The luscious tomato worm
One thing we especially love here at Flea market Gardening is our wildlife, which is proved when looking at our Butterflies, Birds, Bugs and Bullfrogs album on the Facebook page! We love our bugs!
I found the healthiest tomato worm ever… a little late …he’s obviously been feasting all summer. Interesting how he seems to have little eyes all along his vibrant green body! You are what you eat, I guess…. Goodness, look at my grubby gardening fingers!
Nancy K. Meyer ….Camouflaged, so the birds don’t eat him while he is eating your tomatoes! (I learned that in Science class
Brenda Swink Bartholomew My chickens love these!
Sheila Baucom Greene Wow… he is a nice one!
Marin Peterson Yikes!!! I thought it was fake…my personal opinion only, but your not squeezing it hard enough!
Sarah Miller Olson Nice one? There IS no nice one!!
Debbie Lazaroff Disgusting critter!
Sue Gerdes Aren’t they just the plumpest caterpillars? As a kid I remember picking those off the tomato plants crazy big and my favorite color too.
Julie Brown They are still part of God’s magnificent creation and fascinating. What did you do with him, Sue?
Cindy St Clair Martino This thing is huge!! but I’m sure he enjoyed your tomatoes!!
Marie Niemann Boy he’s a keeper! Wonder if they taste like a green tomato? Give him to Tractor Man to go fishin`.. I mean catchin` with.
Teresa Kiker I had one of those on a pepper plant and he cleaned it before I had a clue. He even ate the RED peppers. I know first hand he was a burning up too !! Them peppers are H O T… HOTT !
Stephanie Waymen I put them on a plate in the garden for the birds. I’m surprised you had any tomatoes at all with that monster hanging around. I’ve seen them eat an entire plant over night.
BTW, if anyone wants to know if they have horn worms around, don’t bother looking for them, they camouflage well. Instead, look for a pile of black, squared pellets, look up from there, you’ll find the green junky.
Wendy Willey He will turn into a beautiful Butterfly one day! Oh, yes???
Amy Sills Hunter My turtles LOVE those!
Pat Kelley Bradshaw How did he survive the birds long enough to get that big? Unusual.
Get Busy Gardening Yuck!!
Mrinmoyee Hossen How did you catch that? I am afraid of these…
Amanda Mcmurrey Tomato horn worms SUCK!
Laura Leigh Wow! That’s a healthy one!
Jeanne Jayne He’s gross but I wouldn’t kill him…trying to make a living like all of us…
Flea Market Gardening
Well, I’m afraid Mr. Worm has had enough tomatoes,…he ended up in the bird feeder box to take his chances. I’d be surprised if he makes it back to the tomatoes,…maybe I should have put him on a leash! 🙂 Sue
Robin’s Nest Boy, is he ever so bright green and cute
Karen Geiger Read in an article that they turn into hummingbird moths. We have had so many of them this year. They devoured a plant or two before we found them.
Kathy Robinson Catfish love them.
Kelly B Toadvine If you had let the horn worm go ahead with his plan he would have become a lovely sphinx moth, as a moth he is a night pollitnator for some flowers
Aubrey Toadvine Ewww… Why’d you pick him up?
Tomato worms turn into Five-spotted Hawk moths,…not so desirable as the impressive Hummingbird moth. Here are both, the hummingbird moth photographed by the clever Annie Steen. ~~ Sue
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I like my bugs too and leave them alone unless they are causing too much destruction, which has only been done by slugs. You seem to have plenty of beautiful tomatoes inspite of the tomato worn.
Haha! I freaked when I found these hidden on my tomato plants this year. Or I should say Sheila found them and I found her eating them! She's our little long haired chihuaua/terrier mix. She was so excited and I felt bad tking it away, but didn't know if it'd make her sick. I had not seen them in previous years and thought maybe we were impervious to them with our dry climate. Little did I know, that they were just hiding so well. I have not seen any of the Hummingbird/ hawk moths. Nature is a very interesting thing :)
I have an interesting story about these green guys to share! There is a mystical garden in Virginia called Peralandra. It is said to be a gathering place for nature spirits, and gets a lot of visitors when it is open. There have been books written by the gardener that are rather magical in nature. Anyway, I visited there and it was a unique experience. One thing I remember is that they told me they had an agreement with these green catty-pillars that they would do the pruning of the tomato vines, but not harm the plants or fruit. In other words, they believed that this cattapooty handled the pinching-back of the tomato suckers and made the plant stockier and healthier! I never forgot that rather positive way of looking at things, and they did have a wonderful garden there. If you ever visit Northern Virginia, you might check to see if the garden is open and take a look for yourself.
Charming story, Stephie! I would make a good children's book, huh?
Sounds like a great place to visit
I love it! He's so fat and cute. :) I remember my mom not wanting me to pick up hornworms when I was younger, but I did it anyway when she wasn't looking. Now, I'm purposely raising them inside - she's probably wondering where she went wrong!
There is a small wasp that will leave its little white eggs on the backs of these caterpillars. The caterpillar serves as a food supply for the babies and the caterpillar will eventually die. I found one of these caterpillars eating my tomatoes this year and thought about keeping it until I researched it. They are a pest, but the wasps help gardeners by pollinating. It's all nature's plan!