Hornworms!

[Labradors]

Oh no! The hornworms are here, and have been for a while it seems.

I picked off three 1" long hornworms from my tomatoes today. Apparently, they prefer Fred's varieties, as they targetted Blush x 2, Benevento, Rainbow Jazz Heart and Sunrise Bumblebee. The other 11 varieties seem to be hornworm-free! They certainly have great taste!!!!!!

The chickens enjoyed their free meal .

Linda

[MissS]

Now you have me wondering if the moths have a preference on which variety they lay eggs on. Hmm...

[rdback]

This guy was on my Amarylla tomatillo.

Hornworm IMG_20220728_140058441~2.jpg

[Labradors]

The NERVE! It's a biggie!

Pulled one of a Blush today. Just over an inch long and looking plump. It made one of the chickens happy .

Found another on Rainbow Jazz Heart. The chickens come running when they see me approaching from the tomato patch!

Linda

[slugworth]

Forgot what they look like.

[brownrexx]

I have only seen 2 this year and they were covered with wasp eggs so I left them alone. I just saw the one last evening and it was totally deflated and hanging.

[karstopography]

Mine never have wasp eggs. Fortunately, bt takes the out lickity split.

[bower]

We have never seen them here, but never say never! There are a load of weird insects turning up, everything from multiple types of grasshopper to huge furry caterpillars and more. Even a lacewing showed up, that was nice. I believe the flying stages of less hardy things do commonly blow over here from the mainland at some point every summer.
Also the garden is just a riot of bugs since we had some rain, they're going nuts out there.
Your chickens would be welcome dinner guests!

[brownrexx]

@karstopography the reason that I notice them is because they are so covered with wasp eggs that they look like a big white mass on the plant.

They are not a big problem for me. On 17 tomato plants I have only seen 2 hornworms.

[pondgardener]

I haven't seen a hornworm in over ten years, although I see the hawk moths that lay the eggs. The damn house sparrows that are so prevalent here take care of most caterpillars and insects, to the demise of butterfly larvae. But they leave the Japanese and cucumber beetles alone...

[eyegrotom]

I just picked one off this morning the second one this week and both on the same plant. That makes 5 or 6 this year.