Tobacco Hornworm

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Well, I found about 4 of these little freeloaders devouring my tomato plants and crapping all over my leaves.  Tobacco hornworms are green in color, they have seven straight lines along its belly, they are typically about 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, they have a red hook/horn at the end of their bodies and are usually found on the underside of leaves, especially tobacco plants.  What I found really cool about these pests is that they secrete the neurotoxin nicotine which is used in tobacco.  What I found uncool is that they completely defoliate garden plants, consuming everything….the foliage, blossoms and the green fruit.  Because they consume the entire leaf, your crops can become completely devastated.

Also known as M. sexta or Manduca sexta, the tobacco hornworm, much like the tomato hookworm which is what I thought it was at first, eventually grows into the Carolina Sphinx moth (those of which I have also found in my garden).  They have a usual life cycle of 30 to 50 days, but they sure can eat enough to last all year in that short amount of time.  After eggs are laid, it takes 2-4 days for their eggs to hatch.  The eggs are usually found on the underside of your leaves.

As a baby caterpillar, they live on the underside of plants, especially tobacco plants.  They literally eat and crap all day everyday (hmmm, I know some people like that).  After they devour your garden and hard work, tobacco worms go into a “wandering stage” looking for a place where they can go in order to pupate (or change into a moth).  The pupal stage lasts about 2 1/2 weeks and it becomes a Carolina Sphinx moth.  Carolina Sphinx moths feed on flowers.  The moths are also dimorphic (meaning that the female and male look so different they look like they are from a different family of insects).  The females mate once and the males have a good time with whomever they can and as many as they can.  And so completes the circle of life and the female lays her eggs under a leaf and it hatches two to four days later in order to wreak more havoc on some poor gardener’s tomato plant.  Like mine:

My remedy for this pest is to pick them off and move them to a far location.  The adults caterpillars are hard to kill so if you don’t get them in their baby stages, its best to just pick them off.  My daughter actually does that part with a pair of garden gloves and a jar.  Since their life span is so short, they would go into pupal stage before ever finding their way back to your garden.

Aww they left me a present …..