Fragments From Floyd

Thanks for the enlightening article. I've known since my father told me as a child that the white larva on the backs of these monsters were parasites that would eventually kill the host. What I didn't realize was the importance of allowing nature to take it's course so that the larva could reach adulthood and reproduce!

It seems there are more of these than usual this year.

I pulled 12 of these beasts off one plant. I'm curious-left to its own course, what does the horn worm turn into--moth, butterfly...? ms

I'm so glad to find your photo and article about the white wasp eggs on the horn tomato worm. I have seen some massive and ugly tomato worms in my life and so has my father. Today (8/24/2003) we discovered 3 dozen of the buggers on one of my fathers tomato plants! I don't think I have ever seen that many on one plant either. He wasn't very happy. He knew they were there about 3 days ago but at that time must have been to small for him to see or hiding very well. About 4 of them had the wasp eggs and we had no clue what they were until I discovered your page. THANKS! I did notice that they were not as active as the ones without and even noticed that they were a different (darker) shade of green. I just phoned my father to read your explaination...he was facinated. THANKS AGAIN! Jennifer, Chapel Hill, NC

http://www.umaine.edu/umext/york/par/photoTHW.htm

YOU STILL HAVEN'T TOLD OR SHOWN US WHAT THE WORM BECOMES IF ALLOWED TO COMPLETE ITS LIFE CYCLE

The tomato horn worm turns into the beautiful Hummingbird Moth. I don't mind the Horn worms at all. My plants have many leaves that I don't eat, so why not share! The horn worms in my garden didn't get the white larva on them. The worms finally darkened and dried up.

What do the cocoons look like? I have found many on the tomato stakes that look to me like praying mantis overwintering cocoons. Do hornworm's look like that? Tan, 1 1/2" by 1/2"; texture like a light fluffy styrofome peanut?
Thanks
Laura

When I was a child a lady next to our house grew the most gorgeous white flowers imaginable. They drew large beautiful moths. I just found out what they were. I intend to grow those flowers for their beauty and attract the moths for their beauty. The flower is datura inoxia and the moth is the product of the tomatoe horn worm.

If you love them, I can deliver them to your garden instead of mine. I hate these things- they not only eat leaves, but also chew on the tomatoes themselves, of course just enough of a nibble to ruin them.

I am sorry you are mistaken about what the tomato horn worn turns into. It does not turn into the Humming bird moth. It turns into a thick bodied narrow winged gray sphinx moth commonly called the "five spotted hawk moth". The Humming Bird Moth is indeed a sphinx moth, but only a relative of the tomato horn worm. There are about 100 species of sphinx moths. The five spotted hawk moth (tomato horn worm) and the humming bird moth are two differnt ones.
They do not spin a cocoon. They form a hard black pupae cases in the soil.
Below is a link to a picture of the adult of the tomato horn worm.
http://www.geocities.com/green_cache/tom_hornworm.html
So don't feel bad about killing tomato horm worms they do not form pretty moths.
BTW I also LOVE the humming bird moth

today a friend found the most wonderful worm like thing I have ever seen....I was about 5 inches long and about 1 inch thick...It was a brilliant turquoise color and had orangish brown long spikes on it's upper body and small black ones on it's body...the spikes on upper body are about 1 inch long. I took wonderful pictures of the thing and would love to share them and find out what it is.

When I was a kid and my dad was growing a garden, we hated tomato hornworms. My dad would toss them onto the patio, whereapon the local blue jay would swoop down and carry them off. We even --gross alert -- trained our dog to play with them until she tired of them, and then eat them.

Now I'm the adult with the garden and no dog. Our pet toad died last week and the day after I cleaned out her home, I discovered my first -- quite large -- hornworm. To allow my kids to observe it, I plucked a few sprigs of tomato plant, inserted them into a tiny vase, anchored it in the terrarium, and set the hornworm up for controlled eating and observation.

Guess who our pets are now? Two huge tomato hornworms, named Wasabe and Tomato -- and if we ever find a third one, "Leafy". I have to refresh their food supply twice a day. I find it amusing that I'm now caring for creatures I hated, but then again -- this way I can appreciate God's creation without God's creation eating my tomatoes.

If they pupate underground, I guess I won't be able to observe the rest of their lifecycle -- not sure if I'm willing to have my terrarium tied-up that long. I'm assuming a hard-shelled underground stage would be significantly longer than a cocooned above-ground stage. Any thoughts on this?

I foung a 3 in beautiful green worm, I think it is a tomato worm, and I wonder if it turns into a butterfly. I don`t have any tomatoes, I found it on a tree. I put it into a large container with grass, leaves, and sticks. It seems to have started to enclose itself in a cacoon around the stick. Should I open the container and let it go back to nature?

does anyone know what to use to keep these worms off of tomato plants?

Carol: Next season try companion plantings, marigolds (the tall old-fashioned orange ones, not the dwarf border varieties) and/or elephant garlic both work very well...or spray reguarly with a BT solution.

I found about 5 small small worms on one of my tomate plant . three had the wasp eggs on them . my question is , how did they just show up being an inch long on the plants that were on my porch . there many in my larger garden . they got their start on the pepper plants and ate a lot of the leaves off the plants that my husband planted before they got to the ones that I planted. (I grew them from seeds).

I picked 5 off of one of my plants the other day and moved them away from the tomato plants. My question is how long it takes for the wasp larvae to 1) kill the hornworm, and 2) become an egg layer itself.
Thanks for the info!

I have been picking off these awful worms for the past few days and the count is at 14. I have 12 tomato plants and I keep hoping that they'll die soon, but after reading some of these posts, I guess I'll probably find more before they're done. How did these things get here? And where are those wasp larvae when I need them? Do they show up more in hot climates? I never had them when I had a garden in Utah, but this is my first summer in Oklahoma and here they are! Luckily they are keeping to the tomato plants and leaving my peppers alone. Perhaps the jalapenos are too spicy for them.

It's our first growing season in NM. Couldn't figure out what the huge green thing was at our back door. 5 inches long and 1 inch wide. Neighbor told me it was a tomato worm. Good grief, they grow them big here. It's been munching on the plants for weeks, first time they have been seen. ICK!!!

These worms love my potato vine, which grows over my Koi pond. So as I pick them off I toss them to the fish and they just Suck um Up! Ummm Good!

I have found that these make fantastic bait at our catfish pond. I have been picking them and feeding them until they get big enough to fish with. The first time I tried them I caught five fish with the same worm. That'll teach them for eation my tomato plants.

I have found a horn worm on my tomatoe plant. I put it into water, and I havent seen another yet. But how did this horn worm come to be in my garden and will there be anymore and how big do these creatures start out to be. one day there was no horn worm then the next there was an inch and a half sized one on my tomatoe plant.

best way to get wasp larvae is to have the little cacoons sent from someone that has them on their Hornworms.

How many do you want? :-)

530 High St.
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Bath, ME 04530

Regarding posting by Cindy Hart, 9/12/04, that was likely the larva of a luna moth. They look a lot like tomato horn worms, but feed on tree leaves, particularly beech trees.