hornworms

ddl · Jul 12, 2014

Do the rest of you guys have a big yellow hornworm that is coming out of the weeds after all the rain. Down here is southwest kansas/oklahoma they are so thick its like a biblical horde. About 4-5 inches long and looks similar to a tomato worm. What i can find is that they are sphinx moth caterpillars. What do you all think?

Bob · Jul 13, 2014

"What do you all think?"

Well, I think I am glad you have them and not me!

(Of course, we have lots of the North Dakota state bird, LARGE and very hungry mosquitoes!)

TomH in PA · Jul 13, 2014

I think if something like that crawled out of the weeds around here you would hear gunshots.

Kansas Cockshutt · Jul 13, 2014

Yes, some roads are alive with them crawling across. More bugs then ever, lightening bugs, mosquitos, beetles, everything has multiplied. All the toads are fat and happy, even seeing more lizards then ever before. Amazing what all the rain brings.

bja105 · Jul 13, 2014

Three years ago, I thought I was getting deer eating the foiliage of my tomatoes. Eventually I found frass, caterpillar manure. The hornworms are huge. You can hear them chewing! Their camouflage is perfect, they look like a curled tomato leaf.

The one with the egg like things on its back is about to be dead from tiny parasitic wasps. I left those on the tomatoes, to breed the next generation of Braconid wasps.

I don't have my chickens at this property, but I bet they would have loved the hornworms. I didn't take them home for the birds, though, because I didn't want to introduce them at my home garden. I bet they are there anyway. Tomato and tobacco hornworms eat any member of the nightshade family.

redtom · Jul 13, 2014

When I was a kid I'd knock em off the tomato where they would fall and curl up. Then I would put a firecracker in the curl and run like heck. Boom...splat!

hornworms

ddl

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Bob

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TomH in PA

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Kansas Cockshutt

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bja105

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redtom

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