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Tomatoes and horned worms

John F Dean

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Location: southern Illinois, USA

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Every July 1 or so my tomatoes are covered with horned worms. I have not had any this year. I am a little worried about the little guys. You dont suppose something happened to them do you?

Is anyone else suffering from this level of misfortune?

I figure if someone from the future hasn’t tried to stop me, I can’t be messing up that bad.

Greg Martin

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Location: Maine, zone 5

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On my 40 plants this year I've found 3 large ones....and that's it. My neighbors have had a few as well. This is pretty low density for us. I was just hoping it meant that my biology at all trophic levels was WAY up, as it seems to be this year, but perhaps there is more going on?

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John F Dean

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Hi Greg,

Given your location and mine, I will be watching this thread with interest. We have had a good deal of rain and somewhat cooler temperatures.

I figure if someone from the future hasn’t tried to stop me, I can’t be messing up that bad.

greg mosser

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Location: the mountains of katuah, southern appalachia

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maybe they just came here, i’ve fed dozens to the chickens, and a lot of the pawpaw hornworm too. they’re hawkmoth caterpillars...i’ve seen a few of the adult moths as well.

edited to add, weather here has been very humid, lots of rain, and pretty warm for here.

Artie Scott

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Location: Piedmont 7a

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Very interesting observation.

For the last 3 years, my tomatoes have been devastated by the hornworms. I have been waiting all summer for the buggers to make an appearance, and they never did. Have not seen a single one, and have not seen any damage to the tomatoes.

Wonder if they are cyclical, sorta like cicadas? The weather was certainly unusual here this spring and summer - very late frost mid-May, very dry June and July, and very wet August (12” worth of wet, in what is normally a very dry month.).

Maybe the boom over the last few years spawned a predator boom that made a quick meal of most of them.

“All good things are wild, and free.” Henry David Thoreau

John F Dean

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Lady Bugs seem to be a natural predator, and we have had a number of those. I also did a good deal of work on my raised beds that might have disturbed the egg habitat. But in the end, I suspect there are other factors.

I figure if someone from the future hasn’t tried to stop me, I can’t be messing up that bad.

Matt Todd

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Location: Northwest Missouri

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Same situation in NW Missouri. Had all of one or two horn worms this year, back in late July I think. Haven't seen them since *knock on wood.*
Bag worms were bad this year, but they're pretty easy to spot and even easier to dispose of since their little bag contains the mess of squishing them :)

I don't own the plants, they own me.

J. Graham

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No, I have definitely not had the "misfortune" of not having horned worms this year. They are worse than ever. I saw one that was incubating some nice wasp larvae, I meant to get a picture to share here but didn't have my phone and forgot to go back later.

“It’s said war—war never changes. Men do, through the roads they walk. And this road—has reached its end.”

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Anne Miller

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Location: USDA Zone 8a

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We don't usually get them at all though last year the hornworms almost devastated our honeysuckle.

Dear hubby was saying the deer was eating the honeysuckle which they usually leave alone.

I pick them off and dropped them in a bucket of water. That took several trips because they just keep coming.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

John F Dean

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I would love it if the horned worms went after the honeysuckle. The honeysuckle is a bigger threat than the horned worms.

I figure if someone from the future hasn’t tried to stop me, I can’t be messing up that bad.

greg mosser

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Location: the mountains of katuah, southern appalachia

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there are dozens of species of hornworms in the u.s., and they’re all pretty dependent on one type of food - there are different species for tobacco and tomato, for instance, even though both plants are in the same family. the hornworms that eat honeysuckle are in a different but closely related genus...the adults are clearwing moths, mostly day-flying bee-mimics (but with a fancier paint-job if you look close).

/bug geek

Anne Miller

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Location: USDA Zone 8a

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Greg, thanks for the clarification and explanation.

I knew they were hummingbird moth larva though that is about all I knew. What I found when trying to find out why they were eating honeysuckle is that they were the tobacco ones.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Ken W Wilson

pollinator

Posts: 1191

Location: Nevada, Mo 64772

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I have had just one in western MO.

Noel Young

Posts: 71

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We had a lot of hornworms early in the season this year. The parasitic wasps eventually showed up but I picked many before I saw any sign of them. After I saw one hornworm with the little wasp cocoons I saw no further hornworms of significant size.

Jen Swanson

pollinator

Posts: 140

Location: Vancouver, Washington

posted 5 years ago