tomatoe caterpillar
 

Check out this worm I found on one of my tomato plants. Apparently its a tomato horn worm. Biggest caterpillar I've ever seen in my life.

<img src=http://www.crazykook.com/pics/beast%20size.jpg></img>

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

Offering him a nickel won't make him go away.

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

haha it's a quarter, I beat him with an ugly stick..no really I hit the two of them off my plant like it was batting practice. They fly quite far.

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

A quarter might have worked!

Hornworms are very well disguised by their color and they can eat a hell of a lot.

Thuricide will kill them if you spray while they're small.
The horn makes them look scary, but they're not dangerous to people, just tomatoes.

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

Any one have maters yet , I have a few, no big uns yet.

I haven't seen any horn worms......yet.

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

I'm doing battle with some kind of catapillar on mine as well atm. Not a horn catapillar but some kind of one with green goo inside which is kind of oozy. Am using a pyrethren concoction. A few 'pillars dropped after spraying. Not convinced it is working really well. Not even sure if this stuff is toxic to them... the product label seems to think so. Will have to see

anyway, they got about half of my tomatoes which is a bit disappointing. Not paying enough attention I think.

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

That reminds me of the first time that I had ever seen one. This guy and I were sitting outside, smoking ganja and hanging out when I suddenly realized that a large portion of the tomato plant's leaves had disappeared as we were sitting right there. It was bizarre. I couldn't figure out what could have possibly happened to the plant until I finally saw that sucker on it..
They're pretty cool looking things, really. : )

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

HAHAHAHAHAHAH

Thats rich!

E-A

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

It's a tomato hornworm: Get rid of it! Once there is one, there are dozens to follow, and they will munch their way through your vegetable garden. These suckers are nasty. I recommend stomping them -- insecticide is too good for them, as well as being bad for you and the beneficial inhabitants of your garden. They will also migrate to your neighbors' yards, so do the whole street a favor and get rid of them now!

Recommended recipe here:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 16 tomato hornworms
• 4 medium green tomatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
• Salt and pepper to taste
• White cornmeal

In a large skillet or wok, heat the oil. Then lightly fry the hornworms, about 4 minutes, taking care not to rupture the cuticles of each insect under high heat. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Season tomato rounds with salt and pepper, then coat with cornmeal on both sides.

In a large skillet, fry tomatoes until lightly browned on both sides

Top each round with 2 fried tomato hornworms.

Garnish the paired hornworms with a single basil leaf.

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

You have to aquire a taste for them but they are quite delicious. Start eating from the head and DO NOT eat the horn--it can get stuck in your throat.

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

I always de-horn them before I put them on the grill.
That's how my dad taught me.

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

http://schmidling.com/impcat.jpg

Horned Worm - Big

Another Pic with Braconid wasps .. nasty .. almost alien looking critters
http://www.gardengrapevine.com/Tomat...gsRxBC-245.jpg

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

Oh man - my mouth is watering. As a kid we ate them raw with just a lil salt and hotsauce. The fresher the better!

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

Yeah, we get the big ones too, we just pick them off every day. We don't get as many since we are growing the tomatoes out of a hugh old 100 gal. water trough.

Re: tomato caterpillar
 

Bacillus thuringiensis a naturally occurring bacterium kills them off .
Orrrrrrrrrr you could try this concoction.


Look up “Bug Juice”. It works great for Tomato Horn worms. Blend up one horn worm with some water, castille (or any plain, pure soap), some garlic (some people add tobacco juice) and then strain it through cheese cloth and pour it into a sprayer and then spray it on the plants. Respray when it rains.

I know I know.... some of you might hate to waste good vittles (horn worm)in this home made pesticide, but what if it works?

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

You've not seen bugs until you either a) work in tobacco or b) dig a field of potatoes.
Hornworms are downright cuddly compared to some of the evil bastids awaiting you in the fields.

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

I get those every year too but I have those wasps on my side so I leave the horn worms alone as they are just going to end up as wasp food anyway. Most of the horn worms I find already have egg sacks attached to them like the photo above. Quite entertaining to watch nature's wars.

Almost like an alien would be watching our countries doing battle.

It's really cool to watch the cicada Killer wasp hauling it's giant Cicada prey to it's burrow.

http://www.cyberbee.net/column/sting...ada_killer.jpg

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

If you hand pick horn worms, who infest both tobacco and tomatoes, and have hens, they love them. We got a sudden invasion it seemed one year... we saw none on our tomatoes, and no chewed leaves one day and hundreds the next, and hand picked several quarts of hornworms and the hens had a worm party. :D

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

I throw one of these at em. Horn worms hate Horn tomato's...:bear_w00t:



http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...omatocatch.jpg

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

I did a little research on a greenwom devouring my tomatoe leaves and found it was from a moth that lays its eggs and the worms grow from that. The normal worm killer insecticides dont work on this critter as it is in the moth family. The wormw on my plants were called loop worms because they make a little half loop when they move. They are exremely diffcult to find and I found them by fresh dropping from directly above. A news paper helps to spot the fresh droppings. Even then yoiu can look directly at them and they look like the tomatoe plant. It takes a special chemical to spray on them to get them off. Calling Ortho or one of the garden insecticide folks will help you rid your plants of this voracious critter.
William S Cook

Re: tomatoe caterpillar
 

I would advise against using anything by ORTHO on food I planned to eat.

You're far better off killing worms with BT. Dipel, Thuricide etc.