Stink Bugs Now Enter Horn Worm !

[Gardeneer]

As if it wasn't enough to deal with the stinking Stink Bugs, now I have to deal with a worm with a horn . Arrrgh!
They are worse than rabbits and deer, if left unchecked. The first time I saw a potted Scotch Bonnet decimated, with the poo all over, I though: Is this Rabbit ? NO ! Maybe rat ? NO. What the heck is it ?
Then I saw some of my tomatoes having the same issue. Then I made a discovery . OOOH!
Now one of my daily garden rituals is hunting horn worms. And I wear organic shoes for this.
QUESTIONS: Where do they come from ? What they become ? I have seen caterpillars before but never Horn Worm. These creatures eat like a goat.
Anybody else is having this problem ? How do you handle it ?

[AlittleSalt]

A mature horn worm after evolving

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

A mature horn worm after evolving

[BigVanVader]

BT or Spinosad will wipe em out, if you see white eggs on their backs leave em, parasitic wasp use them as baby bee buffets.

[Rockandrollin]

First signs of horn worms, I spray the plants with BT. Just too many plants to carefully inspect for horn worms.

They grow up to be what I call "hummingbird moths".

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

BT or Spinosad will wipe em out, if you see white eggs on their backs leave em, parasitic wasp use them as baby bee buffets.

Yeah, well, now , then , where do you think they are to spray with BT ?
Once I find them, Do I need to spray thm vs smashing under my organic shoes
Are they initially some kind of Grub-looking larva ?

[bryanccfshr]

I spray spinosad usually mixed with a foliage feeding, at the first sign of hummingbird moths..they like to fly around late evenings. Beautiful insect, huge appetite. Spinosad has always been an effective control in1 to 2 applications for me.

[bryanccfshr]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Yeah, well, now , then , where do you think they are to spray with BT ?
Once I find them, Do I need to spray thm vs smashing under my organic shoes
Are they initially some kind of Grub-looking larva ?

They start as small hornworms and become huge hornworms.

[AlittleSalt]

Seriously, a mature hornworm can decimate a tomato plant. Put them between your fingers and pull them apart.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by bryanccfshr

They start as small hornworms and become huge hornworms.

Very educational, thanks Bryan.
I thought that they have a life cycle similar to caterpillars.
Now, how can you tell a hornworm Hummy from the real bird one ?

[Worth1]

Look up horn worm life cycle and you will see the way they change.
More that likely you saw some in your soil and didn't know what the were.
The worm will start to darken and get hard and borrow into the soil.
There the next year or even that year it will emerge as a big Spinx moth.
Some caterpillars make cocoons horn worms dont.

There are many types of horn worms not all eat tomato plants.
The two that do are the tomato horn worm and the tobacco horn worm.

One kind we have here only eats the vine of a certain native plant nothing else.

Worth

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

As if it wasn't enough to deal with the stinking Stink Bugs, now I have to deal with a worm with a horn . Arrrgh!
They are worse than rabbits and deer, if left unchecked. The first time I saw a potted Scotch Bonnet decimated, with the poo all over, I though: Is this Rabbit ? NO ! Maybe rat ? NO. What the heck is it ?
Then I saw some of my tomatoes having the same issue. Then I made a discovery . OOOH!
Now one of my daily garden rituals is hunting horn worms. And I wear organic shoes for this.
QUESTIONS: Where do they come from ? What they become ? I have seen caterpillars before but never Horn Worm. These creatures eat like a goat.
Anybody else is having this problem ? How do you handle it ?

Remember we welcomed you to the south but did warn there are a few more problems down here with insects and disease than in other parts of the country.

You also need to keep an eye out for leaves that suddenly have thin spots on them. Flip them over and look closely for very tiny worms. They start out so small you can hardly see them yet in a few days they become foliage and fruit eating machines. Then there are the army type worms and tomato fruit worms which will destroy a lot of fruit if left unchecked. Did I mention Squash Vine borers, pin worms, cucumber beetles, and numerous other chewing and sucking insects to keep your gardening experience interesting. I know you can't wait to have TSWV hit some of your plants or a good case of spider mites.

Keep your plants and I mean all kinds sprayed with BT or dusted heavily with Dipel. I have already mixed up my DE, Permethrin and Dawn dish washing miracle cure for sucking bugs and used it once on a few of my tomatoes that suddenly got a bad case of whiteflies and aphids. If chewing insects or worms get bad you can always massacre them with Sevin but if you do try to only use it very late in the day and try to avoid spraying too many blossoms on things like squash to avoid killing bees. Every year or two I have had to resort to Sevin because it will kill pretty much all the chewing insects in just a few hours. It is the only thing that I have found that slows down and stops those pin worm types that bore tiny holes into cucumbers, melons, squash, and tomatoes. It is a bit early for them yet but they will be here soon.

At least it is very early in the season and the foliage diseases haven't even gotten started yet other than a little Early Blight but down here that is like having a cold when we have so many diseases that can hit like double pneumonia.

Every day is an adventure in the garden down here.

Bill

[bryanccfshr]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Look up horn worm life cycle and you will see the way they change.
More that likely you saw some in your soil and didn't know what the were.
The worm will start to darken and get hard and borrow into the soil.
There the next year or even that year it will emerge as a big Spinx moth.
Some caterpillars make cocoons horn worms dont.

There are many types of horn worms not all eat tomato plants.
The two that do are the tomato horn worm and the tobacco horn worm.

One kind we have here only eats the vine of a certain native plant nothing else.

Worth

On a quiet day you can hear them chewing.

[PureHarvest]

Putting a quarter cup of powdered DE into a gallon of water and shaking like crazy and spraying that on my plants last year killed everything including all worms/caterpillars in about an hour. The residual from the spray kept any new pests at bay for weeks (rain can't wash it off under my tunnel).

[seaeagle]

The only time I ever see a horn worm is when they are covered with white eggs. I actually feel sorry for the poor guys. Not a nice way to perish getting the life sucked out of you slowly. It takes a day or so for them to finally die. They just sit there paralyzed. Oh the horrors of an organic garden.