Hornworm - a closer look...

Duh_Vinci · January 1, 2010

A closer look of what the "animal" that loves to munch on tomato plants:

This one was not just munching on the leafs, it was actually crunching on unripe green black cherries...

Regards,
D

rhynes_boomer · January 1, 2010

Hi Duh Vinci,

This is the lil' grubber I was talking about in a different post. If you are a fisherman\woman, these buggers make great fish bait! They are full of green gunk that the catfish here in Oklahoma LOVE!!!!!

If you catch any of them, go Fishin"!

I had one big'un like this just last year, I couldn't find him anywhere on one of my cherry plants, then BOOM there he was. I didn't get to use him for bait, because our water levels were up and couldn't get to the fishin' hole.

( He looks scary the way you have him all blown up) Makes me think about not just grabbing them any more?

Kat

mtbigfish · January 1, 2010

rhynes
go out at night with a blacklight flashlight - they light up like a cheap carnival

brokenbar · January 1, 2010

MtBigFish, Do you get them? I have never had them in Wyoming. I get no bugs of any kind except aphids on my honeysuckle. Nothing ever bothers my veg garden. I always suspected that it was because we get so cold in the winter. Nothing can winter over.

mtbigfish · January 1, 2010

yes bigtime - saw some chewing signs with bunch of leaves eaten back to the stem and found 2 of the creatures on a plant back in Aug and went out with blacklight that night and found 3 more on the same plant

by the way is that one of those Wyoming grasshoppers you are riding in your pic - ha

brokenbar · January 1, 2010

THOSE DISGUSTING THINGS I have! I bought the biological parasite and have to say, we were pleased. My son said he noticed no grasshoppers until the very end of the season (the garden is surrounded by pastures so there are no doubt a GAJILLION out there.) The only thing they have ever bothered of mine is green bean plants and at the very end of the season, they gnaw their way into tomatoes. I grow no corn but my friends and neighbors complain A LOT about the hoppers eating their corn. Nothing seems to eat the tomato plants (not even deer) or bother the pepper plants much. Likewise, pumpkins, melons are left alone except for the occasional gnawed-on melon or pumpkin where a deer tries to eat into it (might be coons too...) I am fortunate because basically no bugs and none of those bacterial diseases. When the ground freezes HARD to 4 feet or more, it makes it tough for bacterium and viruses to re-migrate up in the spring. (mild winters are seeing a HUGE increase in Clostridial Enteritis in both cattle, sheep and horses and horses were NEVER susceptible before.) I will be facing all of those things in my MExican garden I am afraid!

mtbigfish · January 15, 2010

Thanks God that trout eat bugs - even tied ones!!!!

RiverRat · January 16, 2010

My chickens adore hornworms. It is so satisfying to pry a big fat green hornworm off my poor defenseless tomato plant, chuck it to the birds, and watch them pounce on it and gobble it up. In years of heavy infestation we go through the tomato patch with an old coffee can and a pair of twigs that I use like chopsticks to get the nasty things off the stalks, and then we bring the gourmet treat to the poultry yard and watch them feast.

I do leave them if they have been parasitized and are full of white pupae, since that allows the parasites to keep producing.

January 1, 2010	#1
Duh_Vinci Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Locust Grove, VA Posts: 292	Hornworm - a closer look... A closer look of what the "animal" that loves to munch on tomato plants: This one was not just munching on the leafs, it was actually crunching on unripe green black cherries... Regards, D

January 1, 2010	#4
brokenbar Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: South Of The Border Posts: 1,169	MtBigFish, Do you get them? I have never had them in Wyoming. I get no bugs of any kind except aphids on my honeysuckle. Nothing ever bothers my veg garden. I always suspected that it was because we get so cold in the winter. Nothing can winter over. __________________ "If I'm not getting dirty, I'm not having a good time."

January 1, 2010	#6
brokenbar Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: South Of The Border Posts: 1,169	THOSE DISGUSTING THINGS I have! I bought the biological parasite and have to say, we were pleased. My son said he noticed no grasshoppers until the very end of the season (the garden is surrounded by pastures so there are no doubt a GAJILLION out there.) The only thing they have ever bothered of mine is green bean plants and at the very end of the season, they gnaw their way into tomatoes. I grow no corn but my friends and neighbors complain A LOT about the hoppers eating their corn. Nothing seems to eat the tomato plants (not even deer) or bother the pepper plants much. Likewise, pumpkins, melons are left alone except for the occasional gnawed-on melon or pumpkin where a deer tries to eat into it (might be coons too...) I am fortunate because basically no bugs and none of those bacterial diseases. When the ground freezes HARD to 4 feet or more, it makes it tough for bacterium and viruses to re-migrate up in the spring. (mild winters are seeing a HUGE increase in Clostridial Enteritis in both cattle, sheep and horses and horses were NEVER susceptible before.) I will be facing all of those things in my MExican garden I am afraid! __________________ "If I'm not getting dirty, I'm not having a good time."

January 1, 2010	#2
rhynes_boomer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Muskogee, Ok. Posts: 35	Hi Duh Vinci, This is the lil' grubber I was talking about in a different post. If you are a fisherman\woman, these buggers make great fish bait! They are full of green gunk that the catfish here in Oklahoma LOVE!!!!! If you catch any of them, go Fishin"! I had one big'un like this just last year, I couldn't find him anywhere on one of my cherry plants, then BOOM there he was. I didn't get to use him for bait, because our water levels were up and couldn't get to the fishin' hole. ( He looks scary the way you have him all blown up) Makes me think about not just grabbing them any more? Kat

January 1, 2010	#3
mtbigfish Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Chillicothe Ohio - left Calif July 2010 Posts: 451	rhynes go out at night with a blacklight flashlight - they light up like a cheap carnival

January 15, 2010	#7
mtbigfish Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Chillicothe Ohio - left Calif July 2010 Posts: 451	Thanks God that trout eat bugs - even tied ones!!!!

January 16, 2010	#8
RiverRat Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: New Jersey Posts: 78	My chickens adore hornworms. It is so satisfying to pry a big fat green hornworm off my poor defenseless tomato plant, chuck it to the birds, and watch them pounce on it and gobble it up. In years of heavy infestation we go through the tomato patch with an old coffee can and a pair of twigs that I use like chopsticks to get the nasty things off the stalks, and then we bring the gourmet treat to the poultry yard and watch them feast. I do leave them if they have been parasitized and are full of white pupae, since that allows the parasites to keep producing.