Gardening

Question

Can anyone tell me what this is and how to get rid of them? I found 4 of them eating my tomato's.

Catherine Smith · Answer

These are tomato horn worms. Please see this site for help controlling them. http://www.ehow.com/about_4587562_tomato-hornworms.html However, these do turn into a sphinx moth which resemble hummingbirds. We picked several off our plants, put them in quart fruit jars with air holes in the lids and fed them some of the tomato stems and leaves. The nieces and nephews were fascinated watching them turn. It's a great project with kids.

KMS Woodworks · Answer

your not alone see this post http://www.hometalk.com/diy/q-tomato-slugs-1383504

Rita and Cane · Answer

What a cool-looking creature!

Miriam Illions · Answer

That looks like a ribbon with small grommets. So cool!

Patricia W · Answer

Horn worms!!! Worse than slugs!

Rose Rhyner · Answer

Please don't kill it - I look forward to seeing the Sphinx moths here in Northwestern Ontario - As an adult I have only begun to see these moths - every year my spring is complete once I see this magical moth that looks like a hummingbird in many ways - they are often seen around the lilacs. I've shown neighbour kids and now they look for them too. They have reported their sightings. Kids observing their environment. Thing of beauty.

Lily White · Answer

Horn worms have absolutely destroyed my plants in the past. I cannot get over the destruction they can do overnight. In my opinion, they are the creepiest insect out there. Where the heck do they appear from?

Mary Anderson · Answer

And, they're super strong. We brushed a blades of grass across the back of one, he bent back, grabbed the grass and tugged it out of our hands! They are pretty destructive critters...but pretty cool, too. I left them on my plants a few years ago, but never saw the moth. :(

Vicki · Answer

please do not destroy. I would love to have them, I wish u can give me those and I will take care of them to feed them and let them go free when they are sphinx moths that look like hummingbirds at night time that we enjoy watching them on our swingers right in our back yard to admire the beauty of nature.

Paula Skulina · Answer

They also are the host for parasitic wasps which are beneficial to gardeners.

Wendy Stahl-Frakes · Answer

My grandparents taught me not to kill them, but to let them eat the tomato leaves, this letting the sunlight into the plant to ripen the tomatoes...has worked for over 30 years...Yes the plants look a frlght, but the plant does not need the leaves.....without the leaves, more energy from the plant goes to the tomato...to grow and grow

Caley's Culinaries · Answer

They will eat the tomatoes too. When we lived in OH, there are not as many on the plants. Every time I've had them in the South they killed the plants. There is a bacteria that will get rid of most of them. It's in any product that says Bt and it's widely available. Chickens will eat them too, but they will also start in on the tomatoes eventually. Tomatoes are tasty!

Sharon E. Hines · Answer

what an amazing looking insect.

Karen K · Answer

we had these a few yrs ago. on our hot pepper plants.

Diane P · Answer

I remember mom picking them off the tomatoe plants as a kid.

Lucille B · Answer

Rose and Vicki. Plant some tomatoes, you'll get them!

Patricia C · Answer

Horn worms!!!Ugly bug-nasty too. Will fight back if you try to brush from plant!!!

Kellyann B · Answer

There are 2, the Tomato horn worm and the Tobacco horn worm, differentiated only by the white & black stripes (or V's) on their backs.  Here in Tx, we are more likely to see the Tobacco worm, which will not only devour a tomato plant, but also a pepper plant over night and they love love my Datura (Devils trumpet, Angels trumpet, Moon flower).  Relocate them to somewhere if you can.  I grow Datura in a corner of my yard specifically to relocate the horn worms.  They come back fast and the worm doesn't kill them off.  And watching the Hummingbird moths in the evening is like watching the Hummingbirds during the day.........Amazing!!

Elaine Talbert · Answer

Give them their own tomato plant, you surely can spare one! They become the most beautiful 'hummingbird' moths, and do their part in the pollination process. Please do a little research and spare some of these critters.

Leslie G · Answer

Thank goodness! I picked one of these off of my potato plant and threw it to my chickens. It was about 4-5 inches long! Biggest caterpillar I'd ever seen!.. After I'd done it I was afraid that I'd fed a Monarch Butterfly caterpillar to my girls... Glad to know it was an undesirable!

Vicki Maharaj · Answer

They eat more than tomato plants, they tore up an angel trumpet and other plants.

Jenny Belman · Answer

Looking very pretty! This one is called tomato horn warm and they are not your plant's enemy. So enjoy their activities with growing tomatoes.

Sherry LaSota · Answer

I snickered when Kelly Ann said 'relocate them..' but, I didn't know they turned into hummingbird moths - that becomes a different story. They are fascinating to look at but so big and creepy! Hmmmm - I guess giving them their own corner to eat would be worth it to have the big moths. My cats love chasing them!

Kellyann B · Answer

haha!! That's ok Sherry, I can take the 'snickers'. LOL I know I was mortified the day I walked out to find pepper 'sticks' instead of plants & the first time they devoured my Prized Moon flower plant. Oh Wow!! Datura come back so fast, the worms literally never have to leave and since I've given them their 'own corner', I don't see them as much on the tomatoes, peppers or datura and when I do, they go to the Datura Days Inn, as well!! :)) Good Luck with yours Denise!!

Denise O · Answer

Thank you everyone for your help. I have relocated them to the compost pile where they can become moths.

Mary Murray · Answer

Yes there cut worms and if you plant garlic around you tomatoes they won't come near them..

Kathi D · Answer

One other downside to the hornworms is that they are host bodies to wasps and hornets.  Insects lay their eggs under the skin of the hornworm and soon white egg-shaped larvae pop out of it's back.  It looks like a walking egg carton.  The wasp larvae feed on the host worm, eventually killing it.  So, if you ever see one with white lumps sticking out of it, kill it.  It will die anyway and you will be lowering the number of wasps and hornets in your yard.

Cheryl Phillips · Answer

My Aunt ended up in the hospital for 7 days with a wicked infection in her calf due to one of these things biting her. Her leg swelled up twice the size, needed IV antibiotics.

Grace Adkins · Answer

as long as it's not on my plants I don't care what it is.

141737 · Answer

It's a tobacco hornworm (7 diagonal stripes and red horns). Tomato hornworms have 8 V -shaped markings and black horns. Both like to munch the same things.

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