First hornworm egg sighting

livinonfaith · May 6, 2012

Found three hornworm eggs yesterday. Ugh!

One I threw as far into the lawn as I could, one I dropped into a cup of beer (put there for the slugs) and one slipped out of my fingers and fell into the straw bale where I couldn't find it. So that one may still be a problem. Darn my fumbly fingers!

I don't remember finding them this early last year and am kind of hoping there was just one moth and those three eggs were all she left, but not counting on it.

I'm going out shortly to start putting up my tomato cages. I was trying to figure out what to use on these straw bales since I've heard that cages will eventually become unstable as the bale composts. Someone suggested that I ziptie them all together and provide them with a few extra supports to keep them stable, so that's what I'm going to do. It beats buying a whole new support system.

Anyway, once I get the cages up, it's time to start pruning the plants to single stems and I should be out there most days keeping up with that. Hopefully, I'll notice if there are any other hornworm visitors at that time. Last year I caught all but about six or seven before they hatched. Only two got big enough to do any real damage.

They are really beautiful creatures, but they have no place in my garden!

May 6, 2012	#1
livinonfaith Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina Posts: 1,332	First hornworm egg sighting Found three hornworm eggs yesterday. Ugh! One I threw as far into the lawn as I could, one I dropped into a cup of beer (put there for the slugs) and one slipped out of my fingers and fell into the straw bale where I couldn't find it. So that one may still be a problem. Darn my fumbly fingers! I don't remember finding them this early last year and am kind of hoping there was just one moth and those three eggs were all she left, but not counting on it. I'm going out shortly to start putting up my tomato cages. I was trying to figure out what to use on these straw bales since I've heard that cages will eventually become unstable as the bale composts. Someone suggested that I ziptie them all together and provide them with a few extra supports to keep them stable, so that's what I'm going to do. It beats buying a whole new support system. Anyway, once I get the cages up, it's time to start pruning the plants to single stems and I should be out there most days keeping up with that. Hopefully, I'll notice if there are any other hornworm visitors at that time. Last year I caught all but about six or seven before they hatched. Only two got big enough to do any real damage. They are really beautiful creatures, but they have no place in my garden!