Tomato Hornworm CaterpillarHow to Get Rid of Tomato Worms Knowing how to get rid of Tomato Hornworms is something every gardener needs to know. The Tomato worm, also known by its Latin name as the Manduca quinquemaculata is a major pest in just about anyone’s garden. Basically the Tomato Horn worm is a caterpillar that feeds upon the fruit, stems, and leaves of eggplant, pepper, potato, and tomato plants as well as some tobacco leaves. It is pale green in color with eight various V-shaped markings on each side of it. It also has a black horn on the end of it which gives it the horn worm name.
The Tomato worm is usually found in various regions in the United States, the northwestern parts of Mexico and various locations in southern Canada. Their eggs measuring 1.50mm in diameter are usually found on the lower and upper sides of the foliage in which they eat. Each egg, white or light green in color, has a duration period ranging from two to eight days. Most eggs average about five days before they hatch into larva. At its larval stage it ranges about 3 ˝ to 4 inches long. Over the winter, the caterpillar will pupate into an adult moth called a Five-Spotted Hawk Moth.
Get Rid/Removing
One of the easiest ways to rid your garden of Tomato Hornworms is to simply handpick them from your plants and drop them into a bucket full of soapy water. You may be wondering, are the Hornworms poisonous? No, they are not so simply picking them up and dropping them into a bucket or squishing them is no big deal at all.
By doing this, it places the wasps right where they want to be when they emerge as adults from the Hornworms body by eating through its skin. They can find another Hornworm sometimes within just inches of where they hatched from. Wasps naturally feed on over two hundred different species of caterpillars, this natural solution is a great way to help you get rid of the little green tomato worm as well as feed another species. Since insects are of great importance in our world and gardens, this is the circle of life for the Tomato worm as well as for the wasps. You can attract wasps to your garden by placing a bowl of nectar or water in the center or plant clover, yarrow, fennel, dill, or parsley in and around your garden. The Tomato Hornworm is sometimes mistaken for the Sphinx Moth also known as the Tobacco Worm in its adult stage. The Tomato worm at its adult stage will transform into a Five-Spotted Hawk Moth. Both the Tomato Hornworm or Five-Spotted Hawk Moth and the Tobacco Worm or Sphinx Moth has a wingspan of 4 to 5 inches with gray stout bodies.
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