bridget:
Over here they turn into a moth called the humming bird hawk moth, also known as The Sphinx moth.
There are lots of different hawk moths with slight variations in the caterpiller stage.
The "horn", armor , and antics as far as I know are a big show to scare off predators,.
The moths themselves are huge and also very strong.
I found one sitting in my emerald green arborvertea's this late summer.
It was a beautiful creature,and was royally p.o.'d when I caught him in a glass jar.
He was the size of a hummingbird and beat his wings so hard against the glass I had to realease him quicker than I wanted too,.... thought the little bugger might really hurt itself.
In the caterpillar stage,.... found on the tomato plants,..... gets them a free ride out of the garden, for it's chances elsewhere! :)

I pick off a couple of hornworms every time I survey my plants, I suppose. But what to do to dispatch them? The birds don't seem too interested. Sometimes I toss them over the edge of the hill and hope that they don't crawl back.

Tonight I picked off quite a large one, decided to just step on it. Pop!
I am disgusted.
I mean Ew!

Gary

I walk around with a pair of sharp bonzai scissors. skip them in half right on the plant. Sometimes when I can get them off the plant I put them into the fish pond. they sink.

I purchased them from Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Very nice scissors. The thin blade gets right under the caterpillar. easy to cut in half with these.

But most any scissors will work. a good wound and he will die.

Here is a link that might be useful: scissors

Great scissors dan,
The parasitic wasp egg laying trick, posted here last winter or so takes the prize, I believe.
Kinda like Natures justice for all of us who have been startled by such a weird creature snacking on the tomato leaves.
bridgid, You might find it by a search in this forum.
Tom

I have seen only two of hornworms in about six or seven years, and those I've seen were studded with wasp eggs.

It's very important that in your garden you create an environment that attracts beneficial insects to come and knock out the bad bugs.

I'll paste in a link to a fact-sheet from Colorado State which has a minimal list and picts on bennies. This list and fact-sheet are a starting point because there are more bugs and more plants that will help you control bugs in the garden. If you make an effort to include some of these plants and you will see a decline in pest bugs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Beneficial insects

I take a plastic cup and fill it halfway with water then add a dash of dish soap. I put the cup under the hornworm and take my scissors and cut off the leaf it's attached to. The dish soap makes it too slippery for the worm to crawl out and it drowns in a few minutes. Now if I could only deal with those disgusting slugs...

I'm surprised that gardeners are not using BT (Bacillus thuringensis), e.g., Dipel, Thuricide, which is considered very effective, especially on smaller larvae. Hornworms with eggs on the insect's back, if found, should be left in the garden so the emerging wasps can parasitize other hornworms.

Here is a link that might be useful: tomato hornworm info

Hi all. In respect to the tomato hornworm problem I've found out that they like Brugsmansia (sp?) better than tomato plants. I planted a few Datura along my property and found that they attract the hornworm away from the tomato plants. Never had a single one attack the tomatoes but did have a fat one eating the Datura a few feet away. The Datura is of the same family as tomato, potato, tobacco and all the other nightshades so it stands to reason that there might be a favorite among those. Awful creatures, those.

speaking of them things. i was out tending the tomato jungle two days ago and when i looked up from what i was doing, there was one not 5 inches from my face. scared the poop out of me...no, not really. It was quite frightning though. the sucker was about 4 or 5 inches long and at least as FAT as my pinky. told the hubby to come take care of it, but he was busy playing stupid Halo 3, and didn't get around to it. next morning i found it again, took my home-made tomato picker (3 feet long thing with a basket at the end), picked it off and dumped it in the garbage can. i heard it make a loud thud. disgusting! obtw, do they leave behind any frothy looking afterstuff? I found some of that under the leaves of my basils. thats pretty gross too.

Your story made me laugh. How many of us have had that happen - just when you think your alone... dunt dunt dah... you turn around and you have a big (alarmingly big) green caterpiller looking at you!? The color of them almost camo'd by the leaves... Thanks for the laugh.

Tom-

If you only have a few pests due to healthy soil and plants, and also have the time to inspect the crop for signs of pests, you may find the egg before it does it's thing and leaves that slimy stuff tessa saw.
It is generally white and stuck to the underside of a leaf.
I found a clearwing hummingbird hawkmoth under the canopy of mesh over my garden earlier in late summer.
I thought at first it was a bumblebee however it was orange w/ black stripes and clear red colored wings.
If you can stand the sight of them in the "hornworm" stage and relocate them or be lucky enough that they eat other stuff than your mator branches, it is a facinating and wonder full sight.

BT works immediately but also if you just plant cilantro with the tomatoes, you will never see a hornworm.

jbann23, interesting you experience with Brugsmansia, I find hornworms on my tomatoes on every inspection, never have found one on my Brugsmansia! (have found them on my pepper plants, though).

I wonder what accounts for our differing experiences.

Gary

found 3! more today!!! one was a giant (but it was almost black. anyone know why?) the other was 1/2 that size, and the 3rd must have been a newborn. still gross.

coolbythecoast, in addition to having Datura growing nearby I had planted a lot of Marigold at the base of the tomato plants to discourage weeds and water splash. I've heard that they can also discourage insects yet attract spider mites. Possibly they rendered the Datura as more favorable since the aroma of Marigold wasn't so intense there. Does make one wonder though. Best Regards.

Try Googling the word "hornworm". Very interesting reading at a couple sites.

found another one this morning! it was even bigger than the giant black one and when i went to pick it off (with the picker of course) it attacked !!! and spewed out some dark green juice. YUCK!!!!

Here is a good site for what you all are seeing in the early stage.
Some pics also of a very dark brown blackish one.
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/clearwing_moth.html

Tom

Posted by coolbythecoast

I pick off a couple of hornworms every time I survey my plants, I suppose. But what to do to dispatch them? The birds don't seem too interested. Sometimes I toss them over the edge of the hill and hope that they don't crawl back.

Tonight I picked off quite a large one, decided to just step on it. Pop!

I am disgusted.
I mean Ew!

Gary

I use the "step on them" approach. It seems quick. But the first few attempts were really gross. Now I have the foot positioning down and know to toss the worm onto a firm spot before stepping on it. A friend I garden with refers to my dispatch method as "playing GOD" She prefers to toss them over the fence onto the asphalt road. If they make it back to the garden she feels they have earned it. Seems inhuman to me. Our local paper ran a hornworm article. The writer puts his on the driveway and has his kids use them as a bike obstacle course. Now something is wrong with that in my opinion...I'll stick with the squish em quick technique. Guess everyone has their own opinion....and I know mine changed after finding the first 20 or so. They lost their cuteness after that.