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My first question is, is this a tomato hornworm on my pepper plant? I haven't seen any since the photo was taken a few weeks ago, but thought this guy looked familiar....


Also, do these spots on my tomatoes mean anything in particular?

That's a Tobacco Horn worm with the 7 diagonal white lines and a red "horn". The Tomato Hornworm has 8 "V" shaped white lines. Look good, they are well camouflaged...frass droppings are is usually spotted first.

Yep Tobacco hornworm is all I've ever seen on my tomatoes.

I recognize that hose pots those spots ( ) look like bacterial speck
https://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell. ... ck_Tom.htm
...but I've never had them on my tomatoes before. (Knock on wood)

What are hose pots Apple ? I don't think I ever had any..at least not in the garden.

I'm assuming she meant "those spots"?

Regarding the spots on the tomatoes... are the spots only on these tomatoes shown ? Can they be wiped off ? Is it possible it is hornworm "dodo"? Look above to see if you have a "guest" up above somewhere.

I love my iPad, I do. But autocorrect and light touch virtual keyboard typos are the bane of my life!

GEOSAN wrote:Regarding the spots on the tomatoes... are the spots only on these tomatoes shown ? Can they be wiped off ? Is it possible it is hornworm "dodo"? Look above to see if you have a "guest" up above somewhere.

It's just specifically that group of tomatoes, I haven't noticed spots on any others. It doesn't wipe off and seems to be a part of the skin so I'm guessing that bacterial spots are more likely than horn worm frass. I can't see any tobacco horn worms on my tomato plant at all, just the one that was photographed on a pepper plant.

Edit: I take that back, I do see spots starting to develop on some of the other fruit.

Should the fruit not be eaten? I'll have to do some research!

Did someone say NOT to mention you haven't got the pest or disease in your garden?

...I do believe they were right.
My suspicion is on Japanese Beetles that are feeding on the bean leaves above the tomatoes and dropping their frass all over.

Hmmmm... I get spots like these on late season tomatoes... I always thought they were from sucking insects.

Do you think stinkbugs? I have seen a few that are NOT the Brown Marmorated Stinkbugs that are common around here -- smaller with pointed shoulders.

We have 3 kinds of stink bugs here, I have a little trouble with them. Mainly the smaller ones with yellow bellies. We have a new one this year that looks like crushed up Oreos. I haven't taken the time to look them up yet. The bigger late season problem bugs, for me, are leaf footed bugs.