the tomato hornworm

Tomato season is upon us and soon my garden will be exploding with tomatoes of all shapes and sizes. All in all I planted about fifteen heirloom varieties this year.  Some were old time favs like Purple Cherokee and Green Zebra while the others will surely be tasty surprises. 

The one thing that wreaked havoc on my plants last year was the infamous tomato hornworm aka Manduca quinquemaculata. When it's in caterpillar form, it gets its name from the 'horn' on the very last section of its body. I have a love/hate relationship with this sneaky little creature.  Let me explain.  Somewhere between planting time and when the plants are getting nice and leafy, I’ll notice (hopefully) that bites have been taken out of some of the leaves.  Leafhopper? No. Once I really and I mean really start scanning the leaves for the predator, a strange, yet beautiful worm stares back.  This is the love part.  The hornworm in its various stages is stunning. They’re not noticeably beautiful when they’re tiny but give them a few weeks of munching and they turn into a caterpillar like no other. If left alone, they can get as large as four inches and they have a voracious appetite.  This is the hate part. They will eat an entire plant and move on to the next one.  Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I’ll spot the tiny (.10 cm in diameter) eggs on a leaf. A real give away is dark green (fresh) or black (aged) ‘poo’ on leaves.  If you spot this, look above that area and lurking amongst leaves will be your critter.

At any stage of their existence the most organic way to get rid of them is to find them, pick them off and discard them as you wish.  Just don't move them to another part of your yard, as they will burrow themselves into the earth to pupate. During summer, it takes only two weeks before a moth will emerge from pupae and repeat the cycle. When winter hits don't think you're rid of them. The pupae remains in the soil all winter and emerges as a moth the following spring.