Hornworms and Parasitic Wasps

[RayR]

I never met a hornworm in person until last summer. This year they are back but happily the Braconid wasps are here too and have found their victims I spotted these two little hornworms tonight with wasp cocoons all over their backs.

[BigBrownDogHouse]

Bon Appetit is what I say!

I've had only one this year.....never saw it.
One of my front tomato plants had some top branches devoured. The plant is pretty close to a bird bath. I figured Mr or Mrs Robin probably got him for a snack for the little ones.

[gssgarden]

Too bad, so sad! lol

Greg

[NGGrant]

I was wondering why I only had found one hornworm this year until I found a dead one with wasp sacs on it, thanks wasps!

Nice pics

[RayR]

So sad

[tam91]

I had a complete infestation of the things, on my Captain Lucky plants that I was growing in isolation. I just looked out the window and thought "What's wrong with those plants - they look naked!". They're kind of cute, but creepy - they made this sort of crunching clicking noise - ewww. Well I think I got them all - I sure hope so! No wasps here apparently. I discovered squishing them is even more gross - they are so full of green slime!

[nicky]

I had never seen one before this year. I have now disposed of about 20 of the things. I can't believe how large they grow. Several have been about 5-6" long and just shy of 1" thick. Uggg. I pick 4-5 off every few days. Sadly, I don't usually see them until part of my plant is gone. Sometimes the poop on the ground under the plants gives away their location.

[Fat Charlie]

I saw a hornworm a couple weeks ago when I was mowing. It was outside the beds and I wondered what it was.

In past years my wife handled the garden and there were tons of them. She put in a lot of work and our daughter loved to help by killing them with scissors. This year I added mulch (I don't know if it helps with this or not) and used the top half of a Solo cup as a collar around the base of everything I planted. Knocking on wood, that's the only one we've had this year.

[lakelady]

I had one last year, with wasp eggs attached. Have not seen any this year, but the army bugs are out of control. Even worse, I see plants getting stripped down, and can't find a caterpillar in sight, though I know they are there. ugh.

[babice]

Ick - yes I've seen my first this year too. Have found I guess about 4 so far. First one I squished and was quite grossed out by the innards. So the rest I've tried cutting the branch off with them on it and tossed it out in the yard (well far away from the deck) in the hopes that a bird will make a dinner out of them.

[tam91]

Same here - I squished one and it was quite.... impressive. I drove the rest down the road, put them in a field far from anyone's tomato plants.

[Save$]

My first experience with hornworms. Yuk! I hunted and hunted. Seems the damage is over for now. I tossed one in a bucket of water. A hour later and thinking the worm had drown, I dumped the bucket on the driveway. A little while later, I saw that worm making a hasty retreat. Squish! It is the only way to deal with them.

[peppero]

after losing most of my tomato plants to the heat/drought/disease i was pleased to see a volunteer show and it has been doing well. doing well that is until yesterday. i saw that it had been stripped of almost all leaves and there it was, a nice specimen of a hornworm. now for the wait of recuperation. jon

[rockhound]

The hornworm moth lays the eggs one at a time near the tips of branches. BT dusted or sprayed BEFORE you see any damage is the way to go, that way the plants are not set back and have to recover. They will attack other Solanum relatives too- eggplant, peppers, potatoes, tobacco, petunias, ground cherries, etc.