Hornworm? Pic and need solution

[Halfway]

Ok, got a handle on slugs and cabbage lopper eating my first tomatoes, now I have this guy!!

My research shows it is a hornworm?

I have not used any pesticides (organic or chemical) at this point.

Can I get some recommendations for both organic and chemical solutions?

Thank you!

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[soil]

birds, you need more birds. they LOVE those things.

and ps: it doesnt look like a hornworm to me.

[rainbowgardener]

To start with, I'm not sure your guy is a hornworm. Hornworms are usually green and are named after the horn they have on their rear end:

https://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/naturephotos/tomato-hornworm-braconids050916-6227durhamz.jpg

I did see one variety listed that is something like yours

Achemon Sphinx (“Hornless Hornwormâ€

[gixxerific]

That is not a hornworm this is a hornworm actually a tobacco hornworm.

[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/DSC02581.jpg[/img]

Hand picking is your best defense. Read [url=https://organicgardensite.com/bugs-harmful/tomato-horn-worms/]this[/url] it may help/

Good luck. This will do for most worms of this nature.

[Halfway]

Thanks folks! I've been reseraching this critter since my original post. The color has thrown me. I noticed a "black tomato hornworm", but it had prominent "V" markings.

This guy has left the exact holes and scars as I see in the horworm posts on this board, so that was my first guess.

We have tons of birds and I even have nesting robins within 25 feet of those plants. He was deep in the center of the cage on a 3 inch tomato. I only found him by reaching in and getting a better look at the tomato. Yeah, it was a surprise to grab him on the backside!

I see BT is common, but I'd rather stay chem free at this point.

Any other recommendations for prevention?

I'm still digging!

[Halfway]

Thanks for the link gixx!

[TZ -OH6]

Its a tomato fruitworm=corn earworm. They like to attack the top of the tomato next to the sepals and are hard to see there. They also like to hide near the stem, or if the plant is on a stake they will hide on the stake if it is the same color (the worms can be either brown or green). I have had small ones hide on the brown wire of the cage. The smallest/youngest ones eat the leaves.



I am not sure if they are like hornworms and glow under black light. If they are you can hunt them at night if you have a portable black light.

[gixxerific]

Halfway BT is safe and there should be no problems with it. It is a bacteria not a a chemical.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis

from THZ

I am not sure if they are like hornworms and glow under black light. If they are you can hunt them at night if you have a portable black light.

That is good to know, how interesting that is.

[farmerlon]

Yes, if you only see a few worms or hornworms around your tomatoes, I think hand picking is the best organic control.
But, if you need it, Bt is a safe (non-chemical) organic control.

[engineeredgarden]

Those tomato fruitworms can sure cause some damage pretty quick, and I had several get damaged last year. BT is the only way to go, in my opinion. Just as a precaution, I start spraying BT on my plants before any worms are seen, because they really work fast once they arrive.

EG

[rainbowgardener]

Bt is not a "chemical." As the name bacillus suggests, it is a bacterium that attacks caterpillars. It is considered an organic method, but it does have down sides, since it will affect the caterpillars of monarch, swallowtail and other butterflies.

As people have suggested, hand picking is the safest way to deal with big, slow pests like yours.

[TZ -OH6]

Using BT in the garden is not going to affect Monachs etc. "Good" butterflies don't lay eggs on vegetable plants. If they did they would be bad butterflies like the white cabbage butterflies = cabbage worms. BT must be ingested to work so it will not harm beneficial-predatory insects that are simply walking on it, but then again if a ladybug ate a BT covered aphid it would kill the ladybug. Still, its better than diatomaceaous earth, which will kill any bug that walks on it.

[Halfway]

Thanks for the great replies. Hand picking with BT at the ready.

Thanks again!

[parcgreene]

As others have said, that is not a tomato horn worm/caterpillar.

Here's the kind I had:

[img]https://i50.tinypic.com/2r3y0kl.jpg[/img]

[parcgreene]

As a matter of fact I have a blog post about what beautiful creatures these guys turn into. I quit hand picking and killing them and instead handpicked and relocated them a few miles away. Take a look at my link to see a post about these destructive/beautiful creatures morph into.

[Ozark Lady]

Boy, hornworms!
I have been having to water my plants almost daily. Drought is bad right now.
I watered today, yesterday I watered the forest garden, and bag garden.
So, I only missed one day...just one. And I arrived to an almost bare...Hillbilly tomato.
It is in full bloom, it was so pretty!
I looked and looked, found one, found a cutworm, and then another hornworm. I searched and searched for more!
I didn't see any, anywhere else.
But, Bt only works on small worms, the large ones, you have to hand pick. And I am sorry folks I find it satisfying to throw them on the ground and step on them! Mean I know... but, those are my plants not theirs! Go pick on the wild ones!
I didn't see any baby hornworms anywhere. Seems these guys arrived fullgrown. I know they didn't, but they sure got huge quick!

You can tell it is drought, grasshoppers, harlequins, stink bugs, cutworms and hornworms. My goodness, doesn't look like I will get a bite of anything at all from the garden.

[applestar]

Here's the kind I had:

[img]https://i50.tinypic.com/2r3y0kl.jpg[/img]

Last year I misidentified one of those as Tomato Horn worm, but [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=90520#90520]was pointed out that it's a Tobacco Hornworm.[/url]

[applestar]

Ozark Lady, I know what you mean about the hornworms! I found a big tobacco hornworm on one of my POTATO Silo potatoes -- clue was the big droppings on the Atlantic Giant Pumpkin leaves below. I'm seeing small droppings on another leaf but Try as I might, I CANNOT find the source caterpillar. I guess I have to wait until it grows up some. I just hope they're not eating the coveted True Potato Seed berries.

The big ol ' caterpillar is in my kitchen in an emptied toy storage tub. DD sacrificed part of her dress up tulle to make a screened cover. I guess we're going to keep it....

[Ozark Lady]

I am going to spray some bt today. I searched and searched and all I found was the 3 worms on the Hillbilly tomato.
There are no missing leaves on the others.
But, the oddest thing is going on.
I am not used to container growing at all.
I killed everything in them, last time I tried these barrels.
This time, I have had better luck.
But, in one barrel, is the worm damaged tomato.
In another barrel is a Risentraube tomato with BER. I took off all damaged fruits, have been careful to water, and now the lower leaves are yellowing and dying.
In a third barrel is the Grueso tomato, and get this, I mulched on top to help hold moisture, and it is sending roots out of the mulch. I buried that thing deep, so it would have lots of roots, then I mulched it. To check for water, I dig down beside the edge and check the soil... and it is full of roots, up in the mulch! I have never had any plant put out roots in the mulch before. It wilts constantly. This is so odd.
The OSU Blue, Peach Blow Sutton, Brandywine, Belgian Giant, Cherokee Purple, and Burpee Long Keepers all seem to be doing great, no issues, and raised the same, and in the same half barrels.

My potatoes are gone, between drought and bugs, I am about to pull them and just put something productive there, as well as in the brassica bed. I have done all that I can, these two just lost to the drought and bugs!
So, I have 4 beds to replant. I think squash, field peas, herbs etc.
2 beds were flowers, onions, and garlic. So it wasn't drought and bugs that got them, I expected these to come available.

[bird dog]

My vote also goes for hand picking. They are real easy to track by spotting their droppings, as much as they eat there are alot of them. I have a family of scrub jays that nest on the edge of my garden and I have seen them get them.

[soil]

more birds, more birds, more birds! never see a hornworm again.

[applestar]

Soil, only problem with that for me is that a wren has staked out that area of the garden by claiming the two birdhouses on the fence posts. Can you imagine a house wren tackling a nearly full grown hornworm?

Maybe he'll find the little one while it's still his own size....

[Gary350]

You need some bird houses. I have 25 bird houses you can see 11 bird houses in this picture, 8 of them are easy to see. I never have a bug problem in the garden and I never spray anything for bugs. Most of these houses are for Wrens, a few are for sparrows. Red birds like the every green tree. Sometimes a brown thrasher will nest in the blackberries. A sparrow is nesting in the Blue bird house this year. Double clip the photo it will get larger. Put a very small 25 to 40 watt light bulb outside to attract flying insects after dark bats will come and eat all of the bugs that fly around the light. Bats do not like heat anything larger than 40 watts or bats will not come.

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h292/mikeweaver/BirdHouse.jpg[/img]

[stella1751]

Ok, got a handle on slugs and cabbage lopper eating my first tomatoes, now I have this guy!!

My research shows it is a hornworm?

I have not used any pesticides (organic or chemical) at this point.

Can I get some recommendations for both organic and chemical solutions?

Thank you!

[url=https://img693.imageshack.us/I/1000506t.jpg/][img]https://img693.imageshack.us/img693/3056/1000506t.jpg[/img][/url]

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What are the odds? Today I found my first one of these ever! I at first thought it was a piece of wood wedged standing up at the jointure between the stem and a branch. Mine wasn't as big as yours, though. I'm glad you started this thread!

[KathyWid]

The tomato hornworm and the tobacco hornworm look a lot a like! It's easy for gardeners to mistake them for each other.

They're both green and cylindrical; they both grow to be 2-3 inches long!

The tomato hornworm: black or dark horn; V-shaped stripes
The tobacco hornworm: red horn; diagonal white stripes

No matter which, both these pests love to munch on tomato leaves, stems, and fruit. They've even been spotted on the same plant.