ok as some know I have been having tomato issues hee recently and today I think I found the culprit but I cant paste a pic for some reason. If you go to google images and type in green caterpillar it is the first image in the upper left hand corner. This thing is huge! it is a good three inches long. Its head comes out of something that looks like poop coming out of a butt and has these big teeth looking things. Am I supposed to get rid of them or not? Some say it is a hornworm and it is very common in florida. Any ideas? this is the description of the picture that I found. Bright green caterpillar - Pachylia ficus Boca Raton, West Palm Beach County, Florida, USA May 14, 2006 Size: About 3 inches long please help. Keep i mind if it is beneficial I will certainly not hurt it. It seemed very unhappy when I tried to take it off the leaves of the tomato plant. There were actually two of them but one was smaller. Thanks
Did it look like this? http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_hfrr/extens ... rnworm.htm That link is information on the dreaded thing. http://www.vegedge.umn.edu/vegpest/hornworm.htm The above link is on the gestation etc. Last summer I was infested by that nasty thing. every day I went through and looked for them and stomped them out. I had to look through all the plants to take them off. I was told this summer that they tabasco sauce method I have talked about will help. So remove the damaged fruit. Look for these buggers and then spray the plants. Good luck! PS ...Do you have pictures of this thing that is in your garden? That would help narrow it down. Pachylia ficus is a fig caterpillar and does damage to plants. It eats the leaves and the fruit.
Pete, http://www.gardenstew.com/about4115.html will give you instructions on how to post pictures here.
If it is a tomato hornworm it will strip the plant of leaves in a matter of hours, peppers too. They are the caterpillar stage for the hummingbird moth. Last year we had them really bad. We picked them and put them on some Chinese tallow trees. We havent seen a one this year.
When I add to my blog tonight I will post a pic of what happened to some of my roma plants in a matter of days last summer. Those tomato horned worms have a voracious appetite!
Garden mamma you got it. so those guys are bad news then? good I will eradicate them post haste. Thank you for the help.
Yes get them out of there ...look for any larva...spray and hope you got them in time. When they get going they will eat all the toms and leaves in a day. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_q ... _n19372329 GOOD LUCK!
ugh, gardenmama, that looks like something an oompa loompa would grind up when there no cocoa beans around!
Tomato hornworm has many natural enemies. If you keep your garden free from insecticide, you'll keep a number of insects that can parasitize hornworm. A small wasp lays eggs incide the body of the worm. The hornworm will stop eating but still alive until the wasp lavae cocooned and hached. The following photo was taken on my garden last year: If you see this scene, leave it alone. Thoese cocoons will become many wasps looking for more hornworms. You can try companion plants to attract parasitizing wasp. This website gives a list of companion plants that you can use and they aslo make your vegetable garden more beautiful: http://www.eartheasy.com/grow_garden_insectary.htm In home garden, handpicking is the most effective way to control these pests. When you see leaves gone in a branch, there is usually a hornworm nearby. But you'll need to find them early morning or in the night. They feed in the dark. Despite their size, their perfect camouflage makes them hard to be detected. Keep an eye out for their black poop pellets and search nearby among green leaves for the big green monster. Someone claims that the body of the hormwarm reflects light and you can easily detect them in the dark with a flashlight - but I am not sure whether this true. You can also use Bt spray - it kills caterpillars only, but not good bugs such as lady bugs, lacewings, bees, and wasps. It is kind of organic certified insecticide. Brand names for Bt are Dipel, Thuricide and Green Step. Birds also love big tasty caterpillars! Setting a birdbath near your plants is also good idea.
I like the birdbath idea...might try that...I have started the hot sauce spray already..we'll see how that goes...i think it will also help that the plants in a tires ontop of of the black plastic and that reduces the area that the moths can lay their eggs and make the caterpillars. I hope to avoid them this year.
Nan, that was a fantastic post thank you. Garden mama thank you for your many posts as well along with everyone else. Unfortunately I removed the one hornworm and set hime near a tree with a birds nest. Within minutes I watched the bird come down for lunch. Sadly I checked on the plants this morning and there was a total of 6 new ones and almost all of my plants were destroyed. I am going to remove the plants today. Can Icompost them or no because of the worms?
here we have a few wasps that lay eggs on other bugs you could always gather them up and go fishing.....fried perch could be worth a few missing leaves
Eeeewwwwww! This is what I don't like about gardening and the outdoors (and sometimes the indoors too!) the bugs! My pet chicken just ate a bright green caterpillar the other morning, she went crazy for it! So I look around for more too feed to her when I water. Thankfully, I only found the one. I only saw 1 last year too. I guess I have other insects that eat those around here.
