This year is my first “real” garden and having a great time learn and eating fresh garden food. Pruning my tomatoes I saw this gigantic caterpillar on the top of my tomato plant. Come to find out it’s not a caterpillar. What the hell do I do about it? It seems it’s the only only I found thus far.
by Whitey3752
26 Comments
Step on it and leave it for the birds
give it to a bird!!!!! this lil monsters will decimate tomato plants 😭
I once thought a swallowtail caterpillar was a hornworm (early days of gardening) and I smooshed it. When I found out what I did, I felt terrible. That still haunts me.
I have a love hate relationship with them. They are cute. I chuck them over my fence.
Tomato hornworm I think
Get rid of it and look carefully for others. Toss it on your driveway for the birds. It’s a hornworm. Like others have said, it can decimate an entire plant in a day. And chances are there’s more than one. Get a blacklight and go out after dark to search for them. The UV light makes them glow.
I’ve been gardening at my current house for about 15 years. This is the first year I have found these assholes. I gasped when I saw it. The poor tomato season made so much sense after that. I just ordered a UV light to be able to find them easier. Not on my watch, hornworms!
Hawk Moth larvae known as the infamous tomato worm.
These are Hornworms. They will decimate your tomatoes and their leaves, stopping them from growing any further. Best thing to do is to crush them as you see them in order to save your Tomatoes. In their caterpillar stage, they are a significant garden pest. However, they will eventually turn into moths and, at that point, are beneficial as a nocturnal pollinator. But by time they get to that point, your Tomatoes will be long gone.
Awful MONSTERS!!!! Destroy them!!!’
https://preview.redd.it/iar41reg01of1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43b2267d294c8ec5007540f7a4ca3e1d85930420
I hate them!!!!
There are more, there’s always more!!
At least it doesn’t have those gross eggs on them.
I haaaaate even the sight of them.
Dang! I bet he’s juicy!
The ones with wasp eggs on their backs gross me out
Sneaky fat bastards they are
Flick the sombitches it the head and fuck them up!!
I’ve been feeding them to my chickens when I see them. I found a large one on my habenero plant the other day.
I’ve got native Nightshade in my yard that I transplant these worms to when I find them, since tomato plants are in the same family. Hawk moths are awesome creatures and great pollinators too, so I never kill them. People seem to take so much joy into finding new ways to kill them, as if they’re maliciously eating their plants. It’s just what they do. Not saying anyone should let them eradicate their gardens, but there’s always a happy medium.
https://preview.redd.it/saek3xuug1of1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c32e3d04e650e7e32cdc76cbf6f858b850995902
Killed my tomatoes in 1 day
If there is one, there are probably more. Keep looking.
Cool part is they actually will eat most nightshade plants including ones that you wouldn’t eat
I’m gonna be planting sacrifice plants next year to feed them instead lol
My chameleons love them
Drown him
I found out today that they are cannibalistic. Ask me how I know.
This is my first year gardening and I thankfully haven’t seen one of these. I am hoping I never do. Are people touching these with their bare hands? Garden glove? I can’t imagine an insect this large. From what I’ve been reading on reddit so far, it sounds like you leave them if they have the white guys on their back?? Much more learning ahead