Hookworm Help

HoustonHeat · June 20, 2017

OK fellow tomato-files do not beat me up too much. But after discovering my first hookworm my wife thought it was cute and we decided to sacrifice a plant in a 5 gallon bucket that was not producing. We sat the bucket on our patio and enjoyed watching the monster for a week or so... I assumed it would pupa in a cocoon hanging from a limb, but a few days ago it disappeared. I now have read they go underground. I want to find this thing before it moths off and lays 20 more eggs. Good news is I can see them so no huge worries.

Question: Logically he should have borrowed into the dirt in the 5 gallon bucket but I could not see a hole or disturbed soil. Does anyone know how far these will migrate from the plant, or should he be down in the bucket. I guess this weekend I will be transplanting to find out.

MissS · June 20, 2017

No, you will not find a hole. It will cover it's tracks quite well. It will burrow down about 4" into the soil and make a chrysalis. Which is a brown hard shell around itself. It may or may not be in the pot. Good luck finding it.

Worth1 · June 20, 2017

A hookworm is a mammal parasite including humans.

Nasty things.
Worth

Rockporter · June 20, 2017

Is that not a Hornworm?

Worth1 · June 20, 2017

It is a hornworm.
Worth

Rockporter · June 20, 2017

Oh, and I'm not laughing. I think it would be fascinating to watch that but I don't have enough tomato plants to let that happen.

HoustonHeat · June 20, 2017

Yes I meant hornworm. Sorry...

Worth1 · June 20, 2017

I knew what you ment.
Sevin will kill them fast BT slower.

Worth

dmforcier · June 20, 2017

Is there some foliage you could move them to? If you leave them alive they will attract parasitic wasps. The wasps will return every year and kill them before you can find them. Then no need for pesticide.

Btw, hookworm are much more dangerous than hornworm.

ginger2778 · June 20, 2017

Still thinking of that radiolab piece. Every time I hear hookworms it reminds me.

https://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio...amp-2010?act=3

BigVanVader · June 20, 2017

Another benefit to having no bare ground in my garden. These things cook on the plastic looking for somewhere to burrow or more often the birds get em.

pmcgrady · June 20, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmforcier

Is there some foliage you could move them to? If you leave them alive they will attract parasitic wasps. The wasps will return every year and kill them before you can find them. Then no need for pesticide.

Btw, hookworm are much more dangerous than hornworm.

Wasps get them here to, you will see white eggs laid all over them, when the eggs hatch the hornworm won't be around long.

HoustonHeat · June 20, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmforcier

Is there some foliage you could move them to? If you leave them alive they will attract parasitic wasps. The wasps will return every year and kill them before you can find them. Then no need for pesticide.

Btw, hookworm are much more dangerous than hornworm.

That was actually what I was hoping for and that I would get more wasps but no such luck.

dmforcier · June 20, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Still thinking of that radiolab piece. Every time I hear hookworms it reminds me.

https://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio...amp-2010?act=3

I know. That radio show is now forever hooked to hookworm in my head.

Not that I have hookworm in my head .. Oh you know what I mean.

gorbelly · June 21, 2017

The hornworm could also just be dead. Something may have eaten it. Parasitoids aren't their only enemies. Many birds enjoy hornworms, and if you have paper wasps in the area, they will take apart and cart off even very large hornworms.

I actually found a very well filmed YouTube video showing this, but honestly it's kind of gruesome, so I didn't post it.

June 20, 2017	#2
MissS Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin Posts: 3,146	No, you will not find a hole. It will cover it's tracks quite well. It will burrow down about 4" into the soil and make a chrysalis. Which is a brown hard shell around itself. It may or may not be in the pot. Good luck finding it. __________________ ~ Patti ~

June 20, 2017	#4
Rockporter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Texas Coastal Bend Posts: 3,205	Is that not a Hornworm? __________________ In the spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt ~Margaret Atwood~

June 20, 2017	#6
Rockporter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Texas Coastal Bend Posts: 3,205	Oh, and I'm not laughing. I think it would be fascinating to watch that but I don't have enough tomato plants to let that happen. __________________ In the spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt ~Margaret Atwood~

June 20, 2017	#9
dmforcier Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 3,825	Is there some foliage you could move them to? If you leave them alive they will attract parasitic wasps. The wasps will return every year and kill them before you can find them. Then no need for pesticide. Btw, hookworm are much more dangerous than hornworm. __________________ Stupidity got us into this mess. Why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers

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June 20, 2017	#3
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	A hookworm is a mammal parasite including humans. Nasty things. Worth

June 20, 2017	#7
HoustonHeat Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2017 Location: Houston Zone 9A Posts: 132	Yes I meant hornworm. Sorry...

June 20, 2017	#10
ginger2778 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Plantation, Florida zone 10 Posts: 9,283	Still thinking of that radiolab piece. Every time I hear hookworms it reminds me. https://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio...amp-2010?act=3

June 20, 2017	#11
BigVanVader Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Greenville, South Carolina Posts: 3,099	Another benefit to having no bare ground in my garden. These things cook on the plastic looking for somewhere to burrow or more often the birds get em.

June 21, 2017	#15
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	The hornworm could also just be dead. Something may have eaten it. Parasitoids aren't their only enemies. Many birds enjoy hornworms, and if you have paper wasps in the area, they will take apart and cart off even very large hornworms. I actually found a very well filmed YouTube video showing this, but honestly it's kind of gruesome, so I didn't post it.