Triple, ever since the first day I ever planted anything (a rose...and about 200 years ago), I've been obsessive about my plants. So if something ate anything, I would know. I recall an ongoing battle between me and one squirrel that to this day, I did not find a way to kill, LOL. (Another "bug" if you ask me.) Out of hundreds of tomatoes, we actually ate about 20 total thanks to that demon. Speaking of demons, I have one resident squirrel here. He is eyeing my bushes and I am eyeing him. I'm older since that last battle and have less patience--let's just leave it at that for now. LOL But on GW/Houzz, I've seen so many people post about hornworms and I shudder each time I see one, praising sweet baby Jesus that I never, ever had one. Until this year. It just obliterated big stems of all the leaves and growth. I feel like I am down to about half the potential tomatoes I had--and this poor thing is a determinate plant so it's not like I can wait for the next round. Very strange, too, because I have 7 total tomato plants here and only this one, which was technically the most robust one, is the one that got hornworms. It is, of course, the only one where I have one plant of this variety, too. Ain't life grand? :) (Meanwhile, it was two tomato hornworms that came back to triple's backyard six times each...Haha.)

I'd keep it where it can experience temps similar to outside. My sphinx moth book says even in CA, they are two broods at the most so the moth should be out sometime next year.

Thanks vgkg and Patti. Yes, vgkg, I've had the wasp eggs on the hornworms, but haven't seen any of them this year. I don't even have the hornworms out in my garden........just on the deck. I went out this afternoon to look at it, and it's gone. Couldn't even see all the other smaller ones. They're pretty good at blending in though. I hope nothing got them. I don't think chipmunks would eat them, would they? I have a chipmunk that likes to sit on the deck railing in the sun. :)

I mostly plant dill around the processing tomatoes out in the garden beds, and sometimes I tuck in some cilantro. I also have pink buckwheat adjacent to the tomatoes. I grow one tomato for snacking on in the kitchen garden- it's in a container. I plant dill around it, and I also have planters of parsley and sometimes cilantro around it. I tend to let some mustards and carrots go to bloom through the year, and have a lot of bronze fennel too.