Tomato Horn Worm

This little guy is not the only one who is enjoying my amazingly awesome tomato's this summer.  I'd much rather have this guy and his two adorable sisters helping themselves to a nice healthy garden snack than other uninvited garden intruders.  

Check out these photo's below of the tomato horn worm.  I have pulled at least 30+ of these little buggers, and let me tell you they can do some eating. The tomato horn worm is so incredibly camouflaged, but I have learned a few tricks for easier detection of these pest.  

I have also learned that if you pay your little nieces and nephews a quarter for every worm they find, can also be a productive way to eliminate these pest. 

The Tomato Horn Worm

Once you do find one of these guys take a minute and listen closely- you cant hear them munching away!

Usually I will find their droppings and half eating tomato's before I actually find the worm.  Pay close attention when watering, pruning and harvesting your tomato's 

Half Eaten Tomato

Dropping From The Tomato Horn Worm

If you find these little black dropping and half eaten tomato's you will not need to look much further to find the Tomato horn worm, and when you do- you will want to remove them immediately.  

For the longest time I wondered where these guys came from, and finally looked it up and learned that they come from the five-spotted hawk moth.  The hawk moth is about the size of a humming bird with a grayish brown color and yellow spots along side it's body.  After the hawk moth's mating season it will go and lay its eggs on these plants which is where the tomato horn worm comes from.

How to Get Rid of Them!

1. Hand picking them off is my personal preference.  Once you have trained your eye and know what to look for, they are pretty easy to detect.  Make sure to destroy them or dispose of them far, far away from your tomato plants.  

2. BT spray, (Bacillus thuringiensis) This spray is said not to be harmful to animals, people or the environment, and is safe to spray right up to the day of harvesting tomato's.  The spray paralyzes the worm causing them to die of starvation.  You will need to spray both the top and bottom of the tomato plant leaves and repeat application every 5 to 7 days until the worms are gone.

3.  The Parasitic Wasps-  Introducing these bugs will help eliminate the worms as well.  The (Braconid and Trichogramma) both will lay their eggs on the larva.  If you see a tomato horn worm with lots of little white things on it don't kill it, that is just signs that the wasp is doing its job- their on your side!

I do hope that you all are having a blight free tomato growing season with healthy high producing tomato plants free from tomato horn worms.  keep your eyes open for these guys, they blend in so well!

Happy Harvesting!