caterpillars!!

[cmleeiii]

I have been so excited because I had tomatoes turning red on the plant. YUM! I noticed a couple of days ago that I seemed to be losing leaves on on of my plants, kinda thought it was the heat (its been in the 90s here) but there were no leaves on the ground. well today I checked them and the leaves are almost ALL gone, and big chunks had been eaten out of my tomatoes. I then found the offenders...caterpillars...two HUGE ones no doubt fattened on my tomatoes. I threw so many in the compost pile
the question is, what can I use to keep these pestilent critters away from my plants...this is my first year planting and growing tomatoes, so I am sure you can imagine my disappointment. any help would be greatly appreciated!

[debra630]

What color were the caterpillars? I ask because the Monarch butterfly happens to love tomato plants and I hope you didn't kill these beautiful butterflys. They really don't eat much, only the leaves which will not harm your tomato's.
The monarch caterpillar looks like the horned caterpillar only bigger.

[cmleeiii]

they are green, smooth, and a horn/spike sticking out of the top of the head. I didnt kill them, I moved them to the kataba tree in my front yard. plenty of leaves there for them to eat if they so choose. my hubby said they kinda look like kataba worms, but the pic I found says its a hawkmoth caterpillar.


this is the pic. I think its the same one, certainly looks the same

https://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0WTefUByFJI3V0BBTSjzbkF/SIG=123u5br1j/EXP=1213471105/**http%3A//www.flickr.com/photos/konia07/224708145/

[cmleeiii]

oh yeah, and they ate the leaves and the tomatoes. not just the leaves. a regular buffet

[NEWisc]

Could be either the Carolina Sphinx moth:
https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=3366

or the Five-spotted Hawkmoth:
https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=3366

Both use plants from the Nightshade family (Solanaceae) as host plants. If you want them to survive you will need to place them on one of these plants. One easy way to do that is to simply plant an extra tomato plant and then move them to the sacrificial plant when you find them. The best time to look for them is early morning or early evening. Hand picking them is usually the best way to control them.

You don't need to worry about Monarch caterpillars because they only use milkweed plants as host plants.

[cheshirekat]

Well, I haven't seen any caterpillars or the hawkmoths on my tomato plants during my inspections. However, I now have a reason to go buy a couple more tomato plants from the local nursery. After all, I need some sacrificial tomato plants they can eat so they will stay away from my potatoes and leave me with enough tomatoes. I'll pot the new tomato plants on the other side of the yard so they won't be tempted by being too close to my tomato crop. I'd always gotten the impression they didn't eat much so I was never worried about finding them.

[cmleeiii]

hmm, the idea of a sacrificial plant did not occur to me. but as I say, first year planting tomatoes, so I guess error is to be expected. they only went after my big boys tho, didnt touch my cherry or grape tomatoes. and speaking of sacrificial, the caterpillars are lucky they didnt become my sacrifice to the river to catch a fish they, ahem, TASTED all but 3 tomatoes. I was ILL thanks alot kat and new... by the way, I found this, and my particular bug is called a tomato hornworm, or Manduca quinquemaculata, a five spotted hawkmoth as new said

https://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_hfrr/extensn/problems/hornworm.htm

[opabinia51]

One of my clients had an infestation of tent caterpillars in his apple tree. So, what I did was walk around the tree and squshed all the caterpillars. That works well as well.

[cmleeiii]

LOL @ opabinia- I would rather use them to catch a bass, but that works too!

[opabinia51]

Now there's an idea! Use them as bait. I'll do that next time. Never event thought of that.