Hornworms and Tomato Plants
This is a Tobacco Hornworm. Notice its red horn.
There are two types of hornworms - Tomato and Tobacco. They look almost identical. Both attack tomato plants! Hornworms might be one of the most shocking creatures you’ll find in your garden! These caterpillars get to be up to 4 inches! In our area, they primarily affect tomato plants in the spring and fall. How will you know if you have hornworms on your tomato plants? Trust us. You’ll know!
Hornworms will strip your foliage from your tomato plants what seems like overnight! They are voracious eaters!
You’ll notice your leaves on your tomato plants are literally - gone. Stripped. It’s honestly unbelievable - and it happens so quickly!
Hornworm poo - it’s shocking too. Sometimes you find this before you notice the damage to the foliage on your plants.
Sometimes you notice the droppings or “frass” of the hornworms before you notice anything else. Especially if your tomato plants are full-grown - the hornworms oftentimes start at the very top where it’s harder to see them or the damage they are causing. Watch for the frass on your plants. If there’s frass - start working your way up your plant - you’ll find the hornworms!
Tomato Hornworms and Tobacco Hornworms - What’s the Difference?
Not much, really - but it’s interesting to know what kind you’re dealing with if you find them in your garden.
The tobacco hornworm is green and has diagonal white stripes with black outlines along its body, and a distinctive orange-red tail spine. What we call the “horn” is actually on the tail of the caterpillar.
Tobacco Hornworms turn into Carolina Sphinx Moths.
The tomato hornworm is green with white “V” markings along its back. Its horn is black instead of red.
The Tomato Hornworm turns into the Five Spotted Hawk Moth. Even the moths look almost identical!
Treating for Hornworms
When we find these in gardens, we simply hand-remove the caterpillars and drown them in water. It’s frustrating, gross, time consuming, and even kind of sad - but it usually always works. If you find one hornworm - there will usually be a lot of them. You can remove the bulk of the pests, but then you’ll will need to check the plants daily for about a week to make sure you got all of them. You can also treat with BT after you hand remove all the larger caterpillars. BT only works on the small caterpillars. Read all about using BT HERE.
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