Ugh...more garden pests!

[JR05]

Seems to be the story of my gardening this year.

I just found a half eaten tomato in the garden and went to investigate what was eating it and found 2 large and 1 small tomato horn bug (identified after research).

They were pretty cool looking but I had to get rid of them. Guess I will have to keep an eye out for these now on top of all the other pests I have been dealing with.

In other news, the plants that the other pests have had their way with over the last few weeks have all recovered as far as I can tell and seem to be doing well now!

just had to rant....

-JR

[hit or miss]

Bummer, the birds pulled my fall green beans and I had to replant today. I've never seen a tomato horn worm.

[ccar2000]

I get Tobacco Hornworms here. They seem to hang out on the underside of the tomato plant leaves. Chickens love them I have heard of using a blacklight to find them at night. I am trying to find a portable/battery operated one.

[FieldofFlowers]

Darn. I would have taken in the hornworm and raised it by feeding it selected leaves. The adult moths are kind of interesting.

Here Earwigs are being a real pest, that and a variety of other things. We have grasshoppers, SVB's, beetles, bugs (true type),l cabbage butterflies,some moths, leafhoppers, some kind of mosaic virus (in the far south-east end of our lawn), powdery mold, and other things...not to mention the squirrels, birds, and rabbits. They all want a taste of our garden.

BTW: If you ever find a caterpillar that looks like a bird dropping (when small) or bright green and black (large) on your dill,parsley, or carrot plants, please don't kill it. They will grow up to become black swallowtail butterflies.

[applestar]

I think you're thinking of Giant Swallowtail Butterflies, but I agree -- don't kill them! Please find the caterpillar another host plant to eat.

[FieldofFlowers]

I think you're thinking of Giant Swallowtail Butterflies, but I agree -- don't kill them! Please find the caterpillar another host plant to eat.

They are black swallowtails. You probably will see them more in Wisconsin and around the Northern part of the U.S. The Giant swallowtails feed off citrus plants, and can also be considered a pest by citrus gardeners. I've yet to see them up north but I've heard of them reaching that far in the summer as a stray population.

At least I saw black swallowtails when I lived in Southern,WI. My parents and I used to raise quite a few. But they seem to have gotten rather rare in the last ten years or so.

Black swallowtail life cycle:
http://www.pbase.com/rcm1840/lifecycleofblsw
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[applestar]

I'm sorry Fieldofflowers! I saw "bird dropping" and skipped right over the rest of your descriptions! You're right of course. Giant Swallowtails are said to use Ash and rue in the northern states and my favorite local herb lady grows large stands of rue for that reason. She tells me she gets them too. (She gets all kinds of interesting butterflies and moths )

I'm still debating with myself whether to grow some in my garden....

[garden5]

Bummer, the birds pulled my fall green beans and I had to replant today. I've never seen a tomato horn worm.

.....because of the birds Really, birds make for some of the best insect-control there is .

[gixxerific]

Bummer, the birds pulled my fall green beans and I had to replant today. I've never seen a tomato horn worm.

.....because of the birds Really, birds make for some of the best insect-control there is .

That is true when they are not eating your fruit though.

[JR05]

Yes, I did not kill these without hesitation. I had to look them up because I thought they were Luna moths. I was going to move them to another area but I heard they will just migrate right back to the tomatoes. If they were just eating the leaves I would have probably left them, but they ate half of two full grown Roma tomatoes. I don't know how many I am going to get this year as it is!

On top of those, I have been dealing with these damn red beetles which have eaten all my basil and are eating my pepper plants now. They have eaten all the buds off one plant so I probably won't get anything off of that this year. The other two luckily had peppers growing before the bugs got to it. I am going to spray them with neem oil tonight and see if that helps.

-JR