato plants. Will any birds eat them? Or are they too nasty for birds? My tomatoes are on an elavated deck and I threw them down below.
September 11th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
my daughter found a big green worm, with little black spikes,and long red spikes on its head and tale. this worm is about 61/2inches long and as big around as a hotdog. is it a tomatoe worm
September 12th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Are these edible for humans or dogs?
September 14th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
I grow 500 tomato plants a year and keep a lookout for hornworms all season. The best way to get them off the plants is to use one of those butane grille lighters. You’ve probably seen them, they look like a cigarette lighter only the flame is at the end of a shaft.
Turn the flame up all the way and start hunting. All it takes is a few seconds with your “flame thrower” and they fall off. If you want to make sure they’re finished, step on them.
Don’t step on the ones with wasp larva (the white rice looking things) They are doomed anyway and the emerging wasps will keep these pests out of your garden next year.
ps: I hate picking them off by hand too.
September 17th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
ours was doing the same and we added some soil and he dug down under the soil immediately..we’ll see what happens next?
September 19th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
no they are not poisonous but it hurts as much as it does when someone
pinches you on saint patricks day.
September 19th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
the spike on the on the worm does not do anything. it just makes it look big and dangerous
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:41 pm
URGENT! I have just found a tomatoe horn worm and I love him. The only problem is there were tons of eggs on him and a few little worms going into him. I took the worms I saw out and the eggs. Every hour I see a few worms come out of him! Why are they coming out? Does this mean he’ll be ok? I hope so! I really like him and have kept them before. He wasnt moving or eating when I first found him but since I have taken a few worms out and some have come out he started to move and eat again, maybe hes alright. Please help me!
Thnx, Hailey and Tomatoe Worm
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:08 pm
I just found a horn worm in my garage. I live in Phoenix and it has been over 100 for the last few weeks. I have some tomatoe plants that survived the summer and they don’t have any worms.
If they will eat Willow trees I wonder if I have them in my Acacia. I don’t see any damage but from my experience with these worm if you see damage it may be too late.
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:11 pm
*UPDATE* No more worms are coming out of him and he seems alright…
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:15 pm
It is a Cecropia Moth Caterpillar. They look pretty neat!
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:16 pm
oops I meant to reply to “Lance”. Mine is definatly a tomato worm
September 25th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
My name is Jared and I am 9 years old. I have a tomato worm that has shed its skin and is now in its cocoon. It lives in my room in a bug box and I want to know how long it will be before it hatches from its cocoon.
September 26th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I need to figure out how many legs and how many leg joints it has in each leg?
September 27th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
I have had much fun reading your stories about the blessed hornworms better known as the Tomato Worm. I have about 12 tomato plants planted at our back door. They are yielding well but now all of a sudden this pest (tomato worm) have started to eat them, I’ve taught my children to help me with the ridding of them. My children are 14 yrs & 11 yrs old. 1 girl, 1 boy but it is a tidious job so we will be looking for another way to be rid of them. any suggestion helpfull always.
September 28th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
I teach 2nd grade. One of my students brought in a hornworm to show our class. One student wanted to know what the horn does. I had no idea and told him that I would look it up…so what is the purpose of a horn on the hornworm?
September 30th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I’m Kali. My daughter found a tobbaco worm and is keeping it. What are the requirments on keeping this magnificent animal?
October 2nd, 2007 at 12:33 am
For all you kids wanting to rear tomato worms, I found a great site about just that. http://www.manducaproject.com/ It explains everything about them.
My son and I have reared a couple worms each year for the past two years. We feed them trimmings from our tomato plants. Because I can cut a little off each of my plants, the plants are none the worse for wear. Tomato worms, (the ones with the black horns) as well as Tobacco worms (the ones with the red horns) pupate under ground. We let them burro into a large flowerpot and dig them up after a week. I read somewhere they need to be enclosed when they pupate or they may develop deformities.
They take about three weeks to mature and emerge, unless it is to cold. If it is cold, they will over winter under ground
Incase you or your kids have a general love of bugs, there is another site through the university of Arizona that tells you how to rear all sorts of buggy critters. http://insected.arl.arizona.edu/uli.htm
Have fun!
October 2nd, 2007 at 1:02 am
Oh, I forgot, there is actually an artificial Manduca diet available. You can type Manduca diet in google and several sites will come up. The cheapest I have seen is this one.
http://educationalscience.com/hawkmoths.htm
I haven’t tried it out yet but it is there. 5.00 feeds 17 worms.
I know I’m crazy, but I am planning to rear the worms in my 2nd grade class net year. We will probably plant tomatoes this spring for next years worms though.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:27 am
Hi! We found two today- nowhere close to our tomatoes…actually they were coming from the direction of our honeysuckle. This is where for the last 7 years, during a certain time, we have hummingbird (five spotted hawk) moths. I’ve never once seen a tomatoe worm here and didn’t even know until tonight that the hawk moths were once tomatoe worms. Like I said before the moths are always on our honeysuckle could it be that we have honeysuckle moths???? We would like to keep the two we found. As of right now I have them in a bug box with small cherry tomatoes, tomatoe leaves, and some honeysuckle leaves just in case. I plan to put some dirt in with them tomorrow. Any other suggestions for me?
October 24th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
We found some tomatoe worms on our plants and would like to keep them for my grand children to watch… should I put dirt in the bottom of the container and when do they go under ground for winter? How long till they come out? Do they turn a brown color while still feeding? The largest one we have is turning colors? Your site has been very helpful and after 20 years now(second gneration of children) I really know where they come from. ha thanks
October 31st, 2007 at 12:12 pm
This has to be one of the most delightful sites – re Hawkmoths and tomato worms that one could ever wander onto. I cut open an heirloom tomato last night and found two green worms in it..and somehow just had to know more, wanted to keep them. seems I am not alone! Question – is it better to try to let them live indoors, cocoon, hatch…but its winter almost now..NYC…so then what? or would it be better to let them go to soil outside on fire escape in a clay pot with soil, and a few tomatoes?
thanks for getting back to me. and thanks for this wonderful site and all the great postings.
Patty
November 26th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Your site was very helpfull, but man some of the people that have asked questions here must be very stupid.
I think that read about 10 variations of the same question and I am sure that there are more. Look people, search before asking questions because your question might have already been asked.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Thanks for a great site.
Since moving to Maine three years ago, I’ve tried to plant tomatoes. Each year the plants (50 of them) have been totally destroyed by these worms. Finally, I know something about them. I finally know that they come from the Five Spotted Hawk Moth. I’m searching for a good picture of this moth.
I’m going to give the tomatoes one more try this year with Green Step Caterpillar Control and Black Light at the ready.
Can the green step be used as a soil treatment?
Thanks for all the great information.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
FYI, Marigolds do NOT “stink” to insects, they actually kill insects!
I worked as a chemist in an insecticide manufacturing plant for several years. I became a toxicologist because of my work there and moved on to another area. One of the things I learned there is that marigolds and a few other plants actually generate a natural insecticide that is very effective in killing many insects, breaks down in only a few hours and has a very LOW toxicity to humans and animals. This IS a very effective and safe method of insect pest control AND it tends to discourage many Animal Pests because the plants DO “stink” to them and may cause the plants they want to feed on to taste bad, but that is speculation. Even if Animal Pests DO invade your garden, they are unlikely to be seriously harmed by this because they are most likely to come at night when the marigolds are least active in secreting their natural insecticide AND they would probably have to consume several times their own body mass in garden greenery to get enough natural insecticide to actually be a lethal dose. It’s very unlikely that ANY rabbit or deer is going to be able to do THAT! =^_^=
I would STRONGLY urge anyone who uses the companion planting method to wash their vegetables thoroughly with soapy water before eating any of them! No sense in taking chance with your children or loved ones or yourself. Be SAFE and Sensible. =^_^=
March 24th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
how do i purchase tomato worms if thats possible my beadred drogon loves them
May 25th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Another way to spot them is to listen. They will make a clicking sound when disturbed, so I shake and feel around on my plants and listen for them. It’s pretty distinctive, so once you get to know the sound it’s easy to hear.
June 13th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
HELP! I have been growing tomatoes for years and this year I put them in pots. The tomatoe plants grew like crazy and is producing a lot of fruit but…there are brown spots at the bottom of the tomatoe. Weird,huh? I know about the marigold trick and it works very well, also, I use ashes from my barbeque to put on my plants. I thinks it chokes out the bugs. It is organic so I have used it for years. But the brown spots at the bottom of the tomatoe. What is a gardner to do?
July 10th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
This is my first experience with the tomato worm. I planted some of my tomato plants in the new upside down planters. The rest I planted in large patio containers. I did not see any of the moths that have been described. How did my plants get the worms? I used sterilized top soil and gardening soil.
July 19th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I found my first Tomato worm! Were there is one, can I expect to find more? My plants have never been healthier and bam!! I happen to find one while pinching my ends.
Please help.
Distraught wannabe farmer.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
To Wolflady1: The brown spots on your tomatoes probably indicate a calcium deficiency. Spray the plants and leaves with a calcium supplement spray, and they should get better for this season. Then, for next season, mix calcium (as bonemeal, egg shells, etc..) with your soil prior to planting. You may still need to use the spray midseason, too – we usually do, even after working crushed eggshells into the soil every spring.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:33 am
I planted 2 tomato plants, 1 grape and 1 standard size, in pots by my garage. They have grown beautifuly with many tomatoes. A week ago I noticed leaves being eaten and looked for the hook worms, finding 2 and cutting the branchs they were on into a plastic bag. I’m not at a count of 18 worms cut, bagged and disposed of and the plants look terrible……I give up worms!
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:14 am
I have been plagued by the tomato horn worm before. This year I thought I was safe because I planted marigolds around the border of my veggie garden. I even planted sweet annie because someone told me it would deter something. So I picked my first red tomato yesterday and there was the telltale blackish circle around the bottom of the fruit. I am so mad I could spit. I want to get rid of these pests before they move onto the rest of my plants. I will try to find these sprays at my local garden shop. Will also try to listen for the clicking noise to find the stinkers. Thanks for the tips.
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
We have been planting tomatoes in a container for the past several years. Last year, we saw the tomato hornworm near the end of the season with the parasite eggs on it, but didn’t know what it was at the time. This year we have one without the parasite eggs. It started out very small and only ate on two small tomatoes. Now that it is fully grown over the past 3 weeks or so, it has moved on to the tender young tomato leaves. Unless it does significant damage now, I’ll let it stay and hope that the wasp will return so that there is a natural circle of life. If not, I would like to see the pupa and five-spotted hawkmoth complete cycle. I can sacrifice a plant to watch this fascinating process, now that I know what I’m watching. I’ll be better prepared next year to deal with them.
August 6th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I just found one in my backyard today. I put it in a shoe box. Did you know that they will turn into these big cool moths. That is why we saved it. The only strange thing is is that we do not have tomatos planted this year and it was on a plant called milkweed. It was eating it. I don’t know why. It is so cool looking. My brother and I love it. We desided that it should be a girl and we named it pumpkin. That is a weird name but it is so cute. The only thing that I want to know is that does the horn thing on it’s tail hurt or harm you if you get poked by it? I would really like to know. The is the second one that we found. We found one 2 years ago. It was not as big. I am so glad that I got to share my story with all of you who look on this website. Bye!!!!
August 7th, 2008 at 9:12 am
I have one tomatoe plant in a pot that I am waiting for the last 20 to mature on. It has had no worms or problems. I looked at this site because in the last month I have noticed 2 of those moths in my back yard. My nephew told me what those moths were. Hummingbird size ? ha! I would say they are Sparrow Size ! One was on the bumper of my car and it took alot of water force in the hose to get it to fly away. Found one on the fence today…water dropped it to the ground where I killed it with wasp spray. Now I have to pick it up later. They are disgusting moths, I get creaped out thinking about them and would hate to ever have one land on me or fly into the house. Totally gross ! Although my tomatoe plant has no worms, concerns, I doubt I will ever grow a tomatoe plant again. Apparently someone in the neighborhood has these worms creating these moths. They are so huge, crows, etc. must think they are birds or be afraid of them too. They serve no good purpose. And the wasp thing… parasites on a worm ? Equally creeps me out. I’ll get my tomatoes at the grocery store thank you! Long Beach, CA.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Are they always green? We are having an infestation of these yellow worms that look very much like a tomato worm. If I can figure how to send a picture, I’ll do it! We live in a desert area, we have had one or two tomato plants a year. This seems like crazy yellow tomato worms!
August 7th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Are they always green? We are having an infestation of these yellow worms that look very much like a tomato worm. If I can figure how to send a picture, I’ll do it! We live in a desert area, we have had one or two tomato plants a year. This seems crazy! Yellow tomato worms! But they are here abundantly!
I grew up in California, and my grandmother always had a garden with tomatoes. I know what a green tomatoe worm looks like! Did we do something here in the desert to set off these yellow worms, by growing tomatoes that aren’t well received here?
Please let me know…
August 9th, 2008 at 11:23 am
I found one lastnight and another today! My kids thought they were going to turn into butterflys and so I put them in an aquarium with plants. Now that I know what I am dealing with I hate to kill anything but I have some tomato plants and I really want to keep them.
I have seen the pupa in the ground while tilling this spring, I had no idea what it was.
August 11th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
My daughter just found her first tomato worm and was so excited that she had a catapillar in the garden till I looked at it and told her it was a bad one, then I spotted stems with missing tomatoes. Now she is cursing this worm and afraid to look for more. Thanks for this article it has given us the information we needed to battle this ugly worm.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
I have never seen this particular bug on tomato plants before, but they are destroying my plants and the fruit on them. The bug at very first glance loos like a very large Lady bug. On close inspection, it is softer, larger, with the consistency of a tomato worm. Black head, coral red body, black legs and “squishy” BAD BUG
Ann Henning
August 12th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
oh my, these nasty things have almost dessimated my poor tomato plants, didn’t notice them when picking on Saturday and by Tuesday night.. good grief! first time i’ve had these in a garden. new house , new garden this year, so new dirt.. etc. Is it more likely the larva was in the dirt we used for the new beds (raised beds) or more likely the moth(s) came in from elsewhere and laid the eggs? I’ve been so busy spraying my eggplants for Japanese beetles, i never even considered watching for tomato bugs… GEEZ! ***Great site, by the way***
August 14th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I can hardley sit here and read these unusual moths called disgusting??? The worms may be ugly… but you must have never seen the adults feeding on the nectar of the flowers it seeks. I have hornworms on my tomatoes every year and though I would like them to eat something else where I can watch them, I do not kill them. I just plant more tomatoes. They have never bothered my peppers or eggplant. When my night flowers start to open in the early evening watching the adults make the rounds is very relaxing. If you plant enough they will not destroy your crop. So sorry if you can grow only one tomato plant….The worms do have a bit of an appetite…Try planting something else they like to eat to draw them from your tomatoes??
August 16th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
okay I have 4 tomato worms in a large pickle jar because my mom was going to kill them. one buried itself. how much dirt should I put in it? it is very big and I was wondering when it will start changing and if the others do the same. what other plants do the eat and how much should I put in the jar?
August 16th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
I just love to look at the tomato worm, we just cut the stem it is on and let it go in the field across the street. They are so cool and I hope to see some of the moths soon.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I WOULD LIKE TO KILL THESE WORMS. WHEN IS THE BEST TIME OF THE DAY TO CATCH THESE WORMS?
August 19th, 2008 at 9:22 am
That blackish circle might not be the work of a tomato worm. I’ve had tomatoes with a problem called blossom-end rot, which is exactly what you described, and as I recall is the result of the soil not being consistently moist – (dry-wet-dry.) I can usually tell when the worms show up because the leaves are stripped from the stem and there’s worm poop on the plant! Good luck!
August 20th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Why do hornworms have horns? Do they hurt? Also, can they mate with family hornworms? I think they are soooo cool to look at and touch.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
In the spirit of my late Dad, an excellent tomato gardener, I offer up tomato worms to the birds, as he did. Feeds the wildlife, and hopefully gets them in the habit of coming around looking for a fat, juicy meal. Hope it’s ok if i post my YouTube video of a jay doing just that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hZjJ_S4Dw0
August 21st, 2008 at 8:44 am
Can you still eat the rest of the tomatoes on the plant once you have killed all of the worms?
August 21st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
This is the second year that we have had these…not in tomato plants but in our ornamental potato vine….they did some damage last year before we figured out they were there. We never noticed the moths. The problem is the vine grows on a pergola that covers our picnic table – absolutely beautiful but we end up with worm poop all over the place every August!!! I’ll be getting the spray soon.
August 23rd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Last week-end I was over at my Mom’s house, she was complaining that something was eating the leaves on her cherry tomato plant. This plant is in a pot on the patio, the only one left. After a couple of questions I figured it was Hornworms. I swear to God I looked at that plant for a good 10minutes before I saw the 1st one….with the color they have they just blend right in….They also seem to like being on the underside of the leaves. We picked off three of ‘em, big ones too!
Well here it is the following week-end and guess what? One more worm twice as big as the others! You really can’t beat mother natures camoflage!!
August 25th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Like TW and katrina, I found these worms fasinating. One of my co-workers brough in two from her garden for me to see since I couldn’t believe they actually had a ‘horn’. I doubt they thought I would feel compelled to care for them. But what can I say…I watched then crawl, eat and all the other natural stuff. Soon they were in an old fish tank with plenty of tomato leaves and a few tomatoes to grub on. Within only a few days they were trying to burrow into the sides of the tank. I put them on a pot of dirt (about 5 inches deep) and they are now safely entering the cocoon phase of their lives. I don’t know if I will ever see their moth forms but I hope they have a good rest of their short little lives.
August 26th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I myself took 27 tomato worms off my brothers row of tomoato’s and they were unaware of why their tomatoes were doing so bad. Right now I have the tomatoe worms in various jars and am keeping them for my 14 year daughter and I looked them up on this sight and learned I will need to put them in dirt so they can end up going through their cycle to become a moth. We knew they would turn into a moth, just didn’t know how it would look. Feeding them from my hanging potato plant. Jean
August 26th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
my class has 1 how do i find out if it is a girl or boy
August 29th, 2008 at 8:22 am
ALARM! ALARM! My precious little tomato plants are being annihilated. Actually, I’ve got about 60 very large tomato plants that are under all-out attack (I’ve re-located @ 22 worms thus far)
These tomato worms are giants and boy, do they have giant appetites. I can’t understand why there’s not a 1950s B-movie about them, expecially with that horn coming outta their backs. Question; Is this horn actually a stinger, cause it sure looks like one! It looks like it could deliver a really painful sting. Also, while I was removing these worms, I placed them together in a jar and whenever they came in contact with each other, it looked as though they were trying to use their ‘horns’ as a stinger against the others. Lastly, is there something I can add to the soil during the ‘off months’ that will get rid of their larva, maybe some kinda of soil sterilization additive or something?
August 30th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I am looking for hornworm eggs. Anyone willing to collect eggs from their plants I will be happy to take.
Their diet can be changed making them non poisonous and very healthy for your reptiles.
Thanks to anyone interested in helping collect eggs. Hope to hear from you. Will send mailing address wen I am contacted with eggs.
Sincerely, Cgeryl
August 31st, 2008 at 11:13 am
alberto wanted to know where to purchase these worms to feed his bearded dragons
http://www.herpfood.com/silk.html
if you do a search you will most likely find more online they also have silk worms and more
my bosses wife found a couple on her tomato plants and he is gonna save them for me if they find more so i can feed my dragons
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Hey, i know how you could kill them, my bearded dragon eats them and she loves to eat them!!! So if you want you could send them to me!!!! I wouldnt refuse!!! lol
September 7th, 2008 at 10:40 am
we got worms off our tomato plans and gave them to a friends daughter, we want her to see them
Turn into a moth. How do we keep them alive and how long
Does it take????
September 7th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I found three worms on my tomatoe plants a week ago and cleaned up the plants as well as dispoed of the worms.
Toady 9/7/08 i found on on my eggplant. Guess they are not just on the tomatoe plant.
September 8th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
what if you have a science experiment due in feburary? and they just turned into a pupa yesterday or 3 dyas ago? will it hatch by then???
September 9th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
wow !!! we just found one on our mater plant, eeew disgusting.. thought it was a alien or something.so i fired up the google on the internet machine and learned all about it.
thanks guys
“grossed out in appomattox
September 10th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I cannot find out if the worms do sting people or animals or if they are poisonous to animals that might eat them. No one ever answered the question. My cat brought one in and I am very worried.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
When I first saw these worms I couldn’t beleive my eyes! One was so big it was about the size of my dad’s finger! My grandma found them on her tomato plant. I showed my teacher the print out from this website and we’re going to try to care for them at school through the cacoon process and maybe get to see the moths. I hope we get to see it. They’re currently in a jar and hope to get some dirt for them soon in a bigger container. I think they’re really cool.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Hey, give these hornworms a chance!!! Those horns are not stingers and they’re not poisonous. Tomato hornworms turn into those beautiful, large Sphinx moths, which look like hummingbirds. Did you realize that???? These Sphinx moths are one of the best pollinators to be found in a garden and can pollinate hundreds of plants in a few minutes.
Pick off the offenders and give them a plant to devour (cover it with floating row cover or cheese cloth. Share your garden and you’ll be rewarded with the graceful dance of visiting Sphinx moths.
Sharon
September 11th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
My daughter (9) loves these worms. She keeps them for a few days then lets them go free. We wanted to find out about them and came upon this site. Both my daughter and I were shocked to read that you would recommend cutting them in half with your kitchen scissors!(yummy)How heartless can you be ? Are you telling me that you pick and eat every tomato on your plants, and never waist just one that a bug can’t live on? How sad are you…..
September 11th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
LOL – I found them in my tomatoe garden too and had to research. They are definitely massive wormi’s. I picked one and set it near my bird feeder. Let’s see if the birdi’s are interested!
September 11th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
disgusting is all I can say we found (2) on our tomato plant and it was full of larva eggs!! I agree very surprised I have not scene a B movie about these little guys attaching the world, my skin is still crawling!!
September 11th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Hi, These nice worms also love Moon Flowers, that have stripped a few of mine……
September 12th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Great website. I’ve learned quite a bit from both the site and the posts. Funny, but I’ve got the opposite problem…I need these worms as they are very nutritious for my bearded dragons. They’re quite expensive for me to buy (and Fed Ex), so I’m trying to breed ; harvest them.
If you start to find too many in your garden, perhaps you can ebay them
September 12th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Hi! thanks for all the great info and pics! We had our very first tomato plant this year, and just as we were beginning to reap the rewards had one to begin dying. We didn’t know what the problem was — until we found these humongous caterpillars. Fortunately my almost 18 year old son knew just what they were, and that they wouldn’t hurt you, but I still would not touch them. My little ones however, liked to play with them as pets. Great impromptu science lesson! Thanks so much!
September 14th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Is the compost a good place to moe these horn worms?
September 15th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
My son has also found one – we have him in a jar and continue to feed him tomato leaves – he takes him everywhere – he is going to school for show and tell tomorrow. We got him at my dad’s this weekend in texas but we have moved and came back to arkansas yesterday – we are limited in extra tomato leaves – wondering if there is anything else they will eat? he eats alot!!!
September 19th, 2008 at 10:30 am
tomato horn worms are the worst pests ive had to deal with!
September 19th, 2008 at 10:32 am
why does no one respond!!!!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Tori- if you are short on tomato leaves, they will also eat the leaves of peppers, petunias, tobacco, and jimpson weed, or anything else in that family. We just raised a whole bunch of them, and while some of the larger ones, which were pretty close to pupating already, did not switch from the tomato leaves to the jimpson weed, the younger ones did so readily. We just put cut sprigs of the jimpson weed in a bottle of water for them, and they did great. We were able to successfully hatch out three adult moths. (We had several others that did not hatch out, because at first we didn’t have enough dirt for them to burrow into.) If you are interested in hatching them, watch for a dark, pulsating line to appear down the center of the worm’s back, when it is about 4″ long or so and quite fat. This indicates that he is ready to pupate. The worms will also begin to roam around the bottom of their container, seeking dirt to burrow into, and will slow or stop feeding. The easiest way we’ve found to raise them from this point is to cut the top off of a 2-liter clear plastic soda bottle, about 4-6 inches down from the mouth. Put an aluminum soda can, upside down, in the bottom of the bottle. Now fill with dirt to just above the bottom of the can (you should have about 6″ of dirt in the bottle, all around and just covering the can). Stick several twigs diagonally into the dirt, so that they stick up 4-5 inches above the level of the dirt – these are for the hatched moth to climb onto, when he digs back out of the ground, so that his wings can unfold and develop properly. Now, put the adult worm into the bottom of the bottle, with the dirt and twigs, and a few fresh leaves in case he’s still hungry. Cut a small slit (1-2 inches long) in the top portion of the bottle, so that you can fit it back over the bottom part, overlapping the sides slightly. Now seal the two halves of the bottle together with clear packing tape. The worm will burrow down into the soil. With any luck, because of the can filling the center of the dirt chamber, he will be close enough to the side of the bottle that you can see him while he goes through his changes underground. Do not disturb the pupating worm! We made that mistake with some, and they stopped pupating and just died. He should go into his chrysalis stage, and in a few weeks (or longer, if the weather is cooler) he will dig himself out as an adult sphinx moth. Just untape the bottles to release him, after his wings have dried. The next time we try this, we are also going to tape heavy construction paper around the sides of the bottle, covering the dirt-filled area, to make it darker – our last worms managed to stay away from the sides of the bottle, so that we were not able to see them underground, but I’m hoping that by making it darker, they will not avoid the sides and we should be able to unwrap it a few days later, after they have gone underground, to see them. Good luck and have fun!
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:10 am
worm! catapillars! whatever they are they are gross looking.. and the are
having a meal and a half on my tomatoes. they eat and poo on the ground.!! i got so unset i pulled them off the plant and burnt them.
even then they took a long time to die. these are super worms!! i sprayed them with soapy water to no avail i sprayed them with listerine and water to no avail i just had to burn them.!! i will try to find that worm paralizing spray at osh tomorrow. i paid good money for tomatoes SEEDS. I GREW THESE PLANTS FROM SCRATCH. GOOD BYE WORMS!!
I HOPE I HOPE
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:35 am
weird, I just found one eating my Mum. no tomatoes near by either…(shudder….)
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
My chickens LOVE these tasty (?) morsels. What a nice way to seek revenge and recycle the pest at the same time! It is also SO ecological and natural.
September 27th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Yicks! They appeared over night. Hugh green horned worms,munching away at the tomatoe plants. They did not touch the peppers. We picked off seven of them.I did not have the heart to kill them,so I relocated them,far away,in a field of brush.If the birds find them or if they become the moth,it will be an act of mother nature.
September 30th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I love tomato worms! I found two this summer on my neighbors tomato plants. I brought them inside as pets. I kept them in a small fish tank. I fed them tomato leaves,it ate a whole leaf right in front of me!I brought the small one to camp, then released it. The other one grew real big real fast! Then it started looking as if he didn’t feel good. When I took him outside the fresh air made him feel better,so I released him too.I will be in search for another pet tomato worm this summer.
September 30th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
I had soooo many this year I didn’t know what to do with them (I couldn’t kill them, even thought they GROSS me out!), so I lobbed them over the fence (at high volosity) into the alley. Next year, I will gladly mail them ALL to you! I live in AZ.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I too have the great tomato horn worm . I pull them off and throw them hard at a cement step in the garden. They ooz green but die. I used to just toss them in a bucket of water and leave them in the garden. I just found out what was bringing them to my garden. I have 4′oclocks all over my property and we enjoyed watching the huge moths flit in and out . We don’t get hummingbirds in our area except a few weeks in late August. I will now however be on my guard in reguards to those moths .
October 6th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
they r so nasty and awesome at the same time me my cousin and my dad caught some the other day and we named them we played with them my dad likes to feed`em to our chicken when she pecks them with her beak all this green juice comes out my little dog ate one of the green bugs yesterday me and my cousin made a funral
October 6th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
I’ve heard a lot about these horned worms but have not experienced one until today! Pesky sure, but I found it to be a beautiful little creature and could not bare to kill it. So, THANK YOU CHANDRA for your information with the plastic bottle. I’m 48 and my husband thinks I’m crazy (once wanted to keep a Black Widow spider) but this is much less risky.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
i found a tomato horned worm and followed chandas advice but he just wont burrow, hes brown has Vs on his back and he has stopped eating, he hardly moves but hes not dead, what do i do?
October 7th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
These worms are pests and shouldn’t be left in your garden, despite whoever says otherwise. I just lost 1 fully mature tomato plant today due to 5 worms being on one plant. They are pests and don’t need to be “fed a separate” plant or other such nonsense.
Anyways, if it makes you feel any better i clip their heads off and feed them right to the birds.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Tracy – I’m glad my suggestion was helpful – good luck with your worm! We are on our second round of hornworms in the plastic bottle now – he just burrowed in to form his chrysalis a few days ago. Unfortunately, the darned thing went right in to the middle, just like the last one, despite the sides of the bottle being darkened. I think next time I’ll just make the dirt level lower, so the bottom of the soda can sticks up in the middle. Nice to know I’m not the only one crazy enough to want to raise Black Widow Spiders! What we do, though, is start from egg sacs – safer that way, because we don’t have to handle the adult spiders. Whenever I find an egg sac in my yard or garage, I scoop it up on a stick and drop the stick into an empty clear plastic water bottle, then screw the top on. We’ve had several sacs hatch out that way, and the kids really love seeing hundreds of tiny baby spiders when they hatch. Then we just let them eat each other for the next couple of weeks, until there are only a few left – after that, we can drop fruit flies or other small insects into the bottle for them.
Bryson – I’m sorry your worm isn’t burrowing. We had several that did not – they just sat around on the surface of the dirt until they died. Others burrowed right in. I don’t know for sure why some did well and others didn’t. The only thing I noticed is that the younger the worms were when we first captured them, the more successful we were with raising them. Some of the older worms, who were close to pupating when we caught them, did not adapt to the change in diet and environment. Maybe it was just too stressful for them?
November 4th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
My students brought me a tomato worm, they know I do this sort of thing. It buried under the dirt in the terrarium and turned brown like the surrounding dirt. I thought it was dead until 2 weeks later it had partially uncovered itself and had turned into it’s brown chrysalis form….waiting for next spring and it to emerge!
November 9th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
My Grandma found a tomato worm this week – November. She is giving it to my daughter for a great science project. I DON”T know ANYTHING about bugs or gardens! Please HELP!
January 6th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
hey from OZ
I dont get that “hawkworm” thankfully, but we do get other crittlers… mass companion planting and encouraging predatory insects is the way to control the critters… it also shows the biodiversity that all gardens should have to keep it healthy… this is what I have done here at home.. and I have all sorts of wonder “natural” happenings going on… I luv my gheckos (lizard)… and mud wasps. In my climate, it can go from one extreme to another… in 5 minutes sometimes… but ultimately im in country Victoria Australia. Water is one of our big problems.. but that can be over come with grey water (washing, dish water etc) and the plants luv it. Also for those with tomatoes, sweet Basil is also good to deter critters especially white fly.. In my veg patch, I have hot chilli, garlic, sweet basil, tomatoes, corriander, and Rhubarb at the end of it…. and they all seem to love where they are and what they do for each other… If you have the right climate and soils, give it a try and see how you go… and keep in mind, the word “balance”… having a balanced garden promotes harmony with plants, and humans… works wonders for your health… cheers hope this info helps… Wayne…
February 12th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Nasty little critters. Beautiful yes, the moths are gorgeous but my kids love to ‘quish ‘em’ into the grass. They absoulutely ruined 20 sq feet of tomatoes last year. In ONE day while we were away, all of our plants were destroyed. I wish we had the parasitic wasp around here! Do not feel sorry for the critters! And as for the science prjects.. good for you! My husband had never heard or seen of these before last year.. and I probably wouldn’t be so grossed out by them if I knew more about them.
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:39 am
My students are doing a science project on tomato worms and I was wondering how we are suppose to keep the dirt while we wait for them to turn in to moths.
May 1st, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Boy was I supprised when I looked at my tomato plant today (what the heck is that?) I replied to my wife. Yikes there is another one, and one more.They are hard to see but some were about three inches. I quickly put them in a jar to study and tonight I,m going to spray.This is the first summer we have tried porch plants here in Florida,This has always been a buggy place, what’s next??first it was fire ants,carpenter ants,then fruit rats, big roaches(palmetto bugs) huge spiders and so on.Don’t forget the snakes, snapper turtles, otters,rabbits,possoms, gators,ect. that frequent our back yard. I love this place??? should have stayed in Jersey.
June 9th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
I found a horned worm cocoon in my garden when I was planting asparagus. i wondering if your article means the cocoon will hatch in late June/early august,or if the eggs hatch at that time. from Lansing Michigan
June 14th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
I’m now saving on fish food. I’ve got two Blood Parrot fish that seem to think the fat little worms are quite delicious.
June 16th, 2009 at 12:55 am
The first time I saw a moth emulating a humming bird, I was astonished. I had never been aware before, that such a large insect…which at first glance might even be mistaken for a humming bird…existed. Maybe even second or third glance. Are these the full adult forms of the dreaded horned tomoato worms? If so, I have seen them visit peach blossoms and other flowers, and so might be considered valuable pollinators, even if the larvae have a taste for tomatos. But I’m really not sure we are talking about the same thing…?
June 17th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I don’t have any tomato plants, but these little guys are eating all my flowers. I planted them a month ago and one day I walked out there and I thought they were little catapillers. My husband corrected me and said that I need to kill them right away. I used the marigold technique and a pesticide and its work really well! It took them about 5 days to all finally die off but I havent seen one in like 2 or 3 weeks. Thanks to this site for all the help!
June 27th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
To rid you garden of the…plan carrots right next to your tomato plants! Carrots repell them!
June 29th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Hi I was wondering if you could help me ? I was telling the Kids about this Bug I seen in out home Garden as a Kid ! it look like the
tomato hornworm but it had like a Colorful Mask ? like a VODO mask or ?
but no ware on the net can I find it ? so they do not beleave me ?
if you have any Idea of what I’m talking about and have a Picute or anything Please send it to us ?
Thank You
Higginbotham Family Garden
June 30th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Saw 7 between two plants this morning, have then in a bucket with leaves from plants and threw in some lettuce we had from dinner last night. Ive seen different suggestions from this site on how to bury them as a science experiment, how can we do this safely for them? How big do they need to get before they go into the soil. How much soil?
We don’t want to dust anything on the plants for fear of hurting them or our food source, how can we keep them away naturally.
Thank you
Barb
June 30th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
For all of you folks who have to kill insects… remember that they have been placed here for a purpose. I have found and my grandfather before me told me that horned worms help to “prune” the tomato plant and keep them from getting too leggy or consumed in Plant production. In fact a good gardener will prune out some of the tomato plant growth to help grow the tomatoes. What I usually do is relocate the horned worms to various plants and let them have at it. Ok, ok if they get a bit carried away, I have removed a few but we always look forward to seeing them in the garden and even the moths!!
PS to the guy who lives in Florida – if you can’t stand the heat in the kitchen, get out and quit your complaining. Florida is/was a swamp and should always be. I liked your idea of going back to New Jersey.
July 1st, 2009 at 6:38 pm
To the person who says “horned worms help to “prune” the tomato plant and keep them from getting too leggy or consumed in Plant production” I say…ARE YOU CRAZY?!? I have beautiful 5 foot tall tomato plants that as of last week are almost destroyed due to the lovely horn worm. So you go ahead and keep up your bed and breakfast for bugs and I’ll send them your way. I will be happily trying some of the above mentioned remedies so my family can have a chance to eat the tomatos that we have so carefully tended to over the last few months.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I ve just discovered Those tomato worms and They’ve eaten three of my seven tomato plants. I’d already “companion” planted carrots within 6-9 inches of the tomatoes and marigolds at either end of the rows. I’m thinking it’s NOT working so well. Any other organic suggestions???
July 6th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
WOW… THIS SITE WAS SO HELPFULL… I THANK YOU GUYS FOR BEING HERE… I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THE HECK A HORN WORM WAS ON MY TOMATOS…
THANKS AGAIN,
DUCHESS
July 7th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
i use ivory soap and water in a spray bottle ,about a teaspon per quart ,it kills all soft body incects,hasnt damaged my plants at all ,and i really spray my tomatoes heavily,kills worms on contact
July 8th, 2009 at 8:33 am
For Marie…You can keep them. They do eat other things besides tomato plants but they do prefer them. Let her pick them off and put them in a glass jar or plastic container. Put dirt in the bottom and they will need to be kept fed with fresh tomato leaves. This way she can see them grow and observe the cocoon stage and the hatching. It’s pretty cool for a child to see this. I did this as a child and loved it. My Dad just sent my husband home last night with some for me to do the same with the kids. Have fun with them.
July 8th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
There they were. Two of them, big and fat and green and 3″long stripping my pepper plants leaves. Then I thought of this borgeous, 4″ moth here abouts lately. Now, on my desk clendar where Mildred and Frank are still clutching my pepper stem, comes a 3/16″ little roundish Handgrenade shaped poope. Wowee. My wife rushed, “get rid of them.” No way. But what can I feed them other than the veggie garden delights they consume like a vacuum cleaner? Please help. I have them in a glass jar until “you” reply. Best. A Black. Please hurry!
July 9th, 2009 at 9:37 am
I found two hornworms on my Fresno Chili Pepper plant this morning. Yester, the plant was gorgeous and covered in leaves and peppers. Overnight, they ate 75 to 85 percent of my foliage and about 10 peppers. Ironically, they didn’t touch my nearby tomato plants.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
They like bell pepper plants also. I just killed several of the nasty green monsters after they ate almost my entire tomato plant. It was in a topsy turvy. I have three others in the ground. I have never had this happen before and it sucks.
July 9th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
To Al Black, they do prefer tomato foliage, however I do believe that you can buy a kit online that comes with food for them as well; check some other sites, they will tell you exactly what you need and what to look for. I’ve been keeping them every year for the past 4 or so and they will eat much and get bigger..you will have to put them in something with enough dirt in the bottom for them to burrow down and pupate..more details online..google!
July 9th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
To Leslie, Dill is a good trap plant for hornworms.
July 9th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Handpicking is the best method as they are hard to kill in other ways without hurting your plants..hard to find before damage occurs (without good eyes), but if you really are thorough you can find the damage (even if it’s small) and follow it to the hornworm..look for the poop too, when they’re tiny it looks like someone sprinkled pepper on the leaves..the telltale horn is a good way to spot them.
July 9th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Many of you may have tobacco hornworms instead of tomato, they are basically the same except that tobacco hornworms have a red horn and 7 white lines, while tomato have a black horn and 8 lines.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
To those of you trying to get rid of the worms… look for their droppings 1/8″+ diameter and the stripped limbs. Just thump the criters off if you have to – and step on them or leave them in the sun…
To those of you who want to keep them, put them in a large jar with 4+ inches of soft soil on the bottom. Prune your tomatoes a bit or other tender leafy garden plants and put them in the jar (allow for oxygen to get into the jar) and the criters will know what to do next.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:44 am
To Al Black: The good news is that they’re almost big enough to pupate, after which they will no longer require food. (When you see a dark, pulsing line along the center of their backs, that means they’re ready to pupate.) Until then, you can continue to feed them tomato or pepper leaves, or I’ve been able to feed them jimpson weed leaves, if you’re in an area where that grows. Sometimes the big ones are a little difficult to switch from one food source to another – the little ones have an easier time with the transition – so they may refuse anything other than pepper leaves, if that is what they’re used to.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
What does a baby one look like? I found something in the garden, I guess caterpillar or worm like on a tomato it was cover by a white thing. I don’t think it was a tomato worm, but my mom did and said to get rid of it…was it a caterpillar or a horn worm? so confused…
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:08 am
I too just recently found several hornworms on both my tomato plants. All I did was cut the branches off w/ the hornworms on them. I have an apartment balcony, and my one tomato plant is also in a topsy turvy. My other tomato plant sits next to a pot w/ chili peppers and jalapenos. Could it be that they did not bother the chili’s because of the jalepenos? Or should I be concerned. I have not seen any eaten leaves, not even spots on leaves yet. I also have 2 huge basil plants. I’ve seen some holes in a few of the leaves, but no yellowing or chewed up leaves like the tomato plants. Question… Why would you want to keep them? Didn’t want to be a caterpillar killer, but spent a lot of time trying to grow these tomato plants.
July 24th, 2009 at 11:03 am
I have 2 tomato plants growing in topsy turvys. It is the first time I have used them and the absolute last time, they are going into the trash after the growing season. The results have been poor compared to traditional ground planting and I have 1 hornworm that has completely destroyed 1 plant in 2 days. I have grown tomatoes for many years and this is the worse I have seen.
July 26th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
I found two large hornworms on my tomato plant after waiting a month past when I expected fruiting. I got one dinky tomato so far and they destroyed the next one in line. I found another smaller one had chewed off nearly three more branches of my other tomato plant only 3 days later. After reading the above, I wish I would have kept that one because it had the Wasp larva in it. I thought it was carrying it’s own larva or something, so I torched it. I found that even with Butane, they have a high heat tollerance before they start burning. I take the destruction of my plants very seriously.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
I don’t know which “bug” is worst. I planted Chrysanthemum for flower show and the aphids would make me sick to see them every where. Now I see the green worms on my tomato plants. This is the first time ever I saw these creatures on my tomato plants. I use the chopsticks to pick them. So far I don’t have this problem with my topsy turvy one. To catch these worms, you have to go out at night when the sun goes down with a flashlight. I don’t like to kill anything that are alive so I came up with a solution…spray the whole entire plant (adjust the nozzle) for about a minute or so. It will shake loose the poops and the eggs. So far it works out for me and I don’t see much of those worms.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Hi, I just found some green hornworms, with red horns and white lines, they devoured the top of my tomoto plants and some tomotoes. I don’t want to kill them but they make my stomach turn. I live where there are plenty of lots around me, can I just put them in the woods? they are really big so they may be ready to pupate, i just think they are really gross.
July 31st, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Thanks for this article for helping me identify the eggs! Now I can prevent some future damage. We have lots of tomatoes and eggplants and these things get all over both. They seem to go through an eggplant faster than a tomato plant. These things do not go quietly and are hard to cleanly remove, even if you manage to kill them while they are still on a branch. Their feet grip tight, even after death. Easiest way, I’ve learned, is to just peel them off with a trowel, them smash them.
July 31st, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Yes this is true they are a problem… With the use of Pyrethrum or an insecticide (Some Rhubarb leaves in a bucket of water left overnight, strain, and bottle the water and you have a natural insecticide, pls use gloves for this as it is poisonous).. Spray when plants are young, and b4 flowering and then as fruit appears… This should be effective to control most if not all, bugs on tomato plants and indeed nearly all plants… Good luck as post here of the results if you please.. I would be interested to see how well it works…
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:23 am
I pick off the tomato worms by hand and put them in a small container with a few tomato leaves then give them to a friend who uses them for catfish bait. They work very well and the friend rewards me with a catfish dinner!
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:33 am
After the decimation of my garden, I discovered hornworms. I picked them off and now my 6 year old is enjoying them as pets.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:39 am
The reason you would want to keep them alive is to help support the wasps population that lay their eggs on them. The more wasps, the less we will see of the horn worms. What I do is pick them off the plant and put them in a bucket, which they can’t climb out of. Then I feed them tomatoe leave clippings. After a few days, they are covered with larvae from the wasps. These are very tiny wasps that you never really notice. They don’t bite or sting people as far as I know.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Kathy you have the right idea there. To be ecological, this would be best, yet for those who dont want to take that time, my eco insecticide will work, but i stress that people should do some research into friendly bugs to make your garden an ecological planet of its own… It is amazing the things you see in your garden that you wouldn’t normally take notice of.. Companion planting also helps to a degree, atm we r in winter… but come spring, I am going to plant my tomatoes amongst pyrethrum plants… I found this can have beneficial effects for both plant and friendly insects… cheers
PS Linda…. Catfish…. yuk… lol… But I suppose its no different to tuna…. I’d like a catfish as a pet…
August 11th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
We have had an abundance of hornworms this year. We’ve also discovered that our ducks find them to be a tasty treat!!
August 13th, 2009 at 5:10 am
I just found these things on my patio tomato plants. They are huge! However, close up, they are very interresting. I built an animal habitat for them and took them to my classroom (1st grade teacher). My class will be excited to learn that they will become a Hawkmoth. Some are already making their cocoon. What a teachable moment! BTW – I no longer have my patio tomatoes
August 14th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I just found one of these huge creatures on our tomato plant and my daughter and I want to make a habitat for it to become a moth. Is there an appropriate method of doing this? We just have it in a mason jar and I picked a couple of small green tomato’s that the worm had already started to devour and put in there with it. By morning the tomato’s were almost gone and the jar is in need of a thorough washing. Just wondering if I should put it in a larger container and keep feeding it tomato’s or if there is something else I can give it. (I’m selfish when it comes to my fruit, don’t want to share with the worms!)
August 16th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
We just pulled 30 or so horned worms off our 8 tomato plants. Some had wasp larve on them but we did not know we should have kept them there. The plants are in bad shape. The worms eat at an unbeleiviable rate.
To GMac: You and your grandfather are idiots. Kill these pesty worms as fast as you can. The worms left a few half eaten tomatos and stems where leaves used to be. WE HATE THESE DAMN WORMS!!!!!
August 19th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Thanks for all the info. I’ve seen the pupae when digging but didn’t know what they were. Will kill them from now on! My tom. plants are covered with these worms but they haven’t found the eggplant yet. Will try the rhubarb spray today! I were gloves to peel them off [hate the feeling of them grabbing my bare fingers] and throw them in a large bucket. Rain did in about 20 of them the other night.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I have a parasitized worm in my garden right now so I’m hoping the wasps really will take care of it. Unfortunately my marigolds haven’t kept out them out. I’ve only seen one, but I’m going to buy worm repellant anyway just to be sure i get the eggs. I don’t usually like chemical sprays, but I have too many tomatoes to loose.
August 20th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I have a hornworm in my fourth grade class. He is in a large mason jar and I give branches of a tomato plant. (The parts that do not produce fruit). I also have put some soil in there as they are supposed to dig to pupate. We will see what happens.
August 22nd, 2009 at 11:26 pm
for the last 3 years these worms have been the demise of a certian flower bush. I had noticed the humming bird-sized moth grazing these moon flowers and only recently observed the cooralation. irronically I planted my tomato plant right next to my moon flower (Datura Wrightii, of the nightshade family) and, knowing that marigolds were suposed to deter insects, I surrounded the tomato plant with marigolds. I also pruned the tomato agressivly. wilst I combatted the worms on the leaves of the Datura they seemed much less interested in the tomato. I started pruning every damaged leaf from my flower, picking the worms off and putting them in an aquarium to observe so as to appease my curiosity.
I would much rather utilize this prolific pest to feed something than just kill them. I am searching to discover if they might make appropriate food for an eastern box turtle, since they are much easier to catch than crickets. The nightshade the have been eating is poisonous to humans, but the turtles also eat mushrooms that are poisonous to humans so… If anyone has any insight I would appreciate it:)
August 23rd, 2009 at 7:37 pm
ipick 5 off and gave to my chickens they love them.i had one thats 5 1/2 long it was so big u could see it ritght off.
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I’ve dealt with these guys for years and I take great joy in cutting them in half. This year I have to subdue my killer instincts and raise the little darlings. I teach 2nd grade and about three weeks ago I brought in a catepiller I dug up in my garden. It turned into a dark red/orange,brown crytalis and hatched last weekend. Alas, it was malformed and died. Today, on this wonderful site, I saw all the stages for the tobacco/tomato hornworm moth and there it was! I now have a complete set of the life cycle of this B-52 bomber-sized moth. My cat, Genji San, has gifted me with two beautiful, OMG moths. They keep well in ziplock bags. They’re so big you can see all the details…gross and cool!
September 7th, 2009 at 7:42 am
We just lost our entire tomato planting to these guys! We found a dozen plus and hand picked them but unfortunately we missed lots, not having experience them before. Thanks to everyone for sharing so much information, we will now be ready to deal with them another year. We had been spraying with a soap/oil/galic spray, we had a very wet year so guess spray just didn’t get a chance to work.
September 7th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
hey my sister has them in there garden do the wasps sting????
September 7th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Nope Kim, they don’t intentionally. They’re social and not nasty
September 8th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
My Wife is a fourth grade teacher and she is wondering what to do with the critters after they bury in the soil and form a chrysalis? She would like for her class to see the worms turn into a moth. We have heard that the chrysalis could be placed in the frig for a while to simulate winter and bring them out to turn into a moth. How long do they need to stay in the fridge?
September 14th, 2009 at 10:33 am
This is the 1st year of trying 2 topsy turvy tomato plants. 1 plant produced 6 approx. 1 inch & smaller tomatoes – the 2nd none!! I just found a a 1 inch hornworm (7 lines and red horn). Theresa on 7/8/09 says this is a tobacco hornworm since the tomato hornworm has 8 lines and black horn. So disgusting!! I’m just going to throw these topsy turvy and terrible plants in the trash!!!
September 16th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Interesting site, much useful information. I went out to walk the dog a few minutes ago and, while walking past my 8 plants, the tallest of which is about 48″ in height, I noticed that one was completely barren of all foliage and the one next to it was half devoured. I let the dog do his business and then inspected my plants. I saw the worms, walked the dog back inside, retrieved a suitable container, went back out and pried them off where they now repose until I decide whether to try my best Edward ScissorHands routine or just nail them with my heel. Point is, I am aware of their usual fodder but I have never seen a LILAC BUSH listed on any menu for these critters and I am wondering if others have seen them devour other plants in addition to tomatos? One thing I have never seen seen was the horn worm on LILAC plants and yet here in central NH on 9/16/09, I just picked off two of the buggers (pun intended) on a warm September afternoon with no idea where they came from at this time of year. Comments or advice anyone? Thanks.
September 18th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
In response to Gary and my “experiment” in my fourth grade classroom…
The hornworm dug himself into the soil in my mason jar. However, he has not moved from the bottom of the jar where I can see him in his red pupa as the picture above shows. I did not know he was supposed to be cold and that a frig might help him emerge as a moth. Do you have any more news of how long he is supposed to be cold?
Maybe I will put him in the frig overnight on Monday when I return to school.
It has been a few weeks though with no activity… ?
September 20th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
A head up for those of you who chose letting parasitic wasps kill off the horned worms for you. These wasps are not discriminate in what they attack. I raise butterflies….and wasp infestations can descimate the caterpillars in a heart beat….and this is sad as well as disgusting when they’re your beloved monarchs or swallowtails etc. Squash those suckers as soon as you see them!!
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I have horn worms on my angel trumpet every year though I try to take them off and kill them. How can I kill the pupa?
September 28th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
I have tomato plants every year. I pick off the tomato worms and feed them to my box turtles, they love them. This year one of the turtles had eggs so I’m guessing that the worms are good for them.
September 30th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Man I have been battling the bastages all summer. Yesterday, 9/29/09 I went out and they wiped out all my tabasco plants. I killed over 30 on 6 plants. I pull them off and throw them into the fence, but make sure not to kill completly. As they still have a little life to them, I feed to all the frogs around. I have one frog that waits every evening for those nasty things. Personally, I hate the worms and they have cost me alot of money and time. I think they would be great fish bait, but I am so pissed when I find them, I nolan ryan them on the fence. Houston,TX
October 1st, 2009 at 8:33 pm
i just picked 10 of them ranging from 1-3 in. and what i usually do,because i dont want to kill a living thing, is throw them over my neighbors fence onto their plants.
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:09 am
I’m the teacher that is raising these beautiful creatures. It happened…from egg to moth. Our first ‘worm’ that went underground hatched earlier this week. He was down and under for about two weeks. He’s been to my home on the weekends and in the air conditioned classroom during the week. (Southern California east of Los Angeles) I watered the dirt every now and then and low and behold…out came this gorgeous gray moth. He/she is so sweet. Strange…our worms love to be petted, head to tail, and now a moth that doesn’t mind it. It is definitely not afraid of my hand. If anyone waters their guys, be careful not to put to much in, like I did this morning. When the flood hits his tunnel, he twitched and twitched. It was kind of cool, but I opened a canal to the area and pourd the extra water out. All this is happening in a large cylindrical butterfly netted cage. Put a small tomato plant in the center and it looks really awesome!
November 10th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
The hornworms have also visited my tomato plants…I usually go out in the evening and pick them off and kill them…However, when my son had two pet white rats we used to feed the hornworms to them. They loved them…so rats are good for something aferall…
November 19th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I need tomato or tobacco horn worms for microscope slide making. I would be willing to pay $25.00 for 100 of them. They could be live, or put into rubbing alcohol as a fixative. You can contact me at triarch@centurytel.net. Thanks.
November 21st, 2009 at 9:37 pm
These nasty critters also like moonflower plants. They will decimate a plant overnight. I keep plastic clothespins nearby to pull them off. Then I feed the fish in my pond with them!
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.
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.
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…
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 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 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 28th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
I have been told that tomato worms come out ONLY at night. Could this be true?
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 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 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…
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.
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 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 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 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 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 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 15th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
My Chickens just love these. Also the little green worms from the cabbage.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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?
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 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 7th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
i was picking beans and it fell from the plant.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 15th, 2010 at 9:53 am
A couple of weeks ago my husband found a large cocoon that was vibrating like all get-out, he put it in a jar and a couple of hours later it hatched into a good-size moth. Really Neat, we thought! I just found out that it was a tomato worm.
We have been raising tomatoes for several years and have never had a problem with the worms, however, my husband went out to the garden yesterday and picked off about 9 of them. We are going to try a lemon-vinegar-dishwashing liquid spray and see if that helps.
August 15th, 2010 at 11:47 am
Dishwashing liquid shriveled up the leaves of my plants. An helpful associate at one of the home improvement stores recommended Green Light (brand name) in place of home solutions, I have no more tomato worms or other plant eating caterpillars. It is safe because it is orange oil based.
August 15th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
IS THERE A WEB SIGHT OR BOOK.THAT SHOWS BOTH THE WORM AND THE MOTHS MY BOOK SAYS THERE ARE 120 DIFFERNT SPECIES.I FOUND A GREY HORN WORM.TRYING TO IDENTIFY. MY BOOK ONLY SHOWS 2.I SAY LET THEM EAT..THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL.I HAVE CONVENCED A LOT OF PEOPLE NOT TO KILL THE WORMS,JUST BY THELLING THEM WHAT THEY TURN INTO.DAWNA
August 15th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Hi, I don’t really care if they eat the leaves and leave the tomatoes. I think nature is remarkable and I don’t want to
upset the apple cart; so I just let them eat and enjoy the
wonder of it all. jojo
August 16th, 2010 at 12:49 am
I just found one of these munching on my tomatoes. It took me forever to identify it as I’ve never seen one out of the zoo! My sons and I put it in a jar and are going to try and raise it into a hummingbird moth. We’re taking it into school to show the class! Need to check rest of my plants. I usually spray my garden with a veggie 3 in 1 product from Bayer(insecticide, miticide, and fugicide) as we have powdery mildew issues in our area so I don’t usually have problems with bugs!
August 16th, 2010 at 7:17 am
How in the world do they get into a large container? The containers are 4 feet high off of the ground and these worms have just come in abundance…I mean infested. No more peppers, everything stripped. I can NOT figure out how they got in there. Any suggestions?
August 16th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
I just plucked 2 of these beauties off my once healthy and full plants. These suckers must have weighed 1/2 pound each, were over 5 inch long and full of MY tomatoes.
One of them suckers actually ate 1/2 of a green tomatoe. HOPE that sucker blows his gut tonight!
The 2 I caught are taking a nice gentile gasoline bath, (room temperature for all you bug lovers) And later, I plan on warming their little bug butts in a nice warm burn barrel.
August 19th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Just found a big green caterpillar worm on my tomato plant. Never had this problem ever before. It has eaten some of my tomatoes and left it’s feces. Thank you for all the information on how to get rid of these pests. This one was 6 inches long inch in diameter. I am going to look closer now at the rest of my plants. Off to get something to get rid of these things at the garden store.
August 19th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
My mother used to have a problem with these pests years ago. Eventually we gave up on haveing a garden because they would destroy everything. Now I have my own garden in our yard and we just found them today. This was all before the internet was widely available.
Now I understand my enemy.
Thank you
P.S. To add some of my own information to the article. Not only are the eggs laid on the underside of the leaves but the worms prefer to hang out under the leaves more than any other location so when looking for them look there first.
August 20th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
It’s funny, when me and my mom see pest, it might as well say pet. We have one of these guys and think he’s just adorable. We hope to see him create a caccoon and turn into a moth.
August 21st, 2010 at 12:33 am
my mom and i were picking some tomatoes in our backrard and right about when my mom was about to grab a tomatoe BOOM! i see this huge fat green thing!!! i thought it was a giant caterpillar bt i found out it was a tomatoe hornworm! now me and my mom are keeping it as a weird pet bt were going to try to get rid of thoes fat things!!!
August 21st, 2010 at 6:45 pm
We have found 6 fairly large hornworms so far in our tomatoes. We have had tomates for 8 years and have never had any trouble with hornworms. Once we find them, we snip offthe branch and worm and then we snip back the branches that have been eaten up by the hornworms. That way we know if we have more to look for if we see more leaves chewed off. It didn’t take long for them to do quite a bit of damage to my 6′ tall tomato plants
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:49 pm
one way to track down tomatoe worms is look at the ground around the plant for small black pellets. this is tomatoe worm poop. if you see any get down low and look up at the bottom of the leaves and stems above the pellets.
August 25th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Those tomato worms are so cute! Do kill them. just let the eat the tomato plant. me and my friend kelly collect them because they are so cool.
August 27th, 2010 at 11:14 am
I saw one when I was a kid and just found another today. I couldn’t have been more excited
They are neat little creatures and I was shocked to see all the ways ppl try to kill them. I just released him under my eggplant plant in the shade. Coincide with nature guys-
August 29th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
thanks to all of you (dawne, Jojo, Alley, Vincent & brie) who are willing to co-exist with nature. to the rest of you: Surely they won’t ruin ALL of your tomatoes. The moth is a beautiful sight when feeding at dusk on my flowering tobacco plants. Ppl please stop killing things just because you think they are “bad”. They (the worms) turn into beautiful moths. And yes, I grow about 40 tomato plants per year, and they have yet to totally destroy a plant. I have 3 on one plant right now, and the plant is still producing.Live & let LIVE!
August 29th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
Today we discovered 3 of these hornworms on my 2 tomato plants that are growing in planters. Humph! So much for that expensive “Neem Oil” organic pesticide.
They were all completely covered with the wasp larvae and my grandson wanted to take them to school tomorrow for show and tell. But his mom has a heart for insects, animals, etc. so went and took a stick and scraped off all the larvae to save the hornworm after I told her about what I read on the internet about how the wasps will eat the worm from the inside out. She couldn’t bear the thought of it! LOL
August 30th, 2010 at 8:55 am
So if you keep the wasp eggs and harvest wasps. Now you have a wasp problem!
August 30th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
I found one of these , then another, on my tomatoe plants as well. Don’t remeber seeing them since I was a kid either… My 5yr old son and I put them in a huge jar w/ grass and we feed them tomatoe leaves every day. Not Sure what I will do with them after awhile..I agree that I will not just destroy them as someone posted “they are neat little creatures”. But I do not want to have them multiply nest year. There are still a coupe out there as evident by the eaten leaves and droppings…wondering if any birds or frog may eat them?
August 31st, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I’ve been harvesting my tomatoes which are heirloom and noticed that they do not last very long. They will start to rot with in a day or 2.
Any idea why so quick?
September 3rd, 2010 at 2:47 pm
My mother found one on the plant and that little guy can eat a lot of leave in no time!! My son loves the thing so we put it in a jar and put some leaves in there with it and the next day no more leaves in the jar just the hornworm! So were gonna see if it will make a cacoon and turn into s big moth.my son is three and is obsessed with it so I think that they are pretty cool but crap a lot, it’s weird but interesting too!
September 3rd, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Well bug lovers, I was trying to be nice when I offered another one of these “as you call them, beauties in the making” a nice relaxing bath in their own coffee can 1/2 full of warm, not cold or to hot, water.
Well, smear poopoo on my face!. I did not know they could not swim!
I have got 10 plants that have been all but defoliated by these “uninvited guests” and when I eat a nice big fat, juicy tomato, I will remember what they have done for me.
The critters ate my plants!
September 7th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
I light them on fire and watch them squirm and burn to death. They ruined my plants. Worthless flaming catepillars
September 8th, 2010 at 11:37 am
I just found one and am wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to create a habitat for encouraging the crystalis stage. We would love to see this take place…Thanks
September 9th, 2010 at 1:46 am
well today my mom and dad have found a big horn worm on our tomato’s. We use to get them all the time when we were out in a diffrent area, my parents would take them and step on them, i thought that was a awful thing, and to hear what some of you people are doing to the worms is disgusting and horrifing, i mean yes they may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but i bet bugs like this were some where in the world before any of us were so really they have the right over us, i think they are awsome, my mom and dad let me keep the one they found and i plan to take care of it. I was going to let it go back in the garden but i’m sure my parents would kill it so now it is in a jar with some tomato leave and tomorrow i am going to clean the jar out put some nice dirt in and a nice big green tomato for a treat for the lil guy, it is a amazing creature i just wish that people like jillB would keep there awful stories to them selves i mean i personally don’t want to hear about u throwing them in gas and burning them, how would you like it if it was the other way around, say you were the worm drownding in gas and then getting burned, it’s just wrong, crule, and not humain at all, they are living things to, you have to remember that, everything is living in one way or another and i bet something would go wrong if all the horned worms were to disapear one day, i’m just letting you know that i love them i think they are cool lil creatures, and i hope someone else out there agree’s with me.
I will keep you updated on how my lil guy is doing XD, just incase anyone cares XD
September 9th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
I have had gardens in the past 5 years and the hornworms always attack my tomato plants. This year they attacked my pepper plants and I decided it was best to just cut the branch and throw them over the fence far away from my garden. It seems to have worked. The ones I have seen since have had wasp eggs attached and they just die. Question. Are they affected by cool temperatures?
September 11th, 2010 at 5:45 am
@Cathy- yes, they did destroy all of my tomatoes within a week’s span. I was reluctant to spray anything on my plants. Now I have no tomatoes, and they have started on my peppers. They are voracious eaters and I am sure that next year I will have to take drastic steps to keep them from eating my tomatoes. I am first going to see if I can find out what kind of birds eat them and try to attract those.
September 12th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
I have had a horrendous problem with hornworms. Living in Phoenix, AZ, our growing season is long. They literally ate my heirloom tomato plants in front of my eyes. Now they are attacking my bell pepper plants. Every morning I am outside finding at least a dozen eggs and at least 8 HUGE adults. They totally gross me out. Yesterday my dog found one in the garden and as I watched in horror, she ate it! I have also found them on my zinnias and cantaloupe plants. Every product I have tried straying on the leaves as killed them. I am ready to give up gardening all together. Everytime I see a butterfly or moth my stomach churns. Yes, nature is wonderful but these things are destructive and disqusting. The fact they burrow into the ground, which I did not know, is even worse. Sorry to be so narrative but I also found out I am allergic to them and everytime I deal with one, I develop nasty rashes on my arms. Yuck!!!!!
September 14th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
I picked about eight of them off the other day and wrapped them in foil and put them on the grill. I let them cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. They tasted like crispy green beens. Very good if anyone has the stomach to try it.
September 14th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
i love these guys they are AWESOME! i found three in my garden and i put them in a cage, but now i only have one because these guys are carnivorous!!!! the smaller ones are dead now
i don’t understand why people want to kill them… there fun to play with 
September 16th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
These things are disgusting.They will defoliate plants in a hurry, go along and eat chunks out of tomatoes, on and on, I picked about 30 this year off my plants, next year will be prevention before they hatch. I droppped them in a coffee can 1/2 full of water with a 1/4 cup of bleach and a little dishsoap. Works great, kinda gross picking them off the plants tho. I also just drop em on the ground and give em a “boot” massage!
September 16th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Lol I barely ever see them and I have like 8 tomato plants so when I see them I catch them and I keep them for a week or 2. I love them, they’re so fun
September 22nd, 2010 at 9:33 pm
I used to go out in the morning and harvest the tomato worms off of my tomato plants, throw them in a jar and then take them over and throw them in the chicken pen!! The chickens LOVED to eat them. This seemed to reduce the number of tomato worms over the years. I still get a few, but certainly not as many as I got the first year of the garden. Besides you eat my tomato plants, you deserve to be eaten!! Payback!!
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Cardinals love these guys. Attract them to your yard with a bird feeder and they will keep your plants worm free.
September 25th, 2010 at 11:58 am
These worms are very interesting as well as destructive.I dont mind its only plants and my tomatos never grow well anyway!! If you do watch one of them grow and get huge, they eventually drop down and dig into the dirt so make sure you have 3-4 inces of dirt in the container you use.They will go into pupa stage,no coocoon. BUT remember they are supposed to sleep all winter and wake when it gets warmer,so keep your container someplace cool or they as a moth now will hatch out mid winter and starve because the are no plants to drink nectar from. Dont forget to start checking on it in the spring to see if its hatched.. My kids are really learning alot about insects with this one..
September 26th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Matt, I don’t blame you. We have been killing them for years. My daughters favorite way is to put them under a board then stomp on it. They make a big mess of green slim when she’s done. THEIR IS NOTHING PRETTY ABOUT THEM!!!
September 26th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
I went to my grandmas yesterday and saw some tomato worms on there tomato’s so i took one home and put it in a jar and i just noticed how long it can stretch! I call him Mr. caterpillar.he’s cool and interesting i can’t believe would want to squash these interesting creatures
September 28th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
We have those. Since we’ve had too many tomatoes to eat, we’re going to let them have the rest. Weird looking or not, everybody’s gotta eat..
September 28th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Wow, for all you bleeding hearts out there do you not know that if you let them live, the more you will have the next year? So keep on breeding them and I will keep squashing mine!
September 29th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Give them to the dogs. They foam and puff up and the dogs toss them around – it’s good entertainment.
September 30th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
We feed ours to the chickens. Like it’s been said, everyone has to eat.
September 30th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
To Lcam, I did not plan to use this as anything more than sharing info, but your comment about letting dogs eat hormworms as they are “good entertainment” indicates to me you are a very sadistic person with little regard for the many of us who loves our pets. I feel sorry for your lack of compassion. And I feel sorry for you!
September 30th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Thank you Patti. I agree.
October 1st, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Wow. Look. If you grow a garden then you are going to get other creatures that like to feast on your vegetables as much as you do. Did you really think that your little plot of earth soley revolves around you and you alone? If you don’t like these other creatures, such as this tomato worm, then don’t grow a garden or take better measures to deter them. This message is meant for you folks who find such immense pleasure in performing the act of torture (burning, etc) on these worms. When I read that you find it so entertaining to watch them being tortured, what I saw in you is that you are brimming with anger and pain and this is one of the methods of how you release it. It’s a 4 to 6 -inch worm! Geeze! I wonder what else you do to release your anger and pain…?
October 2nd, 2010 at 11:42 am
Kathy,
Thank you for your support. I simply could not let your comment go unanswered.
October 7th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
I collected about ten of those worms from my plants the other day. Wasn’t sure what to do with them, but I had been watching Man vs. Wild earlier and that guy eats worms and bugs like these things all the time. I got to thinking that these worms only eat tomatoe plants so they must taste like a vegetable. So I give it a try. I wrapped them in foil and threw them on the grill for about 30 minutes. I was reluctant at first but they tasted like crispy fried green tomatoes. I ended up eating them all. Everyone should give it a try. They were very good.
October 10th, 2010 at 7:52 am
how rare are “black” tomato hornworms. Ive seen tomato hornworms that are black in color, not green. A dull smooth charcoal grey black with the general “v” markings of the tomato hornworm. Of course most tomato hornworms are green, but how rare are the black ones. Are they the “albino” of the species?
October 11th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
So the next day i out dirt in the jar, i guess they sleep during the fall because the lil guy dug down into the dirt and has made a neat cocoon, i’m glad my parents did kill this lil horn worm now i’m excited too see what it becomes in the spring, just thought i’d let anyone who cares know how my tomato horn worm is doing
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Just found this critter on my chile plants iam confused I thought they were only on tomatoe plants
November 5th, 2010 at 10:33 am
I simply have to comment once again. Here in Phoenix, I am STILL finding those critters on my bell pepper plants. Then again, it is still in the 90′s here. As far as the chili pepper plants, if those little beasties will eat zinnia leaves, which are course and gross, I swear they will eat anything!!! I also must admit I got a kick out of some of the “remedies” posted. However, I would NEVER eat one, but after re-reading throwing them into the barbeque and toasting them, I am here to admit I chuckled. So I apologize for my harsh words before. Heck, any remedy is fine with me.
November 8th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
This was my 1st experience w/these big green monsters… Yuk! But not wanting to use any pesticides, I plucked off all the ones I cld see – gave ‘em to the chickens, who were fightin’ over ‘em – I went back outside and got some red pepper flakes and garlic powder and sprinkled that all around the base of my nearly stripped clean jalapenio and bell pepper plants (no tomatoes – but they were in full force over on my daughter’s tomatoes across the driveway!) and I sprinkled some of the garlic and red pepper flakes on the leaves too. I thought the plants were goners, but the leaves grew back just as lush, w/lots of wonderful bellpeppers and jalapenos, and NO MORE HORNWOMRS! But I am going to dig around in the raised bed just before winter hits and seek out any pupae – and next spring I’m gonna use the garlic/pepper flakes on the soil before I see any cuz I just know they’re down there somewhere!
November 11th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
LindaLu,
What do you do if you have a dog who digs everything insight? The idea is great for my front yard, but I have a Jack Russell who picks trangerines off my tree and buries them EVERYWHERE. Have tried commercial products only to burn the life out of the plants. Any ideas? BTW, I found another critter on my bell pepper plant yesterday. Man, those things don’t quit.
December 18th, 2010 at 1:43 am
As a preschool teacher we had a garden kept by our maintance man. He would bring me three or four of these gorgeous creatures for my kids to watch. If you want to keep them and study the life cycle do this: Get a plastic cage or tank from a pet store about 12 or 15 inches long and 10 inches deep. Size will Depend on how many you have. The best kind to raise are the ones that you find which are hudge! I mean BIG! That means they are ready to go into the ground where the form a crysalis. Keep them on top of the soil in your tank for a day or two by feeding them fresh leaves everyday and a green tomato or the fruit of the plant you found them on.
If you have too many in a single cage they get nasty and will die so give them room (maybe only two/tank). Oh yes, fill the cage with about four inches of loose soil(soil mixed with some sand to avoid soil from becoming compacted) After a day or two they will drop off the leaves and dig into the ground. They do this at night so I have never seen them dig. They are just gone the next morning. If you dig you will find them. But leave them after you have confirmed they did indeed bury themselves. After 3 weeks you can empty the soil and you will find the dark brown chrysalis. It is very exciting to imagine how this fleshy green thing turns into this hard shell encasement.
In 4 to 5 weeks depending on the room temperture you will come to in your room find a hudge brown moth trying to flutter. This is a really exciting moment for children and adults. The whole school is watching and waiting for this moment. We take the tank outside and I lift him out and put on my hand and they shake their wings causing their “blood” to circulate through out their wings. And they fly away. Its amazing!
Before that
December 19th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Dorothy
And every time you do that you introduce another group of kids to real science in action, and to the mystery of life and the beauty of the incredible Creation we all enjoy.
What a wonderful example of turning “Lemons into Lemonade”
December 22nd, 2010 at 11:19 am
<> I use cactus around, or near the base of the plants you want to save!
February 24th, 2011 at 10:55 am
Is there any way to get them? I have been growing tomatoes every year but I havent seen one for about 15 years. My daughter wants to see them so bad.
March 3rd, 2011 at 6:31 pm
For those that thought watching these delightful creatures is good for children, you are absolutely correct. Any time that we can give children hands-on experiences with nature is a plus. These can actually easily be purchased from a company, Mullberry Farms for use as reptile food. As a science teacher I use them in my class. They are easily grown, require little care and you can also get hornworm chow so they are not eating your tomato plants to pieces. Place them in a container of your choice, however there needs to be ventilation so that they can breath and so that mold does not grow on the food that you are feeding them. Because they are very hardy, the children can actually hold them without damaging them unless of course they squeeze them and well that is another experiment in itself. The chow makes it easy and you can have them all year around. I have found that putting them in a warm place (the same with silk worms) that they grow much faster. I use a warming lamp such as I use with reptiles with a low wat bulb and it warms the aquarium nicely – on a timer so that it simulates day and night (for the off times I have a red lamp) well anyway they grow beautifully with little loss. Once the moths emerge you can actuall keep the cycle going if you can feed the moths – they need to eat soon after hatching and warming their body. If you have a chance to do this with chidlren it is wonderful.
May 30th, 2011 at 10:00 am
I don’t want to kill the hornworm on my tomato plants. i read one post which said you can get hornworm “chow”. where can i get it? (quickly, before it eats my entire plant!) thanks.
June 11th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
where to acquire hornworm chow?
June 17th, 2011 at 6:10 am
Last fall, I found lots of hornworms on plants at the edge of the pond in my packyard. My husband usually keeps the weeds trimmed pretty well but left some of the plants the caterpillars were eating. I put two of the caterpillars in bug boxes about half full of dirt and fed them leaves. After a couple of weeks, the caterpillars burrowed into the dirt and made their chrysili. They emerged and turned out to be pink-spotted hawkmoths. I released them onto the moonflowers in my front garden. My grandkids and I really enjoyed watching the caterpillars. This year, I found some tomato hornworms on my tomato and pepper plants. I was able to spot them right after they had hatched by seeing their frass on the plant’s leaves. I picked them off by hand and also removed some of their eggs. I may keep one or two caterpillars to watch the cycle again, but I wish I could put them on other plants outside. I like the moths, but I don’t like the caterpillars eating my tomatoes.
June 26th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
We have them all over our Tomato Plants and We would like to kill them so they won’t kill our Tomato plant
June 28th, 2011 at 10:43 pm
I use tat bug bombs like you use inside the home to fumigate. Turn the can upside down and aim while slightly pushing the button in (not enough to lock it in the on postion, though). The worms drop off to the ground and die. Plus the leaves are coated with the pyrmithrin. Permithrin is a by product of the chrysanthimum so it’s okay. The stuff quickly works on the worms nerve center and causes inability of the worm to continue to eat or live. It works almost instantly for quick relief. The fogger also goes deep into the plant with ease for total protection. Spray as often as needed throughout the season. You can get the foggers at Walmart, Kmart, Family Dollar etc. Doom to the parasitic worms!!!!
July 4th, 2011 at 10:00 am
Can anyone help me???? I have over 300 tomato plants. I have what I think to be “alternaria canker” and “horn worms”. I don’t want to spray but I can’t pick every infected leaf off of 300 plants. I need help!
July 15th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
I just found huge hornworm on one of m Roma tomato plants today. Luckily my handheldbug zapper (a 3.3 million volt stun gun) make short work of it. Hopefully I won’t see too many more since I only have 6 plants total. I’ll have to try the red pepper flakes. I have raised beds and we use cayenne pepper to keep th dog out of them and it worked pretty well.
July 19th, 2011 at 5:52 pm
My husband just killed a big fat one that was feasting on my mater plants. Ick.. they’re so fat and squishy! I’m thinking saline fluid or super glue, lol.
July 21st, 2011 at 10:03 am
Hi Everyone,
I found a different way to control these guys. I drape black bird netting over my tomato plants. The bees can still get in, but the moths lay their eggs on the netting and the bright green color makes them really visible. I remove the eggs whenever I find them…..usually around the time of the new moon. I am sure i miss a few, but the harm one or two larvae can do is not huge. Feed them to my chickens when I do find them. They absolutely love them!
July 22nd, 2011 at 9:12 am
We only have two plants, Early Girls and Sweet 100′s. We started
seeing evidence of these worms yesterday, so far we have found 6. 5 were on the early girl. Very small. Should I expect more? This is crazy…
July 27th, 2011 at 3:27 pm
I understand that people want to keep these guys off of their plants but the whole wasp thing just seems so cruel!! Kill them quick if you are going to do it at all.
July 29th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
I am so glad to see so many people on here with a heart. The idea of torturing ANYTHING to death by starvation or being eaten alive by parasites seems ludicrous to me. I read that planting Marigolds around the plants will keep them away too. I’m going to try that and maybe the garlic too.
July 30th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
i have seen these worms before, not only on tomato plants and the like, but also on moonflower leaves. i have 2 plants, a big boy and a beef master, and found my first worms today. big ones! 14 of ‘em! to those of you that have only found a few, KEEP LOOKING!!! remember, moths don’t lay “a few” eggs!:)
July 30th, 2011 at 9:55 pm
I agree with Lila Lyons…How can anyone torture anything like the examples given. That is obsurd..they are living creatures and getting eaten alive is morbid. Stick netting on the plants…good grief…how cruel can you people be…and i think they are beautiful.
July 31st, 2011 at 9:36 am
I have hornworms on
my tomatos Is there anything that kills the worms but well not hurt all the honey bees that are all over my garden?
July 31st, 2011 at 11:58 am
Here’s a method my deeply environmentally aware friend taught me back in the 70′s. He was a vegetarian, Buddist, surgical nurse living with my sister in Denver. Had a rather large garden with maybe a dozen tomato plants. One day when I was visiting he asked me to help him get rid of his hornworms. I had never seen one before. He entered the garden armed with a surgical clamp and grabbed each worn by the scruff of it’s neck and tossed it onto the adjacent driveway. When he was done there were about 25 of the critters on the driveway, all making their way back to the garden. Then he went into the house and came out with the keys to my sister’s 230 horsepower V8 plymouth and proceeded to run over them with it. It took several passes to get them all. He explained that he didn’t believe in pesticides.
July 31st, 2011 at 6:26 pm
Do these moths lay their eggs before you buy the tomato plant or when they are in my garden? I have never seen this moth. Last year for the first time, I bought tomato plants at a Blue Seal. These worms decimated the plants. I bought tomato plants at the same place again (shame on me) and my husband just removed SIX worms. I have never had them before in the 10 years I have lived here!
July 31st, 2011 at 7:03 pm
this ones to cool to kill..got him in a jar and no wasp..feed him a new leaf every other day…
August 1st, 2011 at 9:40 am
Running over, squishing the caterpillars is a ‘deeply environmentally aware’ solution?! Deeply disturbed is more like it. Right – no pesticides. They morph into these amazing, large, beautiful moths! I just trimmed the non-budded 6- 10 inches of tomato plant with accompanying caterpillars (22!) and took them across the stream into a shady wooded area on our property. Don’t know if that will be a place where they can continue their life cycle without my garden, or if they’ll be back, or what. I have just 16 plants – hand-picking wouldn’t work in a bigger garden.
August 1st, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Thank you for this info! I was just out in the garden today tending to the plants and almost put my hand on one of the little guys! Wasn’t sure what they were until I started to google about them. I found a few on my plants, I have an all natural organic pesticide (safe around pets and children) that I may try spraying this evening after the sun is off the plants. I am going to pick the ones off I see but my plants are really big and I won’t be able to find all I am sure.
August 1st, 2011 at 2:38 pm
So I just read that using garlic powder and red pepper flakes works at keeping “the big green monsters” out of your garden,is this true? I have 15 tomatoe plants and they are all pretty much dead. I have one near my back door and I did see a couple of the worms and picked them off but I did not see any in my actual garden. I must have overlooked them perhaps cuz they have been ate up by something and there are no leaves left just stems. I’m very confused and I’m not sure at this point that I can save my plants but for next year if garlic and pepper flakes works I will certaintly give it a try.
August 2nd, 2011 at 7:09 am
My garden is surrounded with marigolds. The hornworms didn’t care.
August 2nd, 2011 at 11:53 am
People, its a stinking worm that will eat your tomato plants and waste your money, just chop the sucker up and leave it at that! stop being tree huggers. Come on people get a life. And it hardly has a brain so it doesn’t feel much!!! I picked them off and fed them to chickens at a place I went to, they just peck them until they die, haha! I thought it was funny the way the chickens played with the worms! I am not cruel its just a worm. It’s the circle of life. Granted they are pretty cool looking but they eat the plants which is why you just kill the darn thing. Come on people get a life, I was looking at this because my grandfather wanted to know what they turned into, and I read some of the comments and was like come on you people!! Anyway its just a worm kill it!!
August 3rd, 2011 at 5:05 pm
The hornworms may be an important part of nature’s life cycle but I think there are plenty to go around. I either pinch them or cut them up with the clippers I keep in my garden. They literally ate my bellpeppers to the core earlier this year. They defoliate the tomato plants which is really bad in this summer’s heat. I want to protect plants that I nurture and hope will produce something for ME to eat. I am appalled, however, at the gleeful and immature comments some people have posted on this subject. What’s next for them, purposely killing animals and people? Such attitudes have become a problem in our society…so sad.
August 8th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
I got a bunch of these on my tomato plants. Everyday I diligently looked for them and picked them up. A good way to find them is notice their damage. You will see stems stripped of leaves, and you will find a worm on it or close by. After removing the worm also cut off the damaged stem.
This way it will be easier to find new damage and new worms. If you check daily after a few days most will be gone. Also think about adding plants that attract wasps that prey on them. Other than that I don;t know what else to do to control them. This is the first time I had them and I think I did a good job controlling them. You have to get a jump on this early before they cause any big damage. I must of caught about 30 worms so far that ranged in size from 1-4 inches.
August 8th, 2011 at 3:56 pm
I used a couple of my kid’s fire crackers. I haven’t seen the worms since.
August 8th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Yall, Oh my goodness, its a stinking worm!! If you didn’t kill it, or nothing else killed it, it would go out of proportion, and could do even more damage. Just kill it! Don’t be a tree hugger!! It is just a worm!! If anything feed it to the chickens so you don’t feel bad about killing a measly little worm!
August 8th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
1. Thought a storm that had gone through had somehow stripped all the leaves off my plants (like tornadoes with trees) As if the 113 degree weather here hasn’t been enough to deal with.. noooo I look up and have this “thing” practically in my face…gross.. it has friends… double gross.
2. They fight me as I am trying to pull them off… vulgar language and screaming like a little girl didn’t seem to help at all. Armed with a one glove and pliers I go in. Still won’t let go! I get frustrated and just grab them with my hand (gloved of course) and throw them in a tv dinner box.
3. I start jumping up and down on the box in glee at my accomplishment, only to be rewarded with green slime shooting out both sides of the box. Sometimes you just can’t win.
August 12th, 2011 at 10:13 am
What’s more fun is having a chicken yard to toss them in. The chickens love ‘em. I find it very satisfying.
August 15th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
I too just came across them for the first time. Wondering why my tomato plants all of a sudden looked stripped and quickly found out why. These guys were perched on the stripped branches working their way down I guess. I took some real neat picture of them eating then removed and squished them, about 9 or 10 on 4 plants. I see why they poop like they do as their bodies are full of “green” food (my plants) from head to toe. They’re like a giant fast food processor, in then out in minutes! All my worms were about 4+ inches so were very mature. I saved one for my grandson but got out by morning somewhere. Found one more (the one I had saved?) next day attached to to branches and disposed of him. Only found two real small ones two days later. I did find some copper eggs on one leave and removed them. Now wondering what I’ll be finding in the up and coming days. Nothing has touched my peppers …. yet!
August 16th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
Went out this afternoon…Four of those suckers very nearly killed four pepper and four tomato plants overnight! 60% of the leaves were devoured, and several peppers. I’m sure the ants are going to love those juicy little bastards…
August 17th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
We have 20 tomato plants ….they were big and beautiful and full one day, the next..skeletons!… we picked off 145 horn worms over one week period. The damage was done, but it looks like they will recover somewhat. In the end we resorted to dusting with ($%&^*(#$%). next year we will remember to look under the leaves from day one!
August 17th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
So far good news! I’ve gone two whole days without seeing one worm, my plants are sprouting leaves again and my tomatoes are finally starting to turn red. Hopefully the worst is over however I’m not holding my breath! I check at least twice a day now, I’m just paranoid. Like others next year I’ll pay better attention to them and use some prevention early on..
August 18th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Thanks for the advice about marigolds, garlic and red peppers.
I learned to pick them and to throw them hard on the driveway. Don’t have chickens yet.
August 19th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
=Years ago, I would go crazy when the tomato worms appeared. Here in SoCal, our summer eve’s are relatively warm making it not only ideal for the tomato plants but for the worms also. I remember one morning I came out to find one of my tomato plant completely de-forested. It looked like a skeleton. And hiding on the underside of the naked branches were about four HUGE worms. I got so pissed off, I picked them off, placed one on a 2×4 and slammed it with the sledge hammer. I should have done what I always did before and do today which is cut them in half with scissors.
When I smashed the worm, yep, you know it, it splatted in my face!
Please dont use chemical to kill the worms, regardless of how safe they claim it to be, just pick them by hand and destroy them on site.
August 20th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
Ugh. I just remembered where I got my CSI instincts. I think I was a budding serial killer. My brother and I used to torture these hideous worms when we were kids. I have since redeemed myself however. I am now a teacher and plan to use the ones I picked off of my bell peppers for science. And explain why we should not torture living creatures…snicker snicker.
August 25th, 2011 at 4:36 am
I have the hornworm in my garden also. They are not in my tomato plants, They are in my moonflowers. I dont kill them either, They turn into a beautiful moth. What everyone here that has trouble with them. Ask your friends and neighbors, For seeds from there moonflowers.
August 28th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
The first thing I noticed was all the droppings on the ground…I had no idea that those huge worms were on my plants. I actually was setting out to prune my overgrown tomato plants when we discovered them…the kids had lots of fun causing them to “click” before sending them to the manure yard.
August 28th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
(to the commentors who think it’s cruel to hurt /kill these worms)
Good God people! Get your priorities straight. These worms don’t have more rights than you. They can kill your plants. Ever had the cat “provide” for you, wake you up in the night with a huge bird sized moth in their mouth and placed on your lips, while the cat howls at you to wake up? I have and still do. It’s no fun and gross. Don a glove, pick it off, fast pitch it into the fence and don’t look back.
(to the rest of us)
Re: garden pests
You’re gonna have pests.
When they eat more than you do, then you’re going to need to do something like spray or get / encourage the meat eaters like toads, praying mantis, spiders, etc.,. (don’t kill them, ruin their webs, you get the idea) if you don’t try to control it, you WILL eventually lose your garden and food.
Tree huggers, what about the poor plants? Sheesh!
August 29th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
ok we just got a hornworm from my tomato plant and its allmost dead what do i do to get it back up? oh and i got the horn worm as a pet now
August 29th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
I am in Florida where it is virtually impossible to just plant ANY veggies, especially tomatoes, and expect any good results. The soil is bad and every disease & bug is just waiting for the plants to come up out of the ground. The Tobacco Horned Worms are the WORST! After many hours every day, I managed to grow 4 beautiful tomatoe plants with Hundreds of beautiful healthy blooms and the foliage was awesome! Every day I would pollinate the plants and 4 weeks into my anticipation of seeing fruit, I went out to check them, and OMG!!! Foliage was gone on many limbs and I pulled off 11 Horned Worms! I had NO problem squashing each and EVERY one of them. My family is more important to me than a damn worm!
)
August 29th, 2011 at 3:42 pm
Heh, yeah, I actually BOUGHT one to keep as a pet believe it or not, and, as I recently found out, it is a ton of work!!!! I got it a tomato fruit, but apparently it prefers the leaves, it’s cool though, it’s a tobacco one.
August 29th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
What in the world would possess somebody to have a Hornworm for a pet? It’s not going to come when you call it! It won’t Sit, Stay or Roll Over. All it does is eat plants! I have a lot of lizards around my yard, they Love the hornworms. I pull the worms from the plants and put them in a dish they can’t get out of, but the lizards can get to them. I’m doing my part in helping along the “Food Chain”.
August 29th, 2011 at 8:44 pm
Found the darling caterpillars on my tomato plant accompanied by a ton of white, powdery-looking critters covering the stems. What are those things?
August 30th, 2011 at 9:47 am
I’ve always loved them tomater werms, since I was a kid.
People, maybe you hate them because they eat so much and can destroy your tomato plants, but please don’t squish them! Don’t you know caterpillars are candy for birds? Maybe put them in a bowl or someplace where the birds can get them- you want the birds eating the insects in your garden, right?
September 14th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
Welp, I just plucked one of these suckers off of my basil plant, well is WAS my basil plant…
I have/had a small basil plant in a pot on my balcony which I water every day, and when I came home today i too wondered if there had been some odd weather because all of it’s leaves were gone. While I was investigating I bumped into this giant green caterpillar. I jumped and screamed because this thing is HUGE!
I’m to inquisitive to squish it so it’s living in an apothecary jar in my kitchen. I’ve fed it tomatoes, squash and zucchini and I’m hoping it will cocoon. Last year I found a swallow tail and ‘hatched’ it.
Pretty cool.
September 18th, 2011 at 8:47 pm
I have the tomato horn worm also. They was not, on my tomato plants, They was on my moon flowers. They left all of my tomato plants alone.The type of moon flowers I have is the bush type, Not the vine. Ask your friends and neighbors for seeds for moonflowers. These worms turn into beautiful moths.
September 21st, 2011 at 9:34 pm
I have found 4 of the pests in one day and there are probably many more in my tomato plants
September 27th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
I am eight years old. I had a fun time looking up about the horn worms. I thought it was very cool to write a paper on the horn worm. I am happy because I found a horn worm in my tomato plant and I get to show it to my class. I will have a fun time showing it to my class. I will have a fun time sharing my paper that I wrote by myself and I looked up on the computer. My class will have a fun time looking at it and learning about it. from shyann
September 28th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
I am a photographer and have some gorgeous pictures of the worms. I have caught some dark videos of the moths. The other day there was one in my pool and it was barely alive. I pulled it out, took pictures and kept checking on it. I guess it recovered because it flew away. I can’t believe I got to hold the moth. If you’d like any of the pictures you are welcome to them.
October 3rd, 2011 at 2:10 pm
I just found a Tomato Horn Worm on my Potato tree. He/she is the size of a persons middle finger. HUGE! It is beautiful. I used to not like them but, upon reading the response’s here, I will let it stay. I just hope I do get to see it coccoon and emerge into a beautiful moth. I’m off to capture natures beautiful bugs on film. Enjoy!
October 4th, 2011 at 7:24 am
Well, now I’ve heard it all! Those things you call a “Beautiful Bug”, and you hope to see it cacoon and emerge into a Beautiful Moth, are actually destroying your crop! Trust me, there are enough of them that escape destruction, to never see extinction. But, if you care more about those Destructors, than your crops… Why Bother trying to grow in the first place? Frankly, I’m more concerned with my family’s nutrition than a stupid BUG!
October 24th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
today when i got home from school my dad showed me a bug he found while taking stuff out of the car,it was huge, fat, brown, and had a stinger?Me my dad and brother would like to know wht it is so plz tell me i have a go to youtube and look at the video, type a weird bug. plz respond
December 17th, 2011 at 10:13 am
I found a worm/caterpilar that looks very similar to a tomato horn worm, except it has no white markings, it is a dark olive green and the horn on the hind end is the same color. My dog dug it up out of the ground. Are there burroughing caterpilars? We are in Baja, Mexico, and the soil is very sandy.
March 20th, 2012 at 3:28 pm
“txmomsigns Says:
August 29th, 2011 at 8:44 pm
Found the darling caterpillars on my tomato plant accompanied by a ton of white, powdery-looking critters covering the stems. What are those things?”
txmomsigns, those “white, powdery-looking critters are probably the parasites that kill the horn-worm, I’d guess. Did you see the picture of the parasitized worm above?
April 23rd, 2012 at 6:39 pm
You actually don’t have to kill these beautiful creatures. You can just relocate them. As moths they don’t eat. So if you just relocate the caterpillar, he won’t be able to get back to you garden to eat your greens. It might be a worm now but he becomes a beautiful large moth. They don’t bite and are harmless except to defenseless veggies. So please relocate caterpillars/butterflies. Every time you kill a caterpillar you are killing some sort of butterfly.
April 23rd, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Hey Elenor… the more moths, butterflies as you call them, the more eggs are laid in garden soil and the more catepilars are there are to eat our food! If you want to save butterflies, stick to the Monarch, which ACTUALLY IS a Butterfly.
April 23rd, 2012 at 8:08 pm
Hey Elenore… the more moths, or butterflies as you call them, the more eggs are laid in garden soil and the more catepilars are there are to eat human food! If you want to save butterflies, stick to the Monarch, which ACTUALLY IS a Butterfly. Save them? I think not… I squash them! Feeding my family is more important to me.
April 23rd, 2012 at 9:54 pm
My my Sami, such anger. Why are you responding so personally and with such hostility? My dear, I live on 17 acres. I grow all my fruits and vegetables. i Have 2 walnut trees, I have a fig tree, two cherry trees, two apricot, two peach, three apple and a small garden with all my leafy greens and carrots. I also have coyote, fox, squirrel, MOTHS and yes even butterflies. My goodness to think I might know the difference. Let me go on. I have mt. Lion and I have bear, rabbits that want my carrots, deer that jump my fence. it is the price I gladly pay to see a deer in my yard. It is a sad So let me tell you about sharing the planet you selfish idiot. I live organically and I don’t have to kill anything. If a mt lion came in to attack me I would kill to protect. But a worm in my garden is no threat. I just remove them and we all live peacefully. You are a selfish ignorant wasteful person. Is feeding your family that hard that you can’t enjoy teaching your children what a caterpillar looks like and that it will one day be a beautiful moth or butterfly. There is plenty to go around. My goodness what crawled up your ass and bit you? Have a nice day.
April 24th, 2012 at 8:03 am
Elenore…
I’m very sorry you took my concern for my family, as anger! You must have anger issues yourself. Not all of us are fortunate enough to be living on 17 acres with lots of space to grow lots of vegetables. Some of us have limited space in which to grow our garden, and we can’t afford to have destructive little critters eating them. When you only have 3 tomato plants and the horn worms eat 2 of them, well… you do the math! If you want these destructive bugs to be relocated, feel free to come to Florida, get them and take them to your garden. HAVE A NICE DAY!
April 24th, 2012 at 9:49 am
Please Sami and Eleanor, please stop fighting over a public forum.
April 24th, 2012 at 10:35 am
Look I came on here and posted a nice comment to no one in particular. It is in no way rude or angry or mean. That is where sami comes in. I’m not angry or fighting with anyone. I find it amazing that this Sami attacked me and made comments that were not nice I’m am not here to upset anyone. I simply made a nice comment and was attacked. Maybe Sami should be removed since all her or his comments are rude and combative.
April 24th, 2012 at 7:34 pm
I am going to say this again this year. Four 3 years I had tomato plants, I did not have any trouble with the horn worm. WHY??????
I also have moon flower plants, The worm loves the moon flower plants. I even had the tomato plants next to the moon flowers, And the worm left the tomato plants alone. Get some moon flower plants and maybe the worm will leave your tomato plants alone.
April 25th, 2012 at 10:28 am
That’s great Rose. Thank you for the excellent info.
April 25th, 2012 at 8:01 pm
You are very welcome Eleanor, I hope it helps.
May 4th, 2012 at 7:55 pm
Thanks for all the pics. I always pick the hornworms off of my tomatoes, but usually only after they are big enough that they can’t be missed. Now that I know to look for the castings, it’s much easier to locate the caterpillars before they do too much damage. I sometimes keep one and feed it until it pupates and the moth emerges, so my grandkids can see them. This year, I’m trying to prevent them from hatching by destroying the eggs, so your pics of the egg was very helpful. Of course, it won’t be long until my tomato plants will be too big to check every leaf every day. The worms are getting an early start this year and will probably have at least four hatchings. I’ve read that they will have two hatchings each year, but here in the SE US, I’m pretty sure they normally have three hatchings. I usually am picking them off my tomatoes right up until late October or early November. This week, I have found over two dozen eggs and a couple of newly hatched caterpillars already.
May 16th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
I am with sammi I work my but off harrowing,spreading organic fertilizer tilling planting hoeing weeds praying for rain and darn if i am willing to share it with bugs and even deer I do not mind feeding hay to the deerin winter wich they eat with my horses however i do get upset when i plant my con and they promply eat the new plants as soon as they emerge every bug i see and worm i pick goes into my little cup of Acetone that extinguishes immediately .
May 16th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
Thanks, Gene… I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one who is more interested in growing my food for my family, than feeding Pesty Horn Worms!
This year, I dug up all the “Pre-worm” pods I could find, and so far… I haven’t seen any of the Pesty Critters. I planted “Bush Goliath” tomatoes this year and 14 days after planting, I have 4 clusters of blooms. Wow! I’ve never seen tomatoes bloom this fast. Sure hope the tomatoes come on through.
May 18th, 2012 at 12:42 pm
I gotta say I’m with Elanor. We also have a small plot of land like Sami and only grow about 4 tomato plants a year. Every year we find a couple of these pupae in the soil when getting the beds prepped and I just leave them there. I’ve never had an issue with them “destroying” the crop. Maybe eating a bit of the plant but it’s never affected the harvest. That’s just my experience though. Perhaps it was not your intention, Sami, but you did come across as a bit hostile and condescending. To each his own, right? If Elanor wants to simply move the worms rather than kill them and that works for her, then who cares? It’s your choice to kill them if you want also. That doesn’t make Elanor stupid if she chooses to spare them. I leave them on my plants altogether. Who cares? It works for me.
May 18th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
These little pests totally devoured my ghost chili plants (very hard to get) nothing left but the stems and they did it overnight.I am afraid they can not stay in my little garden , i will be at Home Depot in am getting some spray.
May 18th, 2012 at 10:23 pm
I agree with you Blair. I really dont have a problem with them either. They do eat plants other than tomatos. I know. They love my moon flowers. Plant moon flowers near your tomatos. The moon flower I have is the bush type. The flower blooms at night. and it looks like a giant Moring glory. When it gets its seeds, the seed pod is prickley. Last year I had the tomatos next to the moon flower, and the worm left the tomato plants alone.
May 22nd, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Hiya folks! I just want to share my experience from last years growing season in 2011. I planted a little late, but my tomato plants did AMAZING…that is EXCEPT for the destruction left by these adorable Tomato Worms. Also they did a fine job of eating and destroying many tomatoes that would have otherwise been beautiful and I’m sure…delicious! I had countless tomato worms and with my modest garden, I was really distraught over it.
So my theory is, if a few get by me and live, so be it…but I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure any tomato worm caterpiller is bird food. Thanks for listening.
May 24th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
I agree with “HomeinAz”… if any of the destructive Horn Worms get away, so be it. But I too, will make sure the birds have good meals of the ones I catch. Now… this year I’m trying something new to prevent the destruction the worms cause. I tilled the soil in my small garden, by hand and got rid of all the cocoons that I found. Then, I covered the garden bed with weed cloth, and mulch. It serves two purposes. 1. Any cocoons left behind, are trapped and can’t get out to eat my plants. 2. The cloth and mulch helps to keep the soil moist and I don’t have to water but once a week. When I planted, I just cut a hole for the plants. As my plants grow and time passes, I’ll see if my solution actually works. Wish me Luck!
May 26th, 2012 at 10:01 am
We found 4 of these giants amoung our dozen or so tomato plants. I hope we discovered them soon enough that the foliage can recover. Our’s are the tobacco variety with the straight white lines and are without the wasp parasites. I have isolated them with trimmings to estimate their verocious appetite.
June 9th, 2012 at 3:06 pm
I can identify with the destruction that these creatures can cause. Last year (2011) my boyfriend and I planted about 40 tomatoe plants of various varieties along with several dozen pepper plants and other plants and all our tomatoes and peppers were destroyed by these bugs. By the time we found them, it was too late and we lost 80% of our crop. We even had used Sevin dust to protect the plants but it didn’t work. It was bad enough that on top of that the rest of our crops didn’t do too well either like many others in our area. Everyone in our area complained of poor yielding crops aside from the plant munching bugs. Hopefully this year will be kind to us and will yield us bountiful crops. We not only feed ourselves, but try to grow enough to give to others in our family, neighborhood and friends as well with our crops.
June 15th, 2012 at 6:40 pm
My veggie garden is on the side of the house and so far worm-free. However, my flowers in the front yard are being eaten alive by these little green worms. I had no idea they ate such a variety of plants. One or two years ago, I found a worm on a basil plant (which was also away from my garden), but thought it was a fluke. Now I know it wasn’t. I have a nice bright variety of petunias, and they are eating both the leaves and the petals. Of course they blend in beautifully, but I intend to pick them off when I see them to preserve the color. If I find too many more, I may use one of the remedies mentioned.
June 16th, 2012 at 10:57 am
[...] found out these are fondly known as tomato hornworms. These can destroy our tomato plants, so yesterday we sprayed them with a Bt spray and are keeping [...]
June 17th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Dear people I am 13 and amused by the argument and I’m sure many other people are too. But there is a time when all fun things have to come to an end. To Sami I do think it is a bit rude of you to insult Renee as you did you can do whatever you want to with them. I however, am keeping mine as a pet until it metamorphosises 😊. Although I do not have any tomatoes so I guess I don’t know the pains of having tomatoes. I found it on some tree in my backyard. I am not exactly sure how it got there I live in the city and there isn’t a farm with tomatoes for miles around so if anyone has any ideas how it got here please tell. Laters!
June 18th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Frankly, these bugs disgust me. I’ve found two on my tomato plant, which they totally destroyed. They were almost parallel to each other on the same little branch, but I didn’t notice them right away. And I found another one, more recently, on one of my bell pepper plants, eating my big bell pepper. Needless to say I was pissed.
Both times these monsters were killed. Pried off of the plant with a stick and then smashed with said stick. And then I found another bug, a normal, smaller caterpillar that was very fuzzy, eating my strawberries. That one died too. I cannot stand bugs being in my garden. I swear they’re out to get me though.
June 24th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
They make great fish bait! One day and 3 entire branches were eaten off. :p … The bright side is that fish taste good.
June 26th, 2012 at 11:57 am
the moths are beautiful what I do is soon as I see droppings or start to notice I go around and pic them with the leaf they are on! they sometimes will die within a day or so but being the insane person I am I remove the non producing stems and leaves of my tomato plants and put it all in a bucket and feed them. if you are trying to conserve water this is good idea as the non flowering stems will need to be reduced anyway, then I move them somewhere else. I think it is worth it because the giant moths are beautiful! I like the comment on planting the moon flowers so the tom worms leave them alone will try that!! the white powdery things are probably aphids and believe it or not ants herd and milk them! but they are a disaster!
July 2nd, 2012 at 11:11 am
Hi,People.My friend and I saw two of these little suckers on my tomatoes after find it destroyed one plant.My friend poked it with her finger and it bit her.Then She poked it with a stick and it litteraly attacked the stick.It made us so mad that we got them on the ground and squished them until they DIED.teehee
July 8th, 2012 at 12:00 am
BT , a non toxic bacteria is good to deal with the larvae. It makes them feel full so they stop eating. Azatrol is a natural product from neem oil that works in multiple ways against multiple vile insects.
Apply either or both as soon as you plant tomatoes and then weekly. Don’t wait until you see a caterpillar.
July 10th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
I hate those things.
July 19th, 2012 at 8:38 pm
A simple and humane solution is to pick them off and place them in an old jar, or whatever you have around and place them in the freezer, this is a method of humane euthanasia. Once they are frozen, throw them to the birds or in the garbage or whatever makes sense for you.
July 20th, 2012 at 8:41 pm
A family member told us that corn starch sprinkled on the plants will run these suckers off. We tried it on our tomato plants and it worked great. Did not think about them getting the pepper plants but came home tonight and discovered all our pepper plants stripped of leaves and found only 1 worm on the last plant. Sucker got squished. Re-treated the tomato plants just to be safe.
July 21st, 2012 at 11:03 pm
gezz, I thought a grasshopper was eating my leaves , went back the next day and the whole pepper plant leaves were stripped clean, the big buggers even took big bites out of some of the peppers.Looked at my cherry tomato plant which was doing incredible, and noticed ALL the top of the plant the leaves were being stripped off it. I did locate 3 worms ( UGLY ) and removed them. will look to see if I can locate any of the pupa. Thank everyone for all the information and also this very informative web page. Thank-you.
July 23rd, 2012 at 9:49 pm
I just scraped off 8 big ass worms and put them out in a pile of bird seed . Bon apetite birdies .
August 16th, 2012 at 9:05 pm
I was fascinated by them at first….oddly..after years of growing tomatoes….this is the first time I have encountered them..but man..they do so much damage..destroyed my entire beefstake plant..picked off about 6 so far..just throw them in the grass for the birds…but might try to grow one into a moth now that I know what they become….good site..glad I found it..thnx…
August 23rd, 2012 at 1:45 am
I use to BUY these worms at the reptile store when i could get them and fed them to my bearded dragon lizard. If you have a pet store nearby you may be able to cash in on those suckers!!
August 25th, 2012 at 4:57 pm
Those little white things are called trichogramma wasp eggs. I just found one now. Really ugly things. Going to get some spray.
September 8th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
[...] spent my Sunday morning committing mass murder – a bloody green massacre in my garden. Green tomato horn worms had decided to descend upon my just ripening tomatoes. Now, I am not above sharing the bounty, but [...]
September 9th, 2012 at 11:04 am
Found only two recently. Both were about 2″ long but, one was covered with white eggs! Disposed of them and ….. none since. My guess is getting ride of the ones carrying the eggs helps to eliminate the evil tomato lovers.
September 9th, 2012 at 7:14 pm
The little white things on the horn worm is from a parasite from a wasp. They turn into a pupa, Then next year a beautiful Moth. I did not have any horn worms on my tomatos at all. I have moon flowers. They like the moon flowers.
September 10th, 2012 at 1:21 am
I just caught a hawkmoth that must have just emerged because his wings were still small. I picked him up and put him in my pet toad’s cage. I couldn’t believe it when my toad hoovered it in about 10 seconds! He is a small western toad, with a HUGE appetite. He can eat about 10, one-inch roaches a night!
September 12th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
I found about 10, 2 1/2 to 4′ long on our tomataos. The dear ate the plants, so im going to let them grow and show my children, 2 and 3 1/2, the life cycle. I think they are awsome to look at, next year we will plant plants that keep them away, rather then kill them or hurt them. I try to teach my children to not harm animals, and enjoy the ones you can watch grow. We also have giant praying mantis all over.
September 12th, 2012 at 8:26 pm
i have a huge green worm eating ny lilac bush -i have tomatoes and moon flowers-has anyone ever had a tom worm on lilacs
September 30th, 2012 at 8:39 am
Hi every one!
I live in Mallorca Spain and this morning I found my first ever Hornworm which was walking across my path in the woods Wilst I was out walking my dogs.
What a beautiful little creacher it was and I feel lucky to have seen it!
About tree weeks ago I had the biggest hawk moth (humming bird moth) in my loung which was wonderful to see.
October 11th, 2012 at 12:49 pm
Very interesting to read all the comments of those for and against the horn worms. Our family first noticed the gorgeous huge sphinx and hawk moths hovering around our flowers. They really do look like hummingbirds when you first see them. And of course as moths, they do in fact pollinate plants. We absolutely love those moths–one of the coolest insects on the planet as far as we’re concerned.
As much as I feel for those of you trying to grow a garden, now that we know that the horn worm (both the tomato and tobacco) turn into the sphinx and hawk moths, we’ll never harm one of those giant green caterpillars. As a matter of fact, we just saved one from a friend who was going to feed him to her chickens. He was great-big and green, so we named him Hulk–naturally enough. He ate about half of a red grape pretty quickly but didn’t seem all that interested in the other things we put into the container for him (wheat germ, dandelion greens, a mint leaf, slice of bell pepper and slice of tomato). And the very first evening we had him (last night), he buried himself under the soil we put into the container. We are looking forward to him coming out in his new duds–and releasing him so that he can pollinate fall flowers.
Here’s something I read on another site that might give folks a little different perspective–
“I happen to fall into that category of gardeners who don’t mind the nightshade-eating Manduca hornworms. While one can do some damage to a young plant, here in central Oklahoma, nature sends them late enough in the season, to ensure plants are well-established in their growth and foliage. Since hornworms also find the tender suckers as well as leaves, this pruning is beneficial to force more fruit, less leaves.
Our Manduca hornworms here are largely endangered, and I do NOT recommend or condone the killing of pupae or moths. We have too many tachinid flies [a non-native parasitoid and responsible for wiping out over 33 native giant silk moth species].
I strongly advise Oklahoma gardeners to give live hornworms to teachers and home schoolers to rear indoors for education. If a larva dies, it needs to be destroyed as it’s full of tachinid maggots.
By the way, in your picture of the adult M. quinquemaculata moth, the flower is not a morning glory, but a Datura moonflower. The relationship between the Datura and Manduca’s is completely mutualistic, too. This is one valid reason we need our sphinx [hawk] moths!”
October 12th, 2012 at 12:02 am
i cant tell if my tomatoe worm is dead its getting darker and it still stays bent when you move it. hut it still feels mushy though and i still have a feeling that its still alive but i dont know what to do
October 12th, 2012 at 11:13 am
melissa luque… if you want to make sure the worm is dead… smash it with a brick. Some people like those destructive critters, and while the Moths they turn into are beautiful, the WORM Destroys gardens. I don’t know about you, but the food from my garden is more important to me that a worm or moth. Good Luck with your garden.
May 12th, 2013 at 11:50 am
[...] but we did have a crappy tomato crop last year and this could be to blame. The caterpillar/worm causes a lot of damage to tomato plants, mostly chewing through leaves and [...]