![]() If left unchecked, the tobacco hornworm will drop to the soil, pupate, and emerge in the spring as the Carolina Sphinx. There are also some tiny wasps that lay their eggs inside the body of the caterpillar and offer some control, typically later in the season. Once spotted, pick off the plant and squish or feed to the chickens. Look for signs of their presence and start the hunt. While insecticides are certainly effective in controlling hornworms, they are usually not in large enough numbers to warrant an application. Large green droppings are a hint that the tobacco hornworm has recently been feeding. Large green hornworm droppings (left) represent fresh feeding activity while blackened droppings are old (right). Note that fresh droppings are green while older droppings, after being exposed to warm temperatures, are black. Droppings are much easier to find than the camouflaged hornworm. Ravenous eaters need to get rid of their waste large input (leaves) leads to large outputs (poop). Can you spot the two hornworms in the picture on the left? Photos: Tom Butzler, Penn StateĪlso, look on the garden floor for fecal pellets. In addition to hornworms devouring foliage, they will also feed on the fruit. A half-eaten tomato, hanging from a limb, is easily noticeable. Also, the later instar caterpillars will feed on the fruit itself. Tomato limbs stick out like a sore thumb with 90% of their leaves missing. What are some of the clues that gardeners can use to search and destroy this worm? The easiest sign is to look for their feeding activity. The easiest way to locate hornworm feeding activity is to use a piece of white paper held against the plant. The caterpillar can reach lengths of 4 inches and half-inch wide in the last instar. But as they go through their numerous growth stages (instars), the feeding intensity increases. In addition, they perfectly blend into the surrounding foliage with their green bodies with white diagonal stripes on the sides. The damage from their small chewing mouthparts is easily missed. The female moth lays eggs on the underside of the leaves in early summer and small little larvae hatch out and start to feed shortly thereafter. For most gardeners, their activity goes unnoticed at first. While the insect does not have a wide host range (as in the children's story), it does have a huge appetite. It can reach lengths of 4 inches and half-inch wide. The tobacco hornworm is identified by its' red "horn" on the back end and white diagonal markings on the side. There is also a tomato hornworm, but its 'horn' is black and the white markings are 'V' shaped. Another characteristic ID is the white diagonal markings on the side. The name pertains to the red "horn" on the back end. A very similar story occurs in our vegetable gardens as a large caterpillar, the tobacco hornworm, devours sizeable portions of tomato plantings.
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