Tomato Hornworm

(Lepidoptera order of insects)

Good/Bad Rating:  Mildly Troublesome

Also called Hummingbird Moth, Tobacco Hornworm and Carolina Sphinx.  Yep, when this caterpillar grows up it looks and acts like a hummingbird from a distance, but upon closer inspection it’s clearly a moth. 

This insect has a dual personality.  As an adult moth, it is a beneficial bug that pollinates deep-throated flowers that bloom at night.  But as an adolescent caterpillar it has a huge appetite and can defoliate a plant overnight.  The hungry worm does most of its feeding at night on plants of the nightshade family like tomatoes, peppers, tobacco, eggplant and various wildflowers (weeds to some). 

Their presences in your garden will be noticeable providing you get out everyday and check out how your garden is growing.  You will see stems stripped of leaves and holes in or whole tomatoes missing.  The best way to find the hornworm if you don’t want to play ‘find Waldo’ (because they do have a great camouflage motif), is to look for poop on the plant and then look above that area.  You’re sure to find the bugger hanging on the underside of a leaf digesting the night’s meal.

{can you find the hornworm?}

Control suggestion:  Forget about using those damn 666 corporate poisons to spray on the whole plant, use the free space between your thumb and forefinger and pick them off.  Get into the Mother Nature groove and toss the hornworm to a bird or on the ground as a treat for an appreciative skunk.  Ohh and don’t freak out that you’ll get stung by its tail horn; both ends of the hornworm are harmless to humans.

Insects, the good, the bad & the ugly

Otherwise known as bugs or creepy crawlies are part of the Creator’s plan for Mother Earth.  Out of the tens of millions of known species, only 2% should be seen as pests.  According to San Antonio’s Father of Organic Gardening, Malcolm Beck, plants that get attacked by insects are either diseased or weak due to depleted soil or incorrect plant selection. 

Healthy plants don’t usually get attacked and vigorous plants can withstand insect feeding, except when the natural balance is out of whack for a season or two.   So before you reach for a bottle of 666 corporate poison, slow down and take a good look.  Please don’t mistake one of the 98% beneficial insects as being a problem just because it is sitting in your garden.  It might be there to take care of a troublesome insect that you haven’t even seen. 

An example: you see a Lady Bug/Beetle on your roses or cucumbers, but you don’t notice the tiny Aphids under the leaves.  Groups of these bugs suck on plant sap thus causing leaf curling and stunted growth.  The beneficial Lady Bug and their larva gobble up troublesome aphids like hungry Pac-mans.  Your intervention is not needed, Mother Nature has a handle on it.

The majority of insects in the world have a job to do, otherwise they wouldn’t be here.  Just because we don’t understand the role the Creator gave each one of them, doesn’t mean we can’t stop, watch, study and learn.