Those are horrible worms! I dislike "collecting" them. :) So far I ahve not had them in my garden, but growing up we use to have to look for them, some years worse then others.

~Tanya

Thanks for posting this, Tammy! Last year was our first to have have a problem with such a critter, when I noticed that one of our tomato plants had dramatically reduced in size.

So far this year, I haven't seen any, and I hope not to, as we have some gorgeous plants out there and already have had some of the best tomatoes ever, from them.

Tammy, I come to your site so I can drool over pictures of yummy FOOD, not have this monstrosity of a creature staring at me!!;-)

Thank you for your help. You identified a tobacco horn worm for me. I was out walking along my tomato plants and saw this extremely ugly worm and wondered what the heck it was!...lol So I just googled "giant tomato worm" and here you have taught me all about them. Thank you!

PS. This one didn't have the wasp larvea on it, but if it did, I would have to kill it anyways!....lol

My kids are so excited about their new pet hornworms. Yesterday they set up a petting zoo of hornworms in front of the house. There were few visitors.....hmmm wonder why? Anyway, they can't wait for them to change to moths. Thanks for the info!

MY science teacher dropped one on me! While it had wasp larvae on it! Worst day eva=(

This is a little late, but since everyone is talking about their disgusting insect encounters, I might as well join the fray. The day this was posted I arrived at work early in the morning. The two night staff said to me, "Guess what! We have a new pet!!" and proceeded to open a large plastic container holding the largest insect I have ever seen. "Aahh!!" I said; my first thought being, "A fuzzy cockroach?" It was at least 4" long. I live in a relatively cold area, so we don't get many insects larger than two inches. Anyway, one of the residents (it's a senior's lodge) overheard us talking about this thing (we were going to call the museum as they have a big bug department), and said it was probably a junebug.

Okay, that's enough bug for me. I'm going to bed!

Kathleen

I was waiting for my parents to come home and my Dad came in with a tomatoe plant with 2 Tobacco Horn Worms on it. I put them in a jar and named them. Me and my mom did research and found out what type of caterpillar they were. They poo a lot! They ate almost a whole egg plant in less than a week. They are awesome catepillars. I can't wait for them to grow!Thanks, James

These worms are the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen on the face of this earth! They make me all warm and fuzzy inside.
Good Job for posting picures of the pretty worms on your website!

Thank You for posting the tip about using a blacklight to hunt the hornworms at night. I discovered this, years ago, and have had great success in searching for the little critters. I use a fluorescent desk lamp with a blacklight bulb, on a long extention cord. They stand out among the foliage, and are easy to pick off. I have tried to alert the world about my discovery, but this is the first actual mention I have seen, apart from my tip to Mother Earth News a few years ago.

i think the thing is ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww DO YOU ?

tomato worms are the worst pests ive had to deal with.

Last season (my first season in new home) I was picking off 10 to 20 tomato worms off 4 tomato plants a day. I am not joking. I want to still have an organic garden, but I just don't think I can stand picking them off again. Is there ANYTHING that will get rid of these beasts? Desperate in CA.

Well! I've found only one in the garden last summer, but THREE this season. The tomato plants haven't suffered much, just a few wilting leaves. The worms have been named and are currently acting as pets. Sadly, most of the hornworms I see have wasp pupae on them and die within days. However, I've found some that are huge (at least 4 inches in length and as thick as my finger) that seem pretty healthy. My sister screamed like a banshee when she saw the newest members of our household. I don't know - I think they're kinda cute.

Can you spray anything on these pests to kill them on the plant without harming the plant? All of a sudden my 4 nice healthy tomato plants are infested with these nasty hornworms. I can't stand looking at them, much less picking them off the plants with gloved hands and dumping them in a soapy bucket of water, as I've seen recommended. HELP!

Thanks for the info...my son and I were excited to find out what type of worm the creepy green things were. We have still not decided whether or not we will keep Ernie and Bert or try something else to dispose of the dastardly duo. I will say they are hardy critters though. when I found them by surprise I cut off the branch they were attached to and put in tupperware with the lid sealed (no holes). Needless to say, when I came home from work13 hours later they were still alive. They must be anaerobes. Anyway, thanks for solving our mystery.

We found three of them this week and brought them inside to raise. The girls have been picking leaves off my tomato plants to feed them! One of the three has the wasp larvae coming out of it, so we don't expect it to live. Anyway, what can I say? We love bugs!

My poor honeysuckles. All summer long they were healthy and growing strong. We went away for a long weekend to come home and find them stripped of greenery and all that is left are brown twigs and about 500 tomato worms.... *deep sigh* So now my husband is off in search of an insecticide.

Moth lays eggs on plant.
Worms eat plant.
Pupa overwinters in/or near garden in the soil.
Moth emerges in early May.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html

cant find the answer for what would of killed just one plant out of 18 and they are waist high went out yesterday to water and it just lokked wilted? So watered it and went back out in the evening and its no better trying to save the plant but this morning no bettere what to do atleast if I know the cause I can make sure it doesn't happen to my whole garden.. Thanks hopefully someone can help... Carol

You recommended a mixture of water, vegetable oil, and liquid ivory soap sprayed onto your plants may help make your plants unsatisfying to tomato worms. Well, I did this and it killed my tomato plants. I should have stuck to chemicals. My bad for listening to a recipe site for insect info.

I have had amazing sucess using a peppermint oil emulsion. for a small batch just use 4 ozs of water a teaspoon of milk or other emulsifier and 20-30 drops of peppermint essential oil.

I like the sound of the ivory soap, water and vegetable oil mixture but how is it mixed in thirds or what, can you help me I would like to use it on my tomatoes for I am haveing a very ruff time getting rid of them.

When I was a kid, my mom grew tomatoes in the back yard (in N.Ca), and one of our chores on the chore chart was to go out everynight and morning to inspect the plants, and pull off any tomato worms we found. (We just used our fingers (they are not squishy or slimy at all), so I kinda laugh at the other posts about pliers, etc.) On 4 to 8 plants, there would ALWAYS be several. To be sure they couldn't crawl back to the plants, we just cut them in half with a pair of pruning snips dedicated to the task. I guess it may sound kinda gruesome to those unfamiliar with this pest, but as a kid, it was just part of gardening, and a quick death seemed more humane than waiting & hoping for heat or starvation to do the job. ... just my 2 cents...

My husband picked two off of my tomato plants and they were about three inches long. He put them in a jar with plastic over the top secured by a rubber band so he could show the nieces and nephews. He got up from work and they were both still alive and in the jar. I got up a few hours later and looked and they were both gone! I thought he had taken them outside. I asked him about it when he got home from work and he laughed and said no he hadn't. I thought he was joking. Later on this evening I found out he wasn't! I saw one of them crawling across my living room floor! I can't find the other one. Do they eat each other? Because I'm hoping they do, or I still have one in my house!

This is what I did, and my grandma has done it for years, and it works. I took a bar of ivory bar soap, and sliced up about 1/4 of it. I put it in a windex sized spray bottle, added hot water and shook it up until disolved. I sprayed it on my tomato and pepper plants, and I haven't had another issue. I of course mist them down again after a heavy rain.

I would be scared to add the oil with the 100 degree temps lately. I'm scared it would burn/cook my plants. The way wearing baby oil out in the sun burns your skin.

Hope this helps.