Comments on: Tomato Horn Worms

By: janjan

janjan — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:37:06 +0000

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!

By: Darlene

Darlene — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:56:01 +0000

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…

By: Simonne

Simonne — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:09:06 +0000

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!

By: blackjack89

blackjack89 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:33:33 +0000

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.

By: JB Holmes

JB Holmes — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:11:36 +0000

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

By: Janet

Janet — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:57:25 +0000

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.

By: Mallie Hyde

Mallie Hyde — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:59:24 +0000

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?

By: liz

liz — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:57:58 +0000

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!!

By: Veronica

Veronica — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:47:20 +0000

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… ?

By: Campman612

Campman612 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:14:38 +0000

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.