Novice needs help, black droppings

[Alan Drake]

So will try to grow again for the winter - last year did a fair job however have noticed my plants have a lot of small black droppings on the floor.
It appears the stems also have some black stuff on them, so what do they have?
But more important how should the stuff be eliminated?
Have some Bonide "Tomato & Vegetable" spray.

[mdvpc]

Photo would be helpful.

Have the plants been outside? If so, may be tomato hornworms.

Some images:

https://www.google.com/search?q=toma...w=1280&bih=603

[Alan Drake]

Just cleaned the area, Sunday morning chore, so will wait a while & get some photos.
It does seem like hornworms, only seen one mature green guy, but lots of black droppings and the stems are missing leaves & dying. Yes did bring them in from outside.
Is there a way to get ride of them?

[ContainerTed]

Alan, to any aspiring tomato plant, the only good hornworm is a dead hornworm. You can spray the plants and kill them that way or you can search thru the plants looking for them and then physically remove them. Missing leaves and small stems are the hornworm trademark. The "black stuff" is their droppings and are made of your former tomato plants leaves and stems.

Here's a picture of what you're looking for. Don't wait around. They can destroy a plant in just a few days. Also, if you see the droppings, the hornworm will be somewhere just above.

Here's the tomato plant version of the devil himself.