horn worms

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by Starlight

So that's where these nightmare pests are coming from, the ground?

They are caterpillars of the Hummingbird Moth/Sphinx Moth/Five-spotted Hawk Moth, Manduca quinquemaculata. They come from eggs laid on your plants.

The caterpillars drop off the plant and pupate in the ground, and the adult moths emerge from the ground.

The eggs are rather beautiful and look like this:


(Here's a link to the page, in case they remove the hotlink: http://makebeautifulgarden.com/the-tomato-hornworm/)

Video of the adult moth, which is a nectar feeder:

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by gorbelly

They are caterpillars of the Hummingbird Moth/Sphinx Moth/Five-spotted Hawk Moth, Manduca quinquemaculata. They come from eggs laid on your plants.

The caterpillars drop off the plant and pupate in the ground, and the adult moths emerge from the ground.

The eggs are rather beautiful and look like this:


(Here's a link to the page, in case they remove the hotlink: http://makebeautifulgarden.com/the-tomato-hornworm/)

Video of the adult moth, which is a nectar feeder:

Thank you for the information. That is a beautiful looking egg. Guess I am going to have to look closer. I check my plants twice a day and check the leaves and hadn't seen any eggs at all which was why I couldn't figure out where they was coming from.

Maybe the eggs are on some of my flowering plants. Those I don't check as closely. Maybe I should start.

I'll start looking at ground now. I see signs of munching but no hornworms so maybe they dropped off and heading for the ground.

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by Starlight

I'll start looking at ground now. I see signs of munching but no hornworms so maybe they dropped off and heading for the ground.

You're not going to see the pupae on the ground. They burrow into the soil to pupate. And once they pupate, they can no longer eat your plants.

A lot of things could be eating your tomato plants, including different species of beetle and other caterpillars beside hornworms.

A tell-tale sign of hornworm is their distinctive looking frass (poop) which they leave on the foliage, or sometimes it falls to the ground.


(direct link if image doesn't show)

Here is a link with photos of all the life stages of this pest: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/field/hornworm.htm

[Starlight]

Yes! I was going to take a pic and post of this poop that all over my neighbors patio by where he has his tomatoes. We had been trying to think of what kind of critter would leave such funny looking frass. We had thought maybe chipmunks or racoon, but thanks to your pic the mystery is solved. He had swept it off and had more back again. I just gave him a call and told him and so he heading out to check his plants.

Now I know why I had found that funny looking frass on my sunflowers. They were by the peppers which hornworms had munched on.

If it wasn't for the copperheads that come out at night here and other slithery things, I would get a flashlight and go out and see if I could see this moth in person. Appreciate the links and knowledge.

[peppero]

Thanks Gorbelly for the info.

Jon

[gorbelly]

Found 2, each on a different plant. They were still small, between an inch and 1.5 inches. I left them out on the driveway for the birds. Saw some frass that looked like baby hornworm poop on another plant but no worm. That's a plant frequented by both birds and paper wasps, so maybe the problem was taken care of for me. Just minor damage--not enough to justify spraying with BT or spinosad, but now I'm obsessively picking over the plants when I go out. It's amazing to me how big and flashy these neon green worms with racing chevrons are when you finally see them... but how hard it is to see them in the first place.

[jillian]

Originally Posted by gorbelly

Found 2, each on a different plant. They were still small, between an inch and 1.5 inches. I left them out on the driveway for the birds. Saw some frass that looked like baby hornworm poop on another plant but no worm. That's a plant frequented by both birds and paper wasps, so maybe the problem was taken care of for me. Just minor damage--not enough to justify spraying with BT or spinosad, but now I'm obsessively picking over the plants when I go out. It's amazing to me how big and flashy these neon green worms with racing chevrons are when you finally see them... but how hard it is to see them in the first place.

This one was huge and preferred the peppers! I have not found any on tomatoes this year. Has anyone ever heard the noise it makes?

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by jillian

Has anyone ever heard the noise it makes?

They don't get to decent noise-making size in my garden because they get eaten pretty quickly by birds. But I found a video of it on youtube.



I dunno. I find myself harboring a grudging admiration for these guys. And I find the moths they become so interesting.

They still have to die, but I feel a little bad about doing the deed.

[dmforcier]

None of mine showed any interest in pods. Those must be (have been) some good pods!

[MrSalvage]

We found two of these nasty looking things so far. I took pictures of it because it looks so crazy.

[MissS]

Originally Posted by MrSalvage

We found two of these nasty looking things so far. I took pictures of it because it looks so crazy.

Yuk. I hope that you put those poor things out of their misery. It's too bad that you must have so many of those wasps because they will kill the good caterpillars too. I bet that you don't have many Monarch's flying around.

[dmforcier]

No! Let them go. The wasps are your insurance against future worm depredations. Let nature take its course.

[tash11]

I let the ones with wasps on them stay, but try to move them where I don't mind them eating. (like weeds, still trying to figure out which weeds they will eat).

I found two big ones yesterday and put them in a cup for my daughter. I pulled the whole leaf they were on and they ate it all in just a few hours. My daughter thinks they are neat, but too big for her toads to eat! She keeps poking them with chopsticks and trying to get them to fight each other.

[MarianneW]

I've had 4" ones appear over night from no where. I just can't figure out where they come from, there's nothing in at least 10-15' of my plants. I can hear them chomping when I walk up. I feel bad killing them, the moths pollinate the saguaros.

[imp]

Grackles seem to enjoy them a lot!