Tomato Horn Worm

[Hilde]

It took me ten days, from I first discovered the half eaten tomatoes and the strange poop, to discover who ate my tomatoes. However much I looked, I could not see a critter, and who could eat tomatoes this high up and inside the cattle panel? Voles, chipmunks and other rodents would probably have eaten the tomatoes on the ground instead of those higher up.

So today I discovered it, saw my first, second and third Tomato Horn Worm.

Here are pictures of the poop, one of the half eaten tomatoes, and finally the Tomato Horn Worm with lots of parasitic wasp cocoons on it's back. All three of them looked like that. They were quite big, about 3" or so.

Hilde

[shelleybean]

Just gotta love those parasitic wasps, huh?

[Hilde]

Originally Posted by shelleybean

Just gotta love those parasitic wasps, huh?

I have to admit that I do feel sorry for the Tomato Horn Worm, even if the wasps are working for us!

Hilde

[Ruth_10]

I found a tomato hornworm with wasp eggs on it this morning. Excellent! Love to see mamma's little helpers on the job. Those hornworms are voracious. Last Saturday I found one and put it in a jar to take to work to show to a colleague who had never seen one. The hornworm munched its way through whole wads of tomato leaves. No wonder those things can denude a plant in no time flat.